Important & Rare
Wednesday 23 November 2016
202 PARNELL RD AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND TEL +64 9 379 4010 www.fineartauction.co.nz
Important & Rare Art 6:30pm Wednesday 23 November 2016
202 PARNELL RD AUCKLAND PO BOX 37 344 TEL +64 9 379 4010 www.fineartauction.co.nz
1
Adam Firth Photography
2 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
LOCATION & WHERE TO PARK
VIEWING EXHIBITION TIMES International Art Centre, 202 Parnell Road, Auckland Wednesday
16 November
10:00am - 5:00pm
Thursday
17 November
9:00am - 5:30pm
Friday
18 November
9:00am - 5:30pm
Saturday
19 November
10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday
20 November
11:00am - 4:00pm
Monday
21 November
9:00am - 5:30pm
Tuesday
22 November
9:00am - 5:30pm
Wednesday
23 November
9:00am - 1:00pm
Parking During Viewing: Allocated carparks located directly behind International Art Centre. Further parking at St John’s Car Park, entry at 244 Parnell Road, 40 metres up from International Art Centre Parking During Auction: Upper and lower carparks at rear of International Art Centre
3
CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE Fetched $1,175,000 + bp April 2016 The first painting to fetch over $1 million at auction in New Zealand
4 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Auction info
Evening of sale
Conditions of Sale
p. 121
Absentee bid form
p. 119
Index
p. 124
Please join us from 5.30pm for a glass of wine Please register for bidding number at viewing or on evening of sale Works purchased may be uplifted at close of sale or the following day 10:00am - 5:00pm Payment may not be made during auction
Auction Contacts
Richard Thomson Ph: +64 9 379 4010 richard@artcntr.co.nz Mobile: 027 4751 071 Frances Davies Ph: +64 9 379 4010 fran@artcntr.co.nz Luke Davies Ph: +64 9 379 4010 luke@artcntr.co.nz James Watkins Ph: +64 9 366 6045 james@artcntr.co.nz www.fineartauction.co.nz info@internationalartcentre.co.nz Skype: fineartauction
Cover illustration: Lot 35 Back cover:
Lot 37
Inside front cover: Lot 46 Inside back cover: Lot 57
5
Highlights from 12 October
Modern & Contemporary Art The first Modern & Contemporary Art auction held in our new 202 Parnell Road premises was a well attended event with pleasing results. Leo Bensemann’s keenly sought After Rain, Takaka fetched $17,250. Don Binney’s rare screenprint, Swoop of the Kotare achieved $9,900. Current catalogue includes another rare Binney screenprint.
Roy Good’s Segment no. 8 attained a record price of $9,000 with a smaller work on paper making $3,500. A small Heather Straka made $4,250. Nigel Brown’s To Be Or Not To Be I Am achieved $8,000 with his Small Hillary Icon selling for $7,500. Results available on line.
John Walsh made $1,900
Heather Straka made $4,250 Prices quoted are fall of the hammer and attract a buyers premium.
Nigel Brown made $8,000
Leo Bensemann made $17,250
6 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Roy Good made $9,000 (new auction record)
Consign now May 2017
Modern & Contemporary Art Art Spanning that vital period from the establishment of midcentury modernism through to the cutting edge of our national contemporary art discourse, this is an acclaimed and significant event in the auction calendar.
International Art Centre's sales of Modern and Contemporary art play an integral role in providing market access to the most sought-after artists many of whom have defined New Zealand's art narrative over the past 50 years. The sale never fails to present an exciting offering of both painting and sculpture by a range of our modern and contemporary greats
Contact Richard Thomson: Ph +64 9 379 4010 Mob 0274 75107 Email richard@artcntr.co.nz
Judy Millar made $8,750
Max Gimblett made $47,000
7
Important & Rare Art Highlights from 24 August 2016
Michael Smither $52,500 Prices quoted are fall of the hammer and attract a buyers premium.
C F Goldie fetched $370,000
Bill Hammond fetched $64,000
Charles Blomfield fetched $37,500
8 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Ralph Hotere fetched $47,000
Colin McCahon fetched $300,000
Important & Rare Art
Consign now - April 2017
Important & Rare auctions are the proven, pre-eminent sale category for major works offered through the New Zealand art market three times annually. As we fast approach our 50th year in business, experience continues to equal results. 2014 saw Important & Rare auctions realise five of New Zealand’s top ten auction prices. The following year saw new records set with the two top prices in Auckland achieved. With the addition of the record 1.175 million plus premium paid for a C F Goldie in April’s sale, International Art Centre has achieved the three highest art auction prices in a mixed vendor sale in New Zealand’s history. With an appreciative, and greatly valued clientele of nationwide and international buyers and sellers we look forward to breaking new ground.
Frances Hodgkins made $320,000 July 2015
Nicholas Chevalier fetched $27,500 August 2016 Contact Richard Thomson: Ph +64 9 3794010 Mob 0274 75107 Email richard@artcntr.co.nz
Peter Siddell made $110,000 August 2016
9
Consign now - February 2017
Collectable Art real treasures. The Collectable Art sale offers a number lowerpriced works from highly-sought after artists in print and edition form, as well as quality works from artists whose presence on the secondary market is just beginning to crystallise.
The buzz generated by International Art Centre's Collectable Art auctions reflects the popularity of this sale: an event at which seasoned connoisseurs and budding collectors alike converge to appreciate one of the most eclectic and diverse offerings available to the market. Because this auction specifically caters to the more affordable end of the market - generally presenting works valued at $5,000 and less (many of which are offered without reserve), this is an exciting opportunity to unearth some
Contact Luke Davies: Ph +64 9 3794010 Email luke@artcntr.co.nz
Douglas Badcock Old Cart and Barn, Gibbston, Otago Oil on board 35 x 47cm Estimate $1,000 - 1,500
Peter Beadle Thule Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island Oil on board 30.5 x 40.6cm Estimate $800 - 1,400
10 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Catalogue closes prior to Christmas
LAWRENCE LEITCH Auckland After 8 Acrylic on board 160 x 190cm
202 PARNELL RD AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND TELEPHONE + 64 9 366 6045 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz
11
CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE AND THE VALUE OF THE SECONDARY MARKET On April 6, Charles Goldie’s magnificent 1941 portrait of Wharekauri Tahuna was sold by International Art Centre for $1.37m, making it the most expensive work of art to ever have been sold at auction in New Zealand. The energy and national excitement generated by this record-breaking sale is still palpable and will forever be an important milestone in New Zealand’s art historical narrative. From a market-based perspective, it is obvious that the sale of Wharekauri Tahuna is testament to New Zealand’s burgeoning art market potential. More significantly, however, it represents the maturation of our collective national relationship with Charles Frederick Goldie, and speaks to the inherent value of Goldie’s art as a mainstay of our cultural currency. In considering the various factors which have culminated in such a robust market appetite for Goldie’s paintings, the role of the secondary (auction) market as arbiters of taste and value is paramount. International Art Centre is proud to have played a longstanding role as the leading secondary market vendor for Goldie’s, and as the single major influence in the Goldie market to date. Since 1971, International Art Centre have spearheaded growth in the market with a number of record-breaking Goldie sales. The success of the current market is in many ways the product of this unique and productive relationship which has linked International Art Centre's boundary-pushing sales with the artist’s work over the last 45 years. Extrapolating some of the highlights of these sales over the decades will offer insight into the machinations and motivations of this market:
12 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Going back to the 1980s, it is interesting to note that despite the overall economic strength and market stability of this era (prior to 1987), prices attained for Goldie's work at auction were not in accordance with the corresponding climate of financial buoyancy. This can be linked to the political and reputational discord being experienced by Goldie’s work at the time. For the market to evolve from this point, a certain academic endurance and culturallydisclaiming acceptance needed to crystallise. Further evidence of the Goldie market’s ability to rebut the economic climate can be found in International Art Centre's 2008 sale of the magnificent 1933 portrait of Hori Pokai. This realised a record price of $454,000, well in excess of its $240,000 - $280,000 estimate, and standing in glorious defiance of the imminent economic downturn: a testament in its own right to the bullishness of the art market. The painting, also known as Sleep ‘tis a Gentle Thing, is an iconic work, and its wholehearted reception by the buying public affirmed the increasingly unshakable nature of Goldie’s market. In considering the 'value' of art, there is a tendency to indulge the notion that art historical truth and reputation are qualities which exist independently of time, place and market fluctuations, and that the financial value of works by major artists - such as Goldie - is derived from this higher academic authority. However, it would be inaccurate to presume that the market appetite for Goldie’s works has been informed by, and followed the trajectory of, his academic reputation.
