Mountain 1

item details

NameMountain 1

ProductionBuster Black; artist; 1963-1964; Auckland

Classificationpaintings

Materialsoil paint, sand, hardboard

Materials Summaryoil and sand on hardboard

DimensionsSupport: 1217mm (width), 755mm (height)

Registration Number1992-0008-1

Credit linePurchased 1992 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds

Overview

Nightscapes

Mountain 1 and Black landscape reveal how the work of Buster Black and Colin McCahon often overlapped. In 1956, Black attended the classes taught by the avant-garde McCahon at Auckland Art Gallery. They became close friends, and shared ideas.

Both these paintings depict nightscapes and explore the theme of spiritual connection to the land. They also show an experimentation with materials. To create the texture of Mountain 1, Black mixed sand into his paint. McCahon took a similar approach in using sawdust to create Black landscape.

McCahon was particularly struck by the way his fellow artist captured the ‘visuality of white on black’, as in Mountain 1, which shows a snowy peak floating out of the darkness. He used that concept in later works.