This thesis analyses a series of text paintings by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon, and proposes that by delineating nihilism, they resist being nihilistic. All four paintings, The Emptiness of All Endeavour: Triptych, Is There Anything of Which One Can Say, Look This Is New?, I Applied My Mind, and I Considered All the Acts of Oppression (painted between 1980 and 1982), draw their text from ‘The Book of Ecclesiastes’, as translated in the New English Bible (1970). While previous discussions of the works have tended to emphasise the biographical element of the works (i.e., McCahon’s life and his struggle with faith), I argue, this denies a full understanding of the work’s subtleties. As a counter to this, I closely analyse the text in the paintings, comparing it to its Biblical source, and drawing on theological criticism of Ecclesiastes. In so doing, I situate McCahon’s paintings in relation to arguments surrounding contemporary nihilism and the death of painting, while also elucidating the theological relationships expressed in the works. Drawing upon Simon Critchley’s (2004) model for delineating nihilism, I propose that, as an act of stark and yet uncompromising resistance, the works manage to offer a ‘continuing’ in the face of a meaningless and futile world. As McCahon’s work has not previously been discussed in relation to the discourse on nihilism, this thesis offers an original contribution to the growing body of writing on McCahon. Moreover, through considering his works’ materiality and content, I suggest McCahon’s practice may offer a model for contemporary painting to engage with difficult questions of meaning and belief.

This is to certify that ‘Delineating Nihilism: Colin McCahon’s last paintings’ has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this research paper contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made within the paper itself.