Rather than responding in a delayed manner to the art historical or institutional climate, the market for Goldie’s work in fact grew as a result of, and in the context of, a process of collaborative exchange between vendor and institution. The fluidity of this market / institutional relationship is perfectly exemplified in the 1992 sale by International Art Centre of two important Goldie works, Darby and Joan and The Widow, to the National Art Gallery for the sum of $900,000 plus GST. Not only did the sale serve to affirm Goldie’s commercial worth, but it also amplified his institutional presence and recognition, solidifying the visibility of his position in the New Zealand art historical canon. In this sense, and particularly with consideration to the Goldie market, it is important to realise that the relationship between market value and 'inherent' artistic value is dynamic, and the two are inextricable. Two years after the sale of Hori Pokai, in 2010, the scene was once again set at International Art Centre as a record price of $573,000 was achieved for the sale of Forty Winks. This sale is of particular interest insofar as it offers an important point of consideration regarding the value of provenance. The portrait is a splendid work, exhibiting the very finest aspects of Goldie’s technical expertise, and is the only known work to have been painted of the sitter Rutene Te Uamairangi. The large scale and superb technical detail of the work magnificently showcase qualities highly sought-after in Goldie’s work. Furthermore, the work came from the collection of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, affording it a significant additional aspect of cultural value, the elusive aura of its provenance drawing both on the celebrity status and authoritative cultural endorsement implied by the fact of its previous owner. One further interesting aspect of the cultural-economic phenomenon which constitutes the market for Goldie’s work relates to the buying public’s unwavering commitment to the totality of the artist’s oeuvre.
An increase in demand and more profound appreciation of Goldie’s work in recent years has prompted a dedicated approach to the acquisition of his paintings in a manner which extends far beyond a tokenistic mode of acquisition, or trophy collecting. This allencompassing rigour and enthusiasm for the artist’s work has been evidenced by two key sales in particular. In 2012, International Art Centre's momentous sale of Goldie’s 1892 Kawhena achieved what was, at the time, another record price of $732,800. It is important to note that this work, Goldie’s first portrait of a Maori kaumatua, had never before been presented to the market, and did not carry the same degree of celebrity as, say, Forty Winks. Moreover, the highlypolished formal attributes of Kawhena are representative of Goldie’s early technique, and do not necessarily align closely with those most readily-identifiable and classically sought-after aspects of his work. The work is exquisite, and the fact that the market responded so eagerly to a previously unknown, arguably untraditional painting of Goldie’s demonstrates a genuine desire to celebrate the complexity and diversity of his artistic output, rather than just perfunctorily engaging with his trademark style. This brings us back to the most recent sale of Wharekauri Tahuna, which stands in circular witness to the sale of Kawhena, book-ending Goldie’s career as the last-known portrait to have been completed, and once again setting a record for the artist. Notably, this was accompanied in the same sale by an outstanding Goldie drawing which achieved an exceptional hammer price of $80,000 against an estimate of $15,000 - $25,000. Looking ahead from the point of this watershed moment in the New Zealand art market history, the sale of Wharekauri Tahuna will without a doubt pave the way for the market to continue to flourish and break bold new territory in years to come.
13
2
1
DON BINNEY
1940 - 2012 Swoop of the Kotare, Waimanu Screenprint, edition 56/175, 66 x 48 Signed, inscribed & dated 1980 $5,000 - 10,000
2
PAT HANLY
$2,000 - 3,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Golden Bay
1932 - 2004 Vacation Screenprint, edition of 37 50 x 65 Signed & dated 1986
1
14 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
3
3
4
PAT HANLY
4
PHILIP CLAIRMONT
1932 - 2004 Innocence Screenprint, editon 6/6 52 x 53 Signed, inscribed & dated 1981 $2,500 - 3,500
1949 - 1984 Self Portrait at 33 Linocut, edition 3/30, 50 x 50 Signed, inscribed & dated 1983
$3,000 - 4,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Golden Bay
Provenance: Private Collection, Golden Bay
15
6 5
16 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
5
J S PARKER
$2,000 - 3,000
6
J S PARKER
$2,000 - 3,000
7
BESSIE CHRISTIE
$5,000 - 7,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Wellington Purchased at McGregor Wright Gallery, Wellington by current owner
b. 1944 Oh No Spirit Don’t Ever Die Oil stick on paper 75 x 56 Signed, inscribed & dated 1981
b. 1944 The Red Lane, The Tramp Clock Symphony Oil stick on paper 75 x 56 Signed, inscribed & dated 1981
1904 - 1983 Pink Daisies in Turquoise Vase Oil on board 60 x 49.5 Signed
7
17
8
18 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
8
RUDOLF (RUDI) GOPAS
1913 - 1982 M 42 Orionis Oil and metalex on hardboard 120.5 x 120.5 Signed, inscribed & dated 1966 verso $4,000 - 6,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland since 1966
Exhibited: Rudolf Gopas: Retrospective Exhibition, Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth, 8 July - 8 August 1982 Exhibition label affixed verso Illustrated: p. 31 & 65 Rudolf Gopas: Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth, 1984 A copy of this publicaiton available to the purchaser of this lot
9
RUDOLF (RUDI) GOPAS 1913 - 1982 Uncharted Region (3) PVA on board 95 x 95 Signed & dated 1964 Inscribed verso
9
$3,000 - 5,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland since 1964
19
11
NIGEL BROWN
$6,000 - 8,000
12
IAN SCOTT
10
PAT HANLY
$9,000 - 13,000
1932 - 2004 Urgent Signalling - Survival of the Innocents Oil on board 59 x 78 Signed & dated 1991 Inscribed verso
The Child works are my responses to the confusion of some children with confusion indicated to them by parents - unwittingly - too many rules, too often. Parents fear/embarrassment is reflected in these innocents who really have their own excellence for a time. Get intelligent now. P.H. 6/11/91 Inscribed verso Works have been made up from broken paintings of (mine) and are used in a reaction to the cleanism of Post-Modernism. Away from the precious, the tough is broken, veneer threatened, materials exposed and explored. The nails and staples are supposed to show. Invention and creative changing, formal and informal, invite the viewer to re-experience Alterations. Disengage your old brain. Patrick Hanly. 1991 on original label affixed verso.
20 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
b. 1949 House by the Sea Oil on board 55 x 42 Signed & dated 1987
1945 - 2013 Asymmetrical Lattice No. 11 Acrylic on canvas 70 x 46 Signed, inscribed & dated 1983 on stretcher verso $3,000 - 5,000 Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
11
12
21
13
NIGEL BROWN
$4,000 - 6,000
b. 1949 Poet Acrylic on paper 34.5 x 28 Signed, inscribed & dated 1980
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
22 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
14
NIGEL BROWN
$5,000 - 8,000
b. 1949 The Suicide of Van Gogh (With Hills) Oil on board 54 x 47 Signed, inscribed & dated 25/1/1978 Inscribed The Suicide of Van Gogh (With Hills) verso
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
23
15
15
DON BINNEY
16
DON BINNEY
$8,000 - 12,000
$15,000 - 20,000
1940 - 2012 Red Flax Flowers Acrylic on paper 45 x 61 Signed & dated 1970-71
24 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1940 - 2012 Kereru, Te Henga Charcoal on paper 45 x 60 Signed, inscribed & dated 1972
16
25
17
26 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
17
IAN SCOTT
1945 - 2013 Lattice No. 140 Acrylic on canvas 116 x 116 Signed, inscribed & dated 1986 verso
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
$8,000 - 12,000
Lattice No. 140 directly relates to Lattice No. 58 in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, illustrated p. 22, Forty Modern New Zealand Paintings, Francis Pound, Penguin 1985
18
IAN SCOTT
1945 - 2013 Small Lattice 57 Acrylic on canvas 87 x 87 Signed, inscribed & dated 1981 verso
18
$6,000 - 8,000 Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
27
19
20
ROY GOOD
b. 1945 Marine Form - Segment Series Acrylic on canvas 122 x 98 Signed, inscribed & dated 1985 verso $6,000 - 8,000
MERVYN WILLIAMS
b. 1940 Promise Acrylic on canvas 92 x 91 Signed, inscribed & dated 2002 verso $9,000 - 14,000 Promise is a fine work in which the manipulation of space and geometric form informs, and intersects with our perception of reality. This painting incorporates a referential richness which links it to the wider narrative of art historical abstraction. The clear delineation of blue forms flanking each of the picture borders, for example, recalls the interconnectedness of Mondrian’s deconstructed and isolated cityscapes. In a more nationallyidentifiable sense, the infinite depth and subliminal potential of the blanketed grey which enshrines the canvas draws comparison to the tonally-muted abstract accomplishments of Milan Mrkusich. Perhaps the most enlightening aspect of this painting is contained within its title: Promise. This reveals something important of the work’s power, for as viewers, the superlative abstraction of force that we are exposed to is not contained within depicted forms, but rather within that which the four blue forms collectively point towards. As viewers, we are therefore compelled to approach this promise of an undefined dynamic potency with a sense of reverential gravitas and curiosity. The protrusions and ripples seen in his paintings are compositions of paint and light, existing only in the eye; the mind endeavours to see what is actually present rather than what it expects to see. Ref: 100 New Zealand Paintings, Warwick Brown, Godwit, 1995 19
28 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
20
29
21
FELIX KELLY
1917 - 1994 Street Scene Oil on board 37.5 x 50.5 Signed & dated 1950 $4,000 - 6,000
22
DON PEEBLES
$4,000 - 6,000
23
EDWARD BULLMORE
$19,000 - 25,000
30 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1922 - 2010 Untitled Relief Oil and acrylic on board 40 x 43 Signed verso
1933 - 1988 Godess of the Rainbow, No. 2 Mixed media on canvas 77 x 101 Signed & inscribed verso
23
31
24
NIGEL BROWN
b. 1949 Kakapo Days Oil on board 120 x 58 Signed, inscribed & dated 2009 $10,000 - 15,000
Provenance: Private Collection Reference: This work reflects travel to Dusky Sound and my work with the poet Glenn Colquhoun. It represents an awareness of waterfalls as well as water being our daily cup of necessity. The work also relates to the short Lives of Birds series and is finally an environmental statement. NB (From note affixed verso)
25
NIGEL BROWN
8,000 - 12,000
Provenance: Private Collection
b. 1949 Waves Crash In Oil on board 50 x 200 Signed, inscribed & dated 2001
Reference: An early Cosy Nook {Southland} work painted the year we shifted down from Auckland. relates to ‘I Am’ paintings began in Auckland and inspired by McCahon and Muriwai. Now I was beside wild Foveaux Strait.Often the waves pounded daily on my doorstep. NB (From note affixed verso)
26
HELEN BROWN
3,000 - 5,000
24
32 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1917 - 1986 Morning Headlands Oil on board 45 x 90.5 Signed & dated 1970
25
26
33
28
MERVYN WILLIAMS
b. 1940 Since When Acrylic on canvas 91 x 91 Signed, inscribed & dated 2009 verso $9,000 - 14,000
Mervyn Williams has described his paintings as being simultaneously both totally abstract and as representational as you can get. This paradoxical self-analysis certainly strikes a chord when considering the monochromatic, infinite space of the present work. Williams’ artistic trajectory encompasses a complex relationship with both the abstracted form, and his exploration of universal, non-representational consciousness. Since When offers a glimpse into the artist’s perception of time, space and cosmic significance. A visceral and tactile approach is applied to the surface of the work. This physical manipulation is not just a means of contributing to texturality, through the carefully constructed tautness of Since When but also offers an effective point of visual interest. The work’s creases and illusory complexities, subsumed into a dialogue of subtle luminous exchange, manifest themselves differently according to environment, making it impossible to accurately represent in print or photograph.
