National art trail celebrates New Zealand expatriate artist Douglas MacDiarmid

To celebrate what would have been New Zealand expatriate artist Douglas MacDiarmid’s 100th birthday, an art trail from Auckland to Dunedin has been launched to mark his legacy and the life experiences behind his revered paintings.

The MacDiarmid Centenary Art Trail was organized by Anna Cahill, MacDiarmid’s niece and a former journalist who wrote his biography in collaboration with MacDiarmid, before his death aged 97 in 2020, in Paris, where he spent most of his life.

Cahill describes MacDiarmid – who was known for his use of color and diversity of artwork – as a fascinating, charismatic, charming and complex artist with strong philosophical viewpoints. Many of MacDiarmid’s paintings have background stories, Cahill says. “But what good is information if you don’t share it? If I didn’t do it, no-one would have.”

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And so, three years ago, from Australia where she lives, Cahill began describing all of MacDiarmid’s paintings that are held in New Zealand’s public art collections. Now some 25 institutions nationally have agreed to display some or all of MacDiarmid’s paintings they hold throughout November – the month of his birth.

That includes the University of Auckland exhibiting its MacDiarmid collection in Old Government House, large collections at the University of Otago and Te Papa being open for by-appointment behind the scenes tours, and an exhibition called Coming Full Circle opening at Auckland’s Takapuna Library on November 3, documenting MacDiarmid in paintings, photographs, writings and other memorabilia.

Work on the art trail started when Cahill was writing MacDiarmid’s biography. Cahill was sifting through the artist’s many letters, and realized there was “this other life” contained within them. He corresponded with hundreds of people, and was often candid, unfiltered and well-informed about what was happening in New Zealand despite living overseas.

Some were difficult to give justice to – for example, his letters with composer Douglas Lilburn, MacDiarmid’s “great friend and first great love” – while others proved challenging to transcribe due to small letterhead, faded ink, frail paper and the various languages ​​MacDiarmid wrote in.

When MacDiarmid died, Cahill realized her job as biographer wasn’t over, hence her describing his artworks, adding context from his letters and from what he’d told her over their many meetings. “They’re of little value unless the stories are known.”

It’s up to the institutions involved in the trail when exactly in November and how many MacDiarmid works they will hang, and for how long. Cahill wanted Taihape, as his birthplace, involved despite being a small community that held none of his paintings – as such, an art competition is being held across Rangitīkei.

When MacDiarmid died during the pandemic, nobody was able to go to his funeral in France, and his partner Patrick could not bring himself to attend the cremation, Cahill said.

She hoped the art trail would give New Zealand’s arts community, and the public, the opportunity to pay their respects and honor MacDiarmid – someone people “[grew] to love dearly”, she says.

Cahill – who has been organizing all this from Brisbane – is traveling to New Zealand this week to do the art trail herself, and see paintings she’s only viewed photographs of previously.

The centenary would also be marked by the release of the book Letters to Lilburn – Douglas MacDiarmid’s Conversations from the Heart, a collection of letters and poems exchanged between the pair between 1944 and 2001, compiled by Cahill. The book will be launched at Victoria University in Wellington on November 14, and at Takapuna Library in Auckland on November 16.

MacDiarmid was a “colourful uncle” to Cahill, and he became apparent as he aged that he desired his story to be written, she said. “I put my hand up in a moment of craziness.” Cahill’s father – MacDiarmid’s brother – had left her some money in his will, which enabled her to visit France and record her uncle on several occasions, for periods of three months at a time.

The biography Cahill wrote ended up being published while MacDiarmid was still alive, with him being involved every step of the way. “He went through every word, every page, every point of punctuation and spelling. He was gray with exhaustion some days.”

He called the biography his “divine brick” on account of his weight. “He was so relieved he didn’t have to grow in order to see his life before him,” Cahill says.

In the 1940s after the war, MacDiarmid, who was bisexual, left for Europe, having not told his family about his sexuality. Being this was some four decades before gay sex was decriminalized in New Zealand, Cahill believes his leaving was to protect his loved ones, who he did not want people to associate with illegal activity.

MacDiarmid was an untrained painter who was disciplined, organized and immaculate in his work. But he was also hugely funny, irreverent, and delightful company, Cahill says. He was insatiably curious about art, hence the great diversity of his paintings.

“Every day he’d see something different and would be painting, … simultaneously, in a myriad of styles. He slid under the radar because he couldn’t be categorized and didn’t like labels. He was himself.”

Art trail locations and events can be accessed at douglasmacdiarmid.com. Letters to Lilburn: Douglas MacDiarmid’s Conversations from the Heart, compiled by Anna Cahill, published by Mary Egan Publishing on November 14, 2022, RRP: $65.00.