PROVENANCE Collection of Mr and Mrs Russell Auckland Private Collection, UK

ILLUSTRATED pl. 38 Colin McCahon: The Titirangi Years 1953 - 1959, Auckland University Press, 2007

Colin McCahon database record number cm000401

Otitori, French Bay was a short distance from the artist's home and he chose it as the subject for a number of his works. Between 1953 and 1960 Colin McCahon, and his family, lived in this small, weather- board house set among kauri trees and native bush in the Titirangi hills overlooking the bay.

The bush setting inspired some of his painting, including a large mural in the living room. In the early 2000s the home was purchased and preserved by the McCahon House Trust as an artists' residency and the McCahon House Museum.