27
IAN SCOTT
1945 - 2013 Small Lattice No. 262 Acrylic on canvas 50 x 50 Signed & inscribed verso $3,500 - 4,500
34 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
My work is concerned with perception, the nature and interpretation of reality. I use subtle modulations of light and shade to create surfaces reminiscent of photography, spatially ambiguous, reflecting some other reality. I seek to re-examine the relationships between what we see and what we know, between empirical fact and deduction, reality and illusion. Mervyn Williams quoted in Contemporary Painting in New Zealand, Michael Dunn, Craftsman House, 1996 The planes of Mervyn Williams’ paintings protrude, ripple and undulate but the play of light he coerces from his works is full of trickery and illusion. In the tradition of abstract artists such as Mark Rothko and Milan Mrkusich, Williams explores the boundaries of his chosen medium. Unlike these artists however, Williams defies the limits of the flat canvas surface, creating visual magic…a conjuring up of surrogate realities.
28
35
29
36 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1932 - 2004 Maungawhau and Park Oil on canvas mounted to board, 80 x 81 Signed & dated 1983 $18,000 - 24,000
30
JOHN WALSH
$10,000 - 15,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland Purchased at John Leech gallery, Auckland by the current owner, 2001
29
PAT HANLY
b. 1954 Aroha & Tikanga - Â Not Just Now, Maybe Later Oil on board 82 x 122 Signed, inscribed & dated 2001 verso
30
37
31
DAMIEN HIRST
$25,000 - 35,000
Provenance: Gifted directly to present owner after working with artist on a Film Set in London, 2010 Artist’s label Science,13 - 14 Welbeck Street, London W1G 9XU affixed verso Darbyshire Frames, London label affixed verso
British b. 1965 Untitled Spin Painting Acrylic paint on paper 45.7 diameter Signed & inscribed For Tom Damien Hirst
From 1995 Damien Hirst started a series of spin paintings. His finished pieces are circular in shape and mounted onto steel frames. This is a series of original works of art and screen prints. He was inspired by memories of the technique of spin painting which he saw as a child on the BBC’s Blue Peter. In the Gaurdian, August 2012, Hirst quotes “I grew up with Blue Peter. I got my idea for the spin paintings from an episode in the 1970s.” Hirst adds: “I never thought it was real art. I remember thinking: ‘That’s fun, whereas art is something more serious.’ And then as I got older, I started thinking about Van Gogh and all those painters, and cutting your ear off when you’re painting, and at that point I just thought: ‘Why does it have to be like that?’ I thought: ‘No, actually, the better art is the art made with the spin machine.’”
38 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists (or YBAs), who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. Hirst is internationally recognised and is reportedly the United Kingdom’s richest living artist, with his assets valued at £215m in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List.
39
32
LEO VERNON BENSEMANN
$15,000 - 20,000
1912 - 1986 Untitled - East Road Takaka Oil on board 61.2 x 84
Provenance: Ex. Leo Bensemann Collection Collection of Artaka Art Collective Reference: p. 40 Leo Bensemann Landscape and Studies, Nelson, 2006, Caroline Otto, After painting landscapes in Canterbury, Central Otago and the West Coast between 1961 and 1964, Bensemann first went to Takaka and Golden Bay for a painting excursion in the summer of 1965. This proved to be an important trip because the Takaka/Golden Bay region thereafter became his most frequently painted subject. Takaka was where he was born and spent his childhood, which must have had something to do with the grip it exerted on his imagination. He told Charles Brasch, after this trip I worked through until Jan 8 and then went up to Takaka with Doris for a week – very beautiful and we both did a lot of painting most of which is promising. In spite of the shortness of the visit it was, I think, the most fruitful trip we have made. In the Group Shows for 1965 and 1966 Bensemann exhibited seven landscape paintings of Takaka/Golden Bay locations. This work shares stylistic similarities with Towards Collingwood, 1965 and Road to Collingwood, 1966, which also feature roads snaking through the landscape and providing pathways for the viewer’s eye to follow.
40 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Untitled illustrates the old East Road which hugs the river flats and steep hillsides on the eastern side of the steep-walled Takaka Valley, a setting readily identifiable to those who know the area. The sinuously curving road leads the viewer’s eye into the heart of the painting, the top half of which is dominated by the same (though differently coloured) rhythmical and repetitive hillsides that Colin McCahon captured in his well-known Takaka: Night and Day (1948). As often in Bensemann’s Takaka paintings, the sky is filled with billowing rain clouds, echoing the grey of the gravel road. This painting has not previously been exhibited. Reference: Fantastica: The World of Leo Bensemann, Peter Simpson.
41
33
RALPH HOTERE
$20,000 - 30,000
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection Purchased from exhibition Recent Paintings Brooke/Gifford Gallery Christchurch, 1983
1931 - 2013 Mungo Acrylic & oil on board presented in Roger Hicken frame 40 x 40 Signed, inscribed & dated 1983
There is a serene, subliminal beauty to Ralph Hotere’s Mungo. On viewing this work first-hand, one is inclined to succumb to a reaction of intuitivelytriggered soulfulness, much in the spirit of experiencing a Rothko – the infinite depth of colour which lives, breathes and permeates the canvas imbues it with a sort of transcendental meaning. The simple elegance and profundity of the work’s composition, realised through a harmonious interaction of geometric form, offers a meaningful artistic encounter with no prior knowledge. The symbolic significance of Mungo extends far beyond this inherent aesthetic value, for it belongs to a watershed period in Hotere’s production when he was actively protesting the proposed conversion of the Aramoana wetlands (near his Port Chalmers home in Dunedin) into an aluminium smelter site. A sense of this protest plays out in the work’s dichotomous state – two dark forms exist in tension with the lighter elements of the work; a sharply-defined, jagged geometric shape protrudes from the top of the work whilst a blurred rectangle rises from the bottom.
42 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
The term Aramoana translates to ‘towards the sea’, meaning permeates the work with a sense of journey and purpose; an intuitively guided reliance upon the forces of nature. Although the painting draws stylistic and symbolic comparison with Hotere’s other Aramoana paintings, it is interesting to note that the title Mungo in fact references an Australian archaeological site of prehistoric Aboriginal occupation, Lake Mungo. Hotere had visited Lake Mungo several years earlier with the archaeologist Wal Ambrose and witnessed a number of archaeological excavations. The painting’s narrative, therefore, can be seen to speak to the preciousness of humanity’s enduring relationship with the land and, in light of the discovery of human remains from over 60,000 years ago at Mungo, compels the viewer into a more profound meditation on the human condition and oneness of our relationship with the land.
43
34
MICHAEL SMITHER
$25,000 - 35,000
To be sold with: Taranaki Graph Studies - illustrated right Pencil and gouache on four sheets of paper 44 x 44 Signed & dated 1980
Provenance: Private Collection
b. 1939 Taranaki Graph Oil and alkyd on board 120 x 126 Signed & dated 1981
Michael Smither’s 1981 Taranaki Graph is a visually emphatic work which, in its manifestation of an abstracted geometric dialogue, emits an almost hypnotic quality, one through which the viewer is immersed in a constant state of visual meditation and decryption.
the right - this latter aspect, in its disorder, brilliantly complements the other side of the work. Though initially striking in their clarity as monochromatic colour blocks, closer examination reveals a delicate tonal gradation across the aquamarine forms of the painting’s right hand side.
