Colours of a life : the life and times of Douglas MacDiarmid / Anna Cahill.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Leonard Bell -- 1. Spirit of a painter -- 2. Boyhood -- 3. Creative awakenings -- 4. Off to devour the world -- 5. Coming back to go forward -- 6. Full French immersion -- 7. Jacqueline -- 8. The grief years -- 9. Patrick ... becoming whole -- 10. Painting up a storm -- 11. Coasting the Long White Cloud -- 12. The dubious reality of the self -- 13. A life well coloured -- Afterword -- List of artworks.

This biography is the lively, persuasive and colourful story of a talented bisexual man who had to leave New Zealand to find a life as a painter on his own terms. Now almost 95, still resident in Paris, he is the oldest survivor of his extraordinary generation of creative New Zealanders, and perhaps a missing link - the one who got away and slid under the radar for choosing to pursue a global career rather than a domestic living. Douglas MacDiarmid has achieved an international reputation as an expatriate New Zealand painter, long based in France but acutely in tune with his homeland. He defies labelling, acclaimed particularly as a superb colourist and for the diversity, technique and intellectual rigour of his paintings. His life and insights have the distinction of straddling almost a century of cultural trends and influences, in New Zealand and abroad. Just as the diversity of MacDiarmid's paintings has something for everyone, this book will appeal to a wide audience. Apart from those interested in art, New Zealanders making it abroad, motivational life stories of overcoming the odds, history and cultural change, the biography is expected to attract an enthusiastic readership among art professionals and students, collectors and entities, diplomats, and the still-marginalised gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Indeed, Douglas hopes his biography will be a positive example to encourage other conflicted people to follow their inclinations and dreams. More widely, this book is for anyone looking for inspiration to liberate their potential and dedicate their life to doing what they love.