Last of the Just

‘The Last of the Just (Prisoner)’, a concrete sculpture by Molly Macalister.  

While perhaps not a household name like her friend Colin McCahon, many will be unwittingly familiar with her work. Maybe you’ve seen her piece “Māori Chief”? A tall bronze sculpture at  the bottom of Queen Street in Auckland that faces the Ferry Building. Or perhaps “Little Bull”, her large bronze bull resting at the front of the Hamilton Gardens Victorian Flower Garden. While her works are impressive alone, more so was Macalistar’s drive to be an artist during a time when New Zealand artists were not well respected and female sculptors were almost nonexistent.  

The Last of the Just was the first artwork ever acquired in the University of Waikato Art collection, pre-dating the University’s establishment itself. It originally stood outside A Block one of the first University buildings. The piece is highly sensitive, and as the campus expanded it was later re-positioned to overlook the lake, a more reflective and private location; appropriate for the unsettling nature of its content. However, it is not meant to be discomforting, but rather to act as the antithesis of the University.  

It began in 1960 when Hamilton artist Jean Fairburn paid a visit to Macalister in Takapuna and saw the piece in progress. She suggested it come to Hamilton on its completion. At this stage the University was the Hamilton branch of the University of Auckland. Paul Day, a Lecturer with the university at the time, went to meet Macalistair and view the work. Moved by her piece and how it captured the political tragedy of forced communism in Hungary he agreed to raise the money for its purchase. Students and staff banded together and raised eighty pounds to buy the newly-completed sculpture. The students contribution of about thirty pounds was their profit from the sales of the University of Auckland’s Capping Magazine on the streets of Hamilton. Their goal was to buy an art piece symbolising, among other things, the cutting off of the kinds of freedoms so cherished in a university institution.  

The Last of the Just - Prisoner, depicts a mutilated human figure representing Hungary after its occupation by the Russians. Economic and political turmoil in Hungary after world war two and through the cold war took its toll. In 1956 unrest amongst the Hungarian people mounted and what began as student led protests quickly developed into a large scale, but peaceful, demonstration. Protestors demanded a more democratic political system and more freedom for the Hungarian people. Unfortunately, the USSR did not agree and on November 4, 1956, thousands of Soviet soldiers and tanks rolled into Budapest to crush, once and for all, the national uprising. The west sympathised for the people of Hungary but did nothing.  

Macalister was married to a Hungarian emigrant, and the nonchalance of the west to their plight is woven into her work. The figure creates a visceral sensation of suffering, imploring empathy from the viewer, forcing you to acknowledge its struggle. Standing over one and a half metres tall the armless figure rests on a knee, casting its eyes downward as its torso twists and leans to the side, looking as though he could crumple from exhaustion. However, he continues to stand, only barely, in the face of seemingly insurmountable oppression. The piece challenges us not to look away or stand idly by, but to strive towards justice and perhaps offer support.