Smither’s relationship with the local landscape is key to the essence of this work. As a Taranaki native, the presence of the mountain is tantamount, and at this stage in his career represented an important source of artistic, visual and spiritual inspiration. Here, Smither has interpreted the mountain by way of a contemporaneously impressionistic approach, the depiction of subject matter having been distorted through the lens of its environs.
Taranaki Graph is a clever exploration of the transitory nature of colour and form: at a time when Smither was delving into the relationship between music and art, an understanding of the harmonious tension between colour and music was at the forefront of his work. This painting’s titular reference to a graph speaks to a process of rationalisation which Smither was undertaking at this point: a process which culminated in the production of a Harmonic Chart a couple of years later. With regards to the present work, therefore, what we find ourselves in the midst of, is the workings of Smither’s own mind.
This is a striking work: whilst geometric forms and representations of the mountain are neatly stacked across the left hand side of the painting; they exist in a completely inverted and apparently chaotic arrangement across
44 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
45
35
PAT HANLY
$90,000 - 130,000
1932 - 2004 Golden Age 4 Oil on board 91 x 91 Signed & dated 1978
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection Illustrated: p. 211 Hanly, Gregory O’Brien, Ron Sang Publications 2012 Hanly’s Golden Age series epitomises the culmination of a number of ideas and formal practices which had characterised his works since the 1960s. In the late 1970s, Hanly had distinguished himself as a socially aware and politically active artist of great repute and national importance. These works are about our capacity for transformation.
The force and dynamism contained within this painting creates an interaction which demands an active exchange of energy. The boldness of colour and forms depicted are not an extension of any reality or specific point of reference, but rather offer a basis for finding common ground and universality.
Golden Age 4 is an emblematic work which embodies the most soughtafter and iconic aspects of Hanly’s output at this time. Compositionally speaking, the work speaks a language of geometric and linear fluidity: background, foreground, form and colour field do not exist as distinct elements but rather form aspects of a magnificent patchwork. The strength of the sexual human body is unapologetically depicted and celebrated as three bold, colourful forms converge across the canvas. Though they appear to be of an unshakeable force, the dripped application of colourful paint along the silhouettes instils a kinetic energy.
Finally, it is important to acknowledge the uniqueness and value of this work for us as citizens of the South Pacific, for it was the very fact of our geographically-unique concerns of our identity, independence, environment and human rights which drove Hanly to create this visual manifesto. In Hanly’s own words, the Golden Age is about how all races in harmony, love, live, despite greed and wars. Undoubtedly, this harmony is reflected in the rhythmic pulse of this work, and the result is an artistic utopia wherein joy is unfettered, and human love and expression without limits.
46 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
47
36
RALPH HOTERE
$190,000 - 250,000
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
1931 - 2013 E Morto Il Papa Acrylic on unstretched canvas 151 x 90 Signed, inscribed & dated 8/1978
Illustrated: p. 160 Ralph Hotere, Kriselle Baker & Vincent O’Sullivan Ron Sang Publications 2012 At the time of Pope Paul VI’s death, Hotere and Cilla McQueen were based in the French town of Avignon, home of the Palais des Papes and former seat of the Catholic popes. In light of this Hotere’s Avignon based works appear to convey a message of mourning in response to the death of Pope Paul VI. To an extent, the work does serve this purpose: Emblazoned across the surface of the canvas is a tabloid-type declaration announcing the Pope’s death, including his name, and date of death. However, the cultural discourse at play here is considerably more complex, meaning the work belies an intricate religious and historical visual interplay, and therefore serves as much more than a simple memorial painting. The striking effectiveness of this painting owes much to its aesthetically and formally subversive nature. The flatness of the canvas obscures any sense of space or time, whilst the words “E MORTO IL PAPA” have been branded along a cruciform, much in the style of a pop art slogan. The reference is actually to a newspaper headline which Hotere encountered upon learning of the death of the Pope. In this sense, the work is deeply religious and weaves an intimate dialogue with Hotere’s own cultural background, reflected in the finely imprinted whakatauki across the bottom of the painting which reads Ka hinga atu he tetekura, ara mai he tetekura – as one fern frond dies, one is born to take its place.
48 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
In this way, Hotere has woven together the centuries old tradition of Catholicism – absorbed first-hand from a place of spiritual and historic significance, and reframed these concerns through a Maori lens, placing his, our, own cultural and national identity as at the forefront. This visual and conceptual reframing of the Catholic tradition through the artist’s own artistic and personal lens is further reflected in the depiction of the Chi Rho symbol, which in its bold and elegant simplicity seems to radiate from the centre of the canvas. This centuries-old christogram, used as a monogram to signify the name of Christ, has been deliberately deconstructed by Hotere. This is technically consistent with his geometric, perspectivally reduced approach to modernism. What is also at play here, is a deeper engagement and deconstruction of these faith traditions, a questioning of sorts in light of the artist’s spiritual and geographic immediacy to the recent event of the death of this religious leader. Religiously symbolism aside, the painting is brilliant in that it offers a syntactical and linguistic synthesis of Greek in the Chi Rho symbol, Italian in the announcement of the Pope’s death, Maori in the whakatauki and most significantly, universal concerns in the philosophical breadth, adeptness and adaptability of Hotere’s modernist and spiritual concerns.
49
37
RALPH HOTERE
$25,000 - 35,000
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
1931 - 2013 Sangro Panel, 1962-63 Acrylic on board and card 51 x 51 Signed & inscribed
Illustrated: p. 3 Ralph Hotere, Kriselle Baker & Vincent O’Sullivan Ron Sang Publications 2012 Ralph Hotere’s Sangro series was conceived as a memorial to the artist’s older brother, Jack. The nine paintings comprising this series reflect a significant point of development in the artist’s production: not only do they embody the dark politicisation which went on to characterise many of Hotere’s later and most celebrated works, but they also convey a particularly piercing sense of personal pain and grief on the part of the artist, which transcends any more high minded artistic or philosophical concerns. Private Jack Hotere and a number of his Maori Battalion comrades were killed whilst attempting to cross the Sangro River in pursuit of German forces in December 1943. Twenty years later, in 1963, Ralph visited the cemetery in Sangro where his brother lies buried alongside hundreds of fallen soldiers. This compelled him to create the series which would become the subject of one of the artist’s first significant solo exhibitions, held at Barry Lett Gallery in 1965, in Auckland, Sangro Paintings and Human Rights. This Sangro panel painting is an important example from the series. The work clearly delivers Hotere’s raw and clear message of emotional clarity and grief.
50 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
The numbers inscribed across the surface appear almost as solitary headstones, each representing a fallen comrade of Jack’s in that battle. In Hotere’s own words, an expression of the utter futility of the wasteful destruction of the lives of young men, Each number represents the age of the fallen soldiers when they died. In their void-like existence which has been stripped of context, background, time and reference, the viewer is compelled to face the reality of these deaths in a very stark and confronting manner. Hotere has applied a reductive formalism to convey his own artistic message and sentiment. Sadness is what permeates this work; an expression of familial mourning. Whilst the numbers in their striking contrast seem to pierce through the work, it is undoubtedly the blood-red, abstracted composition on card in the centre of the work which catches the viewer’s eye. In the etymological sense, one is compelled to draw comparison between the Italian word “blood”, sangue, and the work’s reminder of the Sangro battle. In name and reality, the bloody and tragic humanity of this work and what it represents confronts the viewer.
51
38
PAT HANLY
$35,000 - 45,000
1932 - 2004 Cyclop and Bouquet Oil on board 54 x 85 Signed & dated 1960
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection Illustrated: p. 32 Hanly, Gregory O’Brien, Ron Sang Publications 2012 Cyclop and Bouquet is a superlative example from Hanly’s Fire Series: a collection created by the artist whilst living in London at the time of the Cold War. This painting possesses a wonderful energy, one borne of the unique language of poetic, lyrical surrealism which characterised this series, and technical finesse and passion with which Hanly manipulated colour. Art historical comparison has often been drawn between Hanly’s works of this period and Marc Chagall; this is certainly evident in the case of the present painting. The work affords an alluringly abstract quality. Two seemingly disconnected elements have been married together and presented, without explanation, as an ideological fait accompli. The viewer is immediately compelled into an alternative, surrealist reality in which a narrative between the disfigured human visage which has earned the title of Cyclop and a so-called bouquet which, channelling the apocalyptic qualities of the series, recalls both the form of a burning bush and the hopeful symbol of the tree of life.
52 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Hanly was now, for the first time, using the motif of the yacht: this symbol of freedom, one of personal significance in relation to his own experience of the water, of being on the Auckland harbour, would become iconic and recurrent in much of his later work. Hanly’s identity as a politically active artist is crucial to appreciating this work, for it lends extra significance to the impetus of his artistic remit. Cyclop and Bouquet, along with other works from this series, were created in response to the threat of nuclear war possible. Yet although the work was created in response to the threat of nuclear war, the defining characteristic of Cyclop and Bouquet in its conception of a hopeful alternative. This goes to the very heart of Hanly’s art. The yacht is a symbol of hope, of possible escape to a better reality. Through engaging mythological devices and imagery, we are presented with some alternative reality which reminds us of the possibility for human growth, escape and spiritual redefinition.
