Angels, a saint and a horny Devil

By T.J. McNAMARA

It is not hard to find an exhibition appropriate to Easter. The Auckland City Gallery has drawn on its resources to stage Saints and Seraphs, an exhibition of religious art which in many ways complements the big Colin McCahon show upstairs.

The Easter message and the Way of the Cross have a special place in McCahon's work. An example on the ground floor of his symbolic depiction of Christ's last journey is more explicit than the more oblique references in the major show.

In Saints and Seraphs there is a depiction of one of the Stations of the Cross where St Veronica wipes the face of Christ with a towel and his face is miraculously imprinted on the cloth. Many painters in art history - notably El Greco - have dealt with this episode which is commonly called a "Veronica". McCahon's work, done in 1945, is a strong, simple version. There is also a wonderful Annunciation done in the same year with a whispering, floating angel and a thoughtful Mary.

McCahon is only a part of this fine Easter exhibition. It is good to see again the preparatory drawings the New Zealander John Hutton did for his work in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral. The final works were engraved on glass but the drawings give a wonderful idea of their effect, especially the study of a flying angel.

The preliminary model for Jacob Epstein's great Madonna and Child in Cavendish Square in London is also one of the gallery's treasures.

There is plenty, too, for those with an interest in art history including a St Jerome by Ferdinand Bol. St Jerome was one of the most important of saints since he translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin and his translation was used by the Church for centuries. He was also famous for pulling a thorn from a lion's paw so the lion stayed friendly and protected him. Thus St Jerome is often recognised by his lion. This is a bold, dark lion, and the figure of the saint is exactly what you would expect from a pupil of Rembrandt. The etching is like the work of the great master, uncompromisingly realistic and unidealistic. St Jerome, a cardinal and a hermit, is shown as a scrawny old guy.

Another great master was Albrecht Durer, represented here by the last woodcut in his hugely influential Apocalypse series published in 1498. It shows an angel locking the Devil/Dragon in the Bottomless Pit which will be closed for 1000 years by the key in the angel's right hand. This wonderful work shows Durer halfway between the Renaissance and the Middle Ages. His devil is all horns and scales and claws but the many-turreted town and the mountain landscape behind are modern.

The detail of some work in this show is fascinating. There are etchings by Jacques Callot. One is the Temptation of St Anthony with lots more devils flying about and the other is a series of devotional pictures of saints and martyrs. If you really want to know how St Agatha had her breasts cut off or how St Ignatius was martyred you can find out in these 30-odd little pictures.

One of the most charming and atmospheric things in the show is a painting of an angel on a tombstone by Peter Siddell. Such angels are also among the most memorable images recorded by Laurence Aberhart in his exhibition of photographs at the Sue Crockford Gallery until April 25. These remarkable black and white photographs were selected by Marja Bloem and shown alongside the McCahons at the Stedeliijk Museum in Amsterdam.

They are images of New Zealand taken from all stages of Aberhart's long career.

The angels on tombstones have the dark New Zealand hills in the background located precisely by the inscription in Maori on the stone, to say nothing of the wire fence in the background.

The strength of photographs such as the iconic Angel over Whangapae Harbour, Northland is matched by the bright angel and dark cypress in a tiny cemetery in Riverton, Southland. Other images with a similar poetic power record Mary, Joseph and Jesus or a crowned infant Christ in the utterly plain wooden churches of the North.

These photographs manage to combine fascinating effects of light captured by old-fashioned technique in black and white and the utmost simplicity of composition. The pictures have an epic quality although they are uniformly small in size. The image may simply be the long horizon with a hint of turbulence where the Whanganui River meets the sea, but Aberhart's eye for the mood of sea and sky makes it utterly memorable. A number of the photographs feature Mt Taranaki most beautifully in an image taken under moonlight which is a wonderful example of the intense sense of stillness Aberhart can achieve.

Aberhart's personal vision is melancholic but his images capture the spirit of the New Zealand landscape in a special way. He was surely a most worthy representative of this country's art in Europe.