Married and living with his wife and young son near Nelson in 1946-48, McCahon turned from depicting landscapes to Christian imagery. By synthesizing disparate elements - portraiture, still life and symbolism (the lamp and jug) with words McCahon…
G.H. Brown writes: McCahon described this work to me as 'a sort of Gate', & laughingly said that the title could be Abstract: Gate, but whether that is accurate enough to use as a generic title for the complete set, to which this work belongs, seems…
Lower right (l.r.) in pencil: Hotere: u.l.-l.r. in pencil: green purple blue red orangy yellow red yellow orange green blue violet purple too cramped [numerals].
Lower centre (l.c.) in pencil: Preliminary drawings for Black Paintings. Hotere; through image in pencil: [numerals]; verso in ink: [unfinished sketch].