53
39
JOHN WEEKS
$25,000 - 35,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Important, Early & Rare, International Art Centre July 2010
1886 - 1965 Limestone Gorge, King Country Oil on board 62 x 85 Certificate of Authenticity affixed verso
Limestone Gorge, King Country is an extraordinarily similar composition to Limestone Gorge, King Country, Auckland Art Gallery Collection, illustrated p. 131 Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, Gil Docking, 1971. Docking writes: this work is a vigorous statement bearing on the area where he spent his first years in New Zealand. It summarises his search for design with big rhythms, colour orchestration and strong draughtsmanship. It was his wish to push beyond technical skill, beyond a superficial emulation of nature and towards an understanding of the inner meaning of the subject. The term King Country dates from the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s, when colonial forces invaded the Waikato and forces of the MÄ ori King movement withdrew south of what was called the aukati, or boundary, a line of pa alongside the Puniu River near Kihikihi. Land behind aukati remained native
54 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
territory, with Europeans warned they crossed it under threat of death. The King Country is the region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends from Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in the south, and from the Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto Ranges in the east to near the Tasman Sea in the west. It comprises hill country, large parts of which are forested. Weeks was an influential artist, both as a painter and a teacher in the New Zealand art scene from the 1930s until the 1960s. He was born in Devonshire, England and came to New Zealand at an early age. Weeks studied at Elam School of Fine Arts from 1908 to 1911. He was an extensive traveller, spending time in England, Australia, Europe and North Africa, studying at the Edinburgh College of Arts and Andre L'Hote's Academy in Paris before returning to teach at Elam in 1929.
55
LOT 40 CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE 1870 - 1947 ‘Rakapa‘ Memories An Arawa Chieftainess
56 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
See yonder curling clouds ascend From Hinemutu’s springs Like those soft mists Arise my loving sighs for thee! My soul springs forth in tears That dim my eyes And rolling flood my cheeks; Like gushing water founts they come, And in my lonely sleep The choking sobs are loosed And all my heart goes forth to thee. What parts us twain? Is it the tapu’s spell? Tis but an empty name, Light as the western breeze. My love will pass all bounds, Time, space and thought; My heart flies forth to thee And yet ’tis all in vain! We dwell apart! A song composed by Rakapa
57
40
CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE
$280,000 - 350,000
Provenance: Private Collection, England until mid 1940s Acquired by V E Donald, Masterton Private Collection, Auckland
1870 - 1947 Memories - An Arawa Chieftainess - Rakapa Oil on wood panel 20.1 x 15.1 Signed & dated 1910 Inscribed Rakapa on artist’s label; affixed verso
A newspaper article affixed verso reads: London, May 24, 1927. Another of Mr C F Goldie’s three Academy pictures has been sold. The purchaser is a lady who lives in the South of England. She has chosen Memories, a Chieftainess of the Arawa Maori. Even before the Royal Academy opened to the public, Mr Goldie’s An Aristrocrat - Atama Paparangi A Chieftain of the Rarawas - bore the distinctive red seal which indicates ‘Sold’. Memories was priced on the official chart at £262.10. Originally of Otaki, Rakapa married into Arawa and her waiata were and remain the songs of Rotorua Maori elders as well as those of the Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa. Rakapas’s family by marriage, fought for the colonial government in the North Island Land Wars of the mid-19th century.
58 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
C F Goldie chose to paint Rakapa on at least five occasions, three times in 1910 and twice in 1911. Another, but slightly smaller version is illustrated p. 215 C F Goldie: His Life & Painting, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen, 1979. Immaculately portrayed, the artist's masterful treatment of wrinkled skin and greying hair encourages closer scrutiny. This favoured subject bears traditional moko, pounamu/greenstone earings and talisman tiki. Rakapa was the daughter of Rangi-Topeora and Te Wehi-o-te rangi of Otaki. In the Wellington district Rangi-Topeora, of Ngati-Toa, was known as a great poetess. She gained celebrity for her masterful character and for the number of songs she composed and chanted, from affectionate addresses to her various lovers to virulent kai-oraora or cursing chants against her enemies. Her daughter Rakapa, of Otaki, who became the wife of the late Petera te Pukuatua, of the Arawa, inherited Topeora’s poetic gifts, and her waiata are favourite songs among the Rotorua elders.
59
41
GIROLAMO PIERI BALLATI NERLI
$6,000 - 8,000
1860 - 1926 Samoa Oil on canvas 34 x 54 Signed
60 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
42
VERA CUMMINGS
Provenance: Ex Estate of Mrs D. C. Pagan, Sydney. James R Lawson, Sydney Private Collection, Sydney Private Collection, Melbourne
1881 - 1949 Life Study, Chieftainess of the Arawa Tribe Oil on canvas 26 x 20.5 Signed Inscribed Chieftainess of the Arawa Tribe verso 10,000 - 15,000
61
43
MICHAEL SMITHER
b. 1939 Sarah Among the Cabbages Oil on board 90.5 x 103 Signed & dated 1967 $50,000 - 70,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Fine Art Auction, International Art Centre, Auckland, 05/03/1999
Michael Smither’s daughter Sarah was three at the time he painted this engaging work: a painting which can best be described as belonging to the category of domestic, fantastic realism. Sarah’s birth in 1964 marked a turning point in Smither’s own artistic philosophy and from that time we see his work assuming a more sentimental, vulnerably inclined focus, reflecting his own experience of family life. Sarah has been depicted quite literally, as a Cabbage Patch Kid. Tiny, blonde and ensconced in the garden. Her clothes and the blue-green brilliance of her eyes, make her at one with the environs – both with the anchoring blue of the garden wall, and the vivid, lush green of the cabbages. As observers of this painting, we sense is that she is not merely a child playing with her friend in the garden, but a product of nature itself, a being who is entirely at home among the cabbages. To contribute to this, Smither has distorted scale to such an extent that it is impossible to rationalise: Sarah is improbably tiny, and doesn’t even rise above the cabbages surrounding her.
62 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
There is another layer of awe and discovery within this work, and that is of Sarah’s own relationship with nature. In the same way Smither has articulated his desire to capture the beauty and wonder of his own reality as a father through the act of this painting, he has also documented Sarah’s awefilled experience and budding relationship with nature, as she quite literally attempts to capture, nurture and understand it in her own way – the bug on a leaf, in a jar. The New Zealand realist revival, of which Smither was a leading figure is herein beautifully encapsulated. The triumph of this work lies in the poetic juxtaposition which Smither has struck between a deeply intimate and sentimental portrait, and the formally-detached plasticity and modular realism of the scene.
63
44
64 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
44
RAY CHING
b. 1939 Drawing Is Possession/ Alice Through the Looking Glass Lets Flying Fish Swim Up Her Skirt (If They Want To) Oil, acrylic, pigment ink and ink on canvasboard 99 x 115 Signed & dated 2007
Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland
$35,000 - 45,000
Exhibited: Ray Ching, Autobiography Artis Gallery, Auckland, October 2008
45
ALAN PEARSON
$12,000 - 15,000
b. 1929 Convent Garden Opera House, 1984 Oil on canvas 83 x 61 Signed
Alan Pearson’s lifelong love of opera began when he heard Richard Wagner’s Tannhauser on the radio as a teenager. He is a singer; a bass-baritone who once sang in the 1960s for the Auckland Opera Company however painting became his preferred occupation. During time spent in London in the 1980s. After attending a performance at Covent Garden, Pearson saw a way of uniting his two loves, painting and opera. Access was gained to the Royal Opera house interior to draw and, remembering the enjoyment of many performances, he embarked on a series of paintings inspired by the on-stage dramas in his natural, vibrant Expressionism. The composition in Covent Garden Opera House, focuses on the stage and the balconies with abstract, animated figures that are interlocking intimations of collective joy. The figures move inside and outside the vortex above the stage into spatial time while the lyrically painted cast and audience, depicted in vivid colour, are evocative of the energy emanating from an entertaining performance. 45
65
46
MICHAEL SMITHER
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection Purchased from Canterbury Gallery, Christchurch Gallery stamp verso
b. 1939 Strainer, Tangelo, Teapot, Fork Oil on board 72 x 61.5 Signed $25,000 - 35,000
This still-life by Michael Smither belongs to a distinct period in the artist’s work when his paintings assumed an introspective quality. Fuelled by the harmonious potential of domestic subject matter, Smither instilled these works of the early 1990s with an almost imperceptible, but certainly meditative energy. The title, Strainer, Tangelo, Teapot, Fork accurately reflects the poetic simplicity and harmonious exchange through which simple domestic items have been afforded an aesthetic and artistic weightiness. Herein, scale, light and composition contribute to a hyperrealism of four objects, likely assembled from Smither’s own kitchen, which have been imbued with a luminary radiance and beauty. A single source of natural light is implied from the left hand side, casting dramatic shadows of an almost broody nature. Smither has accomplished this with great finesse, whilst at the same time manipulating light to delicately cast the reflection of the strainer and tangelo against the surface of the teapot.
66 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
This effect is heightened by the subtle and clever layers of contrast in the work: just as the repetitious rounded forms of the teapot, strainer and tangelo are offset by the linear elegance of the fork, the warm tones of the tangelo and teapot coolly exist within the tonal enclosures of the grey strainer and fork. Unassuming in its form and composition, there is a theatricality to this work which converges with the casual simplicity of both subject matter and arrangement. This theatrical quality, however, should not be conflated with the classical remit of still-life painting. For, whilst the tradition of still-life painting is one whose rich history is supercharged with symbolism (the most art historically significant example being that of 17th century Dutch still-life works and memento mori), Smither’s still-life does not serve to present a display of objects for collective symbolic and moral consideration, but rather to construct a metaphysical interchange of form, light and energy.
67
47
CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE
Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland
1870 - 1947 Tamaiti Tukino, A Chieftainess of the Ngatituwharetoa Tribe (aged 95 years) Oil on wood panel 20.1 x 15 Signed $250,000 - 350,000
Exhibited: Auckland Society of Arts 1919, no 127 Reference: p. 277 C F Goldie, His Life & Times, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen
The Maori portraits of Charles Frederick Goldie provide a magnificent historical insight into the life and times of New Zealand’s indigenous people. Goldie’s early art training was completed under the tutelage of Louis John Steele. In his early twenties he travelled to Paris to attend the Académie Julian and anatomy drawing at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts. On his return to Auckland Goldie shared a studio with his former teacher Steele and in 1898, working collectively they completed the historical Arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand. In 1900 Goldie held his first exhibition of Pakeha and Maori portraits in Auckland. From this time onwards Goldie began to execute his highly detailed renditions of Maori, often taking particular interest in those individuals of high rank or prominence within the Maori tribes. Over time he would study and paint several portraits of the same sitter. In this painting Goldie depicts the ninety-five year old Chieftainess of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa Tribe, Tamaiti Tūkino, a descendant of the paramount chief of the Tūwharetoa tribe Te Heuheu Tūkino, The Great (1780-1846). The tribe Ngāti Tūwharetoa takes its
68 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
name from this powerful chief who lived near present day Kawerau during the sixteenth century. Te Heuheu Tūkino descended from the lines of Te Arawa, the primary Iwi in the central North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Tūwharetoa’s tribal territory is located in the Lake Taupo water catchment area; Tamaiti Tūkino herself lived at Tokaanu. Goldie paints the Chieftainess wearing a traditional Maori cloak (korowai), greenstone pendant (hei tiki) and earring. These are all customary pieces for a person of status and honour. Tamaiti Tūkino’s detailed facial tattooing (tā moko) and the reed (raupo) wall in the background reference intrinsic parts of the Maori culture and its various art forms. Indeed, Goldie’s paintings depicting the Maori are recognised as important historical sources for the study of Polynesian art forms. Understandably, the works of Charles Goldie are generally regarded as the most effective portrayal of the Maori and their culture within the history of art. Tamaiti Tukino, A Chieftainess of the Ngatituwharetoa Tribe is an exemplary example of Goldie’s unrivalled talent for meticulous artistic mastery and diligent documentation of the Maori civilisation.
69
THREE RARE BRONZE SCULTURES BY ALAN INGHAM 1920 - 1994 LOTS 48 - 50
70 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Alan Ingham’s sculptures combine the formalism of British modernism in sculpture, with a unique and identifiably New Zealand lens. Early in his career, Ingham had been heavily influenced by the carvings of his contemporary Russell Clark. This formative engagement with Maori design and carving would bear out in both the aesthetic and philosophical concerns of his work. Also crucial to the development of his unique artistic identity was a European tour he embarked on in 1949. In the artist’s words: I’d planned my European tour by searching through my books of sculpture and finding where they were located….but constantly found other things of course, small Etruscan bronzes for example, that hadn’t been photographed or published. This opened up a whole new world for me. During the time Ingham lived in London he worked as an assistant to Henry Moore. Not only did this enable him to develop a mastery of the highly complicated bronze casting technique, but it informed his artistic worldview with Moore’s own ground-breaking advancements in modern British sculpture. Works by Ingham are rarely offered for sale, making the presentation of these sculptures for auction an exciting occurrence. They possess a certain languid elegance which, offset by the fluidity of their modern forms, speaks a timeless and unique language of New Zealand mannerism. These works are, quite simply, national sculptural treasures.
71
48
49
72 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
48
ALAN INGHAM
1920 - 1994 Reclining Figure Bronze, mounted to wooden base edition of 12, 22 x 25 Signed verso $6,000 - 8,000
49
ALAN INGHAM
$3,000 - 4,000
50
ALAN INGHAM
$30,000 - 40,000
1920 - 1994 Figure Study Unique bronze 23 x 15 on display stand Signed verso
1920 - 1994 Standing Figure Unique bronze 180 x 60 Signed & dated 1986 On wooden base 60 x 60 50
73
51
EVELYN PAGE
Provenance: Estate of Sylvia Constance Ashton-Warner MBE
1899 - 1988 Seated Nude, 1962 (Khura Skelton) Oil on canvas board 60 x 75 Signed $38,000 - 50,000
Seated Nude, 1962 is to be illustrated in the forthcoming, 2017 publication, Selected Letters of Denis Glover, ed. Sarah Shieff, Otago University Press. Sarah Shieff has identified the sitter as Khura Skelton, Denis Glover’s partner. Evelyn Page is renowned as one of New Zealand’s foremost colourists and for the independent conviction she maintained throughout her career. Through her early lessons and experiences in Christchurch Page became steeped in the lessons of the British School. Her own use of high-keyed colour dates from the late 1920s, possibly influenced by the return to Christchurch in 1925 of the artist’s friend Margaret Anderson after two years of travel full of enthusiasm for contemporary French and British painting. Then, by the 1960s she had also studied many of the key colourists of European Modernism, absorbing the colour lessons of Vuillard, Bonnard and Matisse, the compositional structures of Cézanne’s figure paintings and the luscious painterly structure of form achieved by Matthew Smith. However her responses to the mentors and possible influences of Modernism were wilfully independent. On the one hand she seemed impervious to the tendency of her peers to follow the innovative front lines of midcentury European Modernism; and on the other hand, even when she was embracing the discoveries of the Post-Impressionists, it was on her own terms, only responding to those aspects of their work that reinforced her own preoccupations with colour.
74 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
The decade of Seated Nude, 1962 was particularly rich for Evelyn Page, who was now in her sixties. Her children were grown; and she had created two environments that stimulated her creativity: the lime-edged orchard garden at Waikanae and the light-filled home in Hobson Street, Wellington. After more than four decades of working and painting she was finally receiving national recognition, for instance being included in the third Eight New Zealand Painters exhibition, toured by the Auckland City Art Gallery from October 1959. There was international regard too, when in 1962 the English art critic Sir Herbert Read and his wife came to dinner with Evelyn and Frederick Page at their Hobson Street home and he was impressed by one of the two nude paintings she made that year. By the early 1960s her joy at being able to use a setting such as her garden at Waikanae for many outdoor studies, nudes and figure groups was palpable in the paintings themselves. Seated Nude, 1962 is one such painting. Serene; showing the artist’s ability to absorb the structural lessons of Paul Cézanne and Matthew Smith without being a slave to either; and finding her way with a verdant and fleshy colour palette that is delicately haunted by French PostImpressionism and redolent of the New Zealand outdoors at the same time. More than an art history lesson, Seated Nude 1962 communicates Page’s joyful celebration of life. The painting was purchased by the artist’s friend novelist, autobiographer and educational pioneer Sylvia Ashton-Warner.
75
52
COLIN MCCAHON
Provenance: Private Collection, Nelson Sutor Gallery, Nelson, Loan Collection, label verso
1919 - 1987 Uruwera 8 Acrylic and sawdust on board 30.5 x 30 Signed & dated February 1969 Inscribed Urewera) sic verso $50,000 - 60,000
In 1968 Colin McCahon (1919-1987) and his wife Anne were driving along Highway 38 past Lake Waikaremoana and through the Urewera Ranges. The small series of Urewera paintings of the following year are the artist’s attempt to analyse the thrill and terror he experienced on that road trip. For it was a landscape first ‘seen’ in the face of possible calamity: “we came … through the Urewera country in pouring rain, wipers packed up, at least fifty slips, large and small on the road … and a great lot of luck not to slide sideways over the edge…. After our crossing I’m … scared to return but I think I must.” In the 1960s McCahon had a newfound appreciation of the connection of Maori to their lands, gained as a result of his daughter’s relationship with a young Maori man, and he would have sensed the redemptive potential of going back to the place he was scared of; of going into the wilderness as a site for self-exploration. As Gordon H. Brown recorded, in the 1960s McCahon intended his landscapes “to throw people into an involvement with the raw land, and also with raw paint … like spitting on the clay to open the blind man’s eyes.” What McCahon saw from behind the rain-washed car windscreen, and described in a letter to Anna Caselberg, was a land “for those who have learned how to cry.” A few years earlier he had experimented with adding
76 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
sand and sawdust to synthetic polymer paint in a group of small, square, almost pure black paintings. He returns to these techniques to analyse his experience of the Urewera’s dark, wet, cold vertical bush bluffs. In Urewera 8 green-black synthetic polymer impregnated with sawdust dominates the hillside and a saturated yellow ochre fills the sky space. Symbolically the sawdust permits McCahon to indicate, through the way the stipples catch and reflect light, that even the ‘darkness’ will be penetrated by the ‘light.’ But looking at the whole composition, it seems as if he has turned the landscape upside down. During his drive he says he could not see the sky – it was blotted out – instead the ‘light’ and terror came from a source below, indicated when he wrote that he was amazed they had not slid off the road several times and “down four or five hundred feet into foaming yellow ochre rivers and lakes.” Perhaps, and this may be startling, instead of looking up into a golden sky in this painting, we are looking down a steep slope and into the raging ochre waters. Perhaps. Nevertheless, whether we look down or up, it seems that McCahon is interested in creating an impression of instability and vertigo, resolved symbolically in the painting’s juxtaposition of a threatening blackgreen and a redemptive saturated golden light. Rob Garrett
77
53
GORDON WALTERS
$4,000 - 6,000
Provenance: Dr Allan Godfrey Collection
54
GRETCHEN ALBRECHT
1919 - 1995 Untitled Acrylic on paper 17.5 x 13 Signed & dated 1977
53
78 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
b. 1943 Radiance (red) Acrylic and oil on canvas 105 x 175 Signed, inscribed & dated 2010 verso $20,000 - 30,000 Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland since 2010
54
79
55
EDWARD FRISTROM
56
TOSSWILL WOOLLASTON
1864 - 1950 Low Tide, Remuera, Auckland Oil on board 24.2 x 30 Signed $4,000 - 6,000
1910 - 1998 The Hohonu Oil on board 81.1 x 121.5 Signed & dated 1965 $30,000 - 40,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland Sutor Gallery, Nelson, Loan Collection, label verso
55 Woollaston’s path to the vigorously compressed space of The Hohonu is a journey of artistic discovery that begins with his first excited childhood glimpse of Paul Cézanne’s post-impressionism. Recalling the importance of this moment in 1988 Toss Woollaston said: for some reason I couldn’t stop looking at that painting even though I didn’t know the name of Cézanne; and the book said these painters were very doubtful indeed. Hohonu is a range of mountains in Westland, rising abruptly behind the broad boulder-strewn Taramakau River next to the Otira Highway. It is less than an hours drive from Greymouth – which is where Woollaston had moved with his family in 1950 to take up his Rawleigh’s sales job in the hope that this would provide more secure income for his family than the seasonal orchard work in Nelson had done. Though the move was misjudged from a financial perspective, Greymouth provided artistic camaraderie at least as he joined the local sketching and painting group for regular excursions. This period was also when Woollaston had the courage to start painting larger works, on the encouragement of Christchurch’s first contemporary art dealer, Hungarian Andre Brooke. The Hohonu comes late in his Greymouth time, just a few years before he and the family returned to the Motueka area, buoyed by the new and highly supportive relationship with the then emerging gallerist Peter McLeavey.
80 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Woollaston’s artistic achievement is heroic when seen in light of his almost total isolation from the European influences which set a course towards his own brand of modernism. The first painting that truly excited him – the small, black and white Paul Cézanne self-portrait reproduced in Arthur Mee’s The Children’s Encyclopaedia – was followed by his studies of Cézanne in Love and Awe in R N Field’s Dunedin studio where the young artist was permitted to paint what you wanted to and then by his encounter with Munich trained Flora Scales. Only a few sessions with Scales confirmed Woollaston’s distrust of vanishing point perspective; and reinforced the importance of the flatness of the canvas, where objects lay against each other in a series of overlapping planes and where colours were no longer to imitate reality but to create harmonies. Nowadays, the idea that an artist could find his own way towards the avant-garde discoveries of modernism with so few, and only second-hand exposures to key influences, is extremely hard to imagine. Yet, in these few contacts Woollaston absorbed and surpassed the lessons of Cézanne. By the mid 1960s and The Hohonu, he was piling one leaning plane upon another; stacking the forms of the mountains which rise above the uptilted plane of the Taramakau River – so high that the summits press against the upper frame of the painting in a series of vigorous brush strokes that collapse distance and create painterly mass, presence and immediacy. Rob Garrett
56
81
57
PETER MCINTYRE
$8,000 - 12,000
1910 - 1995 St Marks Square, Venice Watercolour 52.5 x 70.5 Signed
82 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
58
PETER MCINTYRE
1910 - 1995 Whakapapa River Watercolour 53 x 71 Signed $18,000 - 26,000
58
83
59
59
WILLIAM HENRY RAWORTH
60
A AUSTEN DEANS
1821 - 1904 Lyttelton Watercolour 30 x 54 Signed
$8,000 - 12,000
Presentation plaque reads: A view of Mount Peel, South Canterbury, from the meat loader berth, at the port of Timaru, presented by the Timaru Harbour Board, 30th January 1969.
$2,500 - 3,500
84 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1915 - 2011 Mt Peel from Port of Timaru Oil on board 48 x 75 Signed & dated 1968
60
85
61
GARTH TAPPER
$4,000 - 6,000
1927 - 1999 McLauglins II Oil on board 40 x 50 Signed & dated 1979
86 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
62
CHARLES DECIUMUS BARRAUD 1822 - 1897 Portrait of a Dog (Louis) Oil on canvas 50 x 64 Signed & dated 1884 $5,000 - 10,000
87
63
88 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
63
DOROTHY KATE RICHMOND
$4,000 - 6,000
64
PETER MCINTYRE
$8,000 - 12,000
Provenance: Property of an Auckland Estate Purchased from International Art Centre, 2007
1861 - 1935 Anemones Watercolour 48 x 66 Signed & dated 1924
1910 - 1995 Girl with Straw Hat Oil on board 38 x 28 Signed
64
89
65
65
MARGARET OLROG STODDART
1865 - 1934 Franz Josef Glacier Watercolour 31 x 44 Signed $4,000 - 6,000
90 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
66
MARGARET OLROG STODDART 1865 - 1934 Water Lillies Watercolour 37 x 55 Signed & dated 1894 $10,000 - 15,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Taranaki Purchased in Christchurch c. 1984
66
91
67
RALPH HOTERE
$4,500 - 6,500
1931 - 2013 For Bill Manhire - Pine Mixed media on paper 70 x 50 Signed, inscribed For Bill Manhire & dated 1973
68
PETER MCINTYRE
$7,000 - 10,000
1910 - 1995 Daimler Outside the Club Watercolour 51 x 61 Signed 67
Provenance: From the estate of a former officer in the Office of Strategic Services during WWII - Acquired directly from the artist.
92 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
68
93
69
JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE
70
WILLIAM MATTHEW HODGKINS
1835 - 1913 Coastal Scene Watercolour 15 x 28 Signed $1,500 - 2,500
69
71
70
94 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1833 - 1898 Mt Sefton Watercolour 22 x 22 Signed & dated 1890 $1,000 - 2,000
SYDNEY LOUGH THOMPSON
1877 - 1973 Rocky Hill from Across the Matukituki River Oil on board 36.5 x 44.5 Signed $6,000 - 8,000
71
95
73
72
72
PATRICIA FRANCE
$3,500 - 4,500
1911 - 1995 A Difference of Opinion Gouache on paper 39 x 45 Signed
96 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
73
CHARLES ARTHUR WHEELER
Provenance: Purchased from Ferner Gallery, Auckland by present owner. Label affixed verso
New Zealand / Australia 1881 - 1977 Morning Stroll Oil on board 21 x 28 Signed $3,000 - 5,000
74
74
JOHN WEEKS
1886 - 1965 Untitled Abstract Landscape Oil on board 41 x 61.5 Certificate of Authenticity signed by Allan Swinton & Hilda E O’Connor $4,000 - 6,000
75
75
JOHN WEEKS
1886 - 1965 Maori Women, Rotorua Oil on board 75.5 x 60 Signed $6,000 - 10,000
97
76
98 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
79 78
78
MAUD SHERWOOD
$1,500 - 2,000
79
MAUD SHERWOOD
$800 - 1,200
80
MAUD SHERWOOD
$800 - 1,200
1880 - 1956 Still Life, Village Beyond Watercolour & Ink 45 x 34 Signed 77
76
MAUD SHERWOOD
$5,000 - 7,000
77
MAUD SHERWOOD
1880 - 1956 Portrait of the Artist’s Father, c. 1911 Oil on canvas board 43.5 x 26.5
$1,000 - 1,500
1880 - 1956 Mending the Nets, Cassis Watercolour 42 x 51.5 Signed
1880 - 1956 The Dancer Woodblock print, edition 9/75, 16 x 14 Signed & inscribed
1880 - 1956 Torre Quattro Bente, Capri Woodblock print, edition 2/75, 50 x 36.5 Signed & inscribed 80
99
81
ALICK RIDDELL STURROCK
$1,000 - 2,000
82
WILLIAM SWAINSON
$1,000 - 2,000
83
SIR FRANK BRANGWYN
Scottish 1885 - 1953 House Amongst Trees Oil on canvas 40 x 50 Signed
81
82
100 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1809 - 1884 First Court House, Petone Beach Pencil on paper 12.5 x 21 Signed & dated 1846
British 1867 - 1956 Market Scene, Tangiers Oil on canvas 45 x 53 Signed & dated 1904 $10,000 - 15,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Gisborne
83
101
84
85
102 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
86
84
$8,000 - 12,000
85
A AUSTEN DEANS
1915 - 2011 Mount Hutt, Canterbury Oil on board 40 x 70 Signed and dated 1968 $3,500 - 4,500
86
A AUSTEN DEANS
1915 - 2011 October Snow, Godley River Oil on board 48.5 x 119.5 Signed and dated 1972
DOUGLAS MACDIARMID
b. 1922 Untitled Landscape Oil on canvas 81 x 116 Signed & dated 2004
$2,500 - 3,500
87
PABLO PICASSO
Spanish 1881 - 1973 Illustrations for La Celestine Sugar aquatint, edition of 350, 10 x 7 1971 - plate 25 2.6.68
$1,500 - 2,500
Provenance: Barrington label affixed verso
87
103
88
104 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
88
TOM ESPLIN
1915 - 2005 The Old Fort, Giglio, Italy Oil on board 30 x 40 Inscribed on artist’s label affixed verso $3,000 - 5,000
89
TOM ESPLIN
90
TOM ESPLIN
1915 - 2005 Spring in Brittany Oil on board 23 x 37.5 Signed Inscribed on artist’s label affixed verso $3,000 - 4,000
89
1915 - 2005 Little Street in Falkland, Scotland Oil on board 23 x 37 Signed Inscribed on artist’s label affixed verso $3,000 - 4,000 90
105
92
92
MINA ARNDT
$800 - 1,500
93
JAMES FRASER SCOTT
$3,000 - 5,000
1885 - 1926 Sunset, Canterbury Pastel on paper 23 x 30 Signed
1878 - 1932 Lady in Blue Oil on canvas 100 x 76 Signed 91
91
JAMES PEELE
94
JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE
$1,000 - 2,000
$5,000 - 8,000
1847 - 1905 Track to Lake Ada, Milford Sound, New Zealand Oil on board 46 x 30 Signed
106 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1835 - 1913 Waimangu Geyser Watercolour 30 x 45 Signed
94
95
JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE
$4,500 - 6,500
1835 - 1913 Near Whangaroa Watercolour 32 x 52 Signed
93
95
107
97
96
97
E MERVYN TAYLOR
$1,500 - 2,500
1906 - 1964 Hills and Clouds Watercolour 27 x 29.5 Signed
96
JAMES TURKINGTON
98
JOHN TOLE
$2,500 - 3,500
$4,000 - 6,000
1895 - 1979 Rural Scene Oil on board 45 x 42 Signed
108 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
1890 - 1967 Lillies Oil on board 60 x 50 Signed
98
99
PRO HART
Australian 1928 - 2006 Untitled Outback Landscape Oil on board 48 x 32 Signed
99
$1,500 - 2,000
109
101 102 100
100
RAY CHING
b. 1939 Dusky Moorhen Pencil on paper 48.6 x 35 Signed, inscribed & dated 1980 $1,500 - 2,500
Exhibited: Halcyon Gallery for Wildlife & Conservation ‘97, at the Gas Hall Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Illustrated: p. 129 New Zealand Birds, An Artist’s Field Studies, Raymond Ching, Reed Methuen Publishing 1986
101
RAY CHING
b. 1939 Brown Quail Pencil on paper 54 x 36.5 Signed $1,500 - 2,500 Exhibited: Halcyon Gallery for Wildlife & Conservation ‘97, at the Gas Hall Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Illustrated: p. 117 New Zealand Birds, An Artist’s Field Studies, Raymond Ching, Reed Methuen Publishing 1986
110 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
102
RAY CHING
b. 1939 Black Shag Pencil on paper 47.5 x 38 Signed & inscribed $1,500 - 2,500
Exhibited: Halcyon Gallery for Wildlife & Conservation ‘97, at the Gas Hall Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Illustrated: p. 67 New Zealand Birds, An Artist’s Field Studies, Raymond Ching, Reed Methuen Publishing 1986
103
JOHN WEEKS
Provenance: Private Collection, acquired directly from the artist by current owners family
1886 - 1965 War Ruins, France Watercolour 13 x 19 Signed $1,000 - 1,500
103
104
JOHN WEEKS
Provenance: Private Collection, acquired directly from the artist by current owners family
1886 - 1965 War Ruins, France Watercolour 13 x 19 Signed $1,000 - 1,500
John Weeks enlisted in 1917 and served in France with the New Zealand Field Ambulance of the New Zealand Medical Corps. Medical personnel were part of all army operations and Weeks sustained injuries, breaking a leg and both arms. The Auckland Museum holds seven small watercolours painted by him whilst on active service in 1918. After the war, Weeks joined with fellow artists Francis McCracken and Robert Johnson touring some 250 paintings and drawings throughout New Zealand in The Soldiers’ Exhibition.
104
111
105
105
CHARLES NATHANIEL WORSLEY
$4,000 - 6,000
Provenance: Private Collection, Taranaki Purchased from Lewis Paape Gallery, Wellington circa 1985
106
JOHN WEEKS
$1,500 - 2,500
1862 - 1923 Auckland Harbour from Constituition Hill Watercolour 38 x 76 Signed
1886 - 1965 French Village Scene Oil on board 30 x 36
112 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
106
107
JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE
$3,000 - 5,000
1835 - 1913 Cowan Creek, Hawkesbury River & Mosman Harbour, Sydney, NSW - A pair Watercolour 16.5 x 32 each Signed
107
108
108
107
DOROTHY KATE RICHMOND
109
DOUGLAS BADCOCK
$2,000 - 3,000
$1,500 - 2,500
1861 - 1935 Lake Pukaki Looking Toward Mt Cook Watercolour 25 x 35 Signed & dated 1929
1922 - 2009 Looking North Oil on board 39.5 x 46.7 Signed
109
113
Brian Dahlberg
The First Novel, Port Jackson, Cape Colville & Great Barrier Island Oil on board 106 x 200 cm NEW WORKS AVAILABLE THIS SUMMER
202 PARNELL RD AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND TELEPHONE + 64 9 366 6045 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz
114 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
115
Sale categories at International Art Centre Important & Rare Art
Modern & Contemporary Art
Important & Rare auctions are the proven, preeminent sale category for major works offered through the New Zealand art market three times annually. As we fast approach our 50th year in business, experience continues to equal results. 2014 saw Important & Rare auctions realise five of New Zealand's top ten auction prices. The following year saw new records set with the two top prices in Auckland achieved. With the addition of record prices paid in April's recent sale International Art Centre has now achieved the three highest art auction prices in New Zealand history. With an appreciative, and greatly valued clientele of nationwide and international buyers and sellers we look forward to breaking new ground. Next sale April 2017
Twice a year our Modern & Contemporary Art auctions play an integral role in enabling market access to the most sought-after artists who have defined New Zealand’s art narrative over the past 50-years. The sale never fails to present an exciting offering of both painting and sculpture by a range of our modern and contemporary greats. Spanning that vital period from the establishment of midcentury modernism through to the cutting edge of our national contemporary art discourse, this is an acclaimed and significant event in the auction calendar. Our new state-of-the-art premises will ensure contemporary art is now exhibited and auctioned in a dynamic and appropriate environment. Next sale May 2017
Consign Now Richard Thomson Ph +64 9 379 4010 M. 0274 751 071 E. richard@artcntr.co.nz
Expertise Experience Results 116 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Always consigning / Always cataloguing Collectable & Affordable Art
Single Owner Auctions & Private Treaty Sales
The buzz generated by our regular Collectable Art auctions reflects the popularity of this sale: an event at which seasoned connoisseurs and budding collectors alike converge to appreciate one of the most eclectic and diverse offerings available to the market. Because this auction specifically caters to the more affordable end of the market - generally presenting works valued at $5,000 and less, this is an exciting opportunity to unearth some real treasures. Collectable Art auctions offer a number lower-priced works from highly-sought after artists in print and edition form, as well as quality works from artists whose presence on the secondary market is just beginning to crystallise. Next sale February 2017
From time to time, the secondary market is fortunate enough to be exposed to one of those rare collections which transcends the value of its individual works of art, and stands to represent something iconic in its entirety. Our team is well-versed in the process of offering single-owner collections for sale, and take pride in the process of curating a single-owner sale when the opportunity arises. We offer a targeted marketing campaign and maximise the use of both electronic and print-based collateral to effectively showcase such collections to maximum effect. The strong networks we have established locally and internationally are reflected in some of the private collections which have been entrusted to us in recent years, namely: the sale of the John Leech Collection, the Barry Pilcher Collection of Contemporary Art and a selection of works from the Fletcher Trust Collection.
Consign Now Luke Davies Ph +64 9 379 4010 E. luke@artcntr.co.nz
Decades of experience working with artists, vendors, collectors and institutions mean we possess a sound understanding of the best medium through which to present works to the auction market. For various reasons, you may consider it more appropriate or wish to sell an artwork privately, rather than presenting it publicly to the auction market. Guaranteeing confidence and discretion, our unparalleled and targeted access to a network of collectors means we are able to oversee private sales. For certain works, this has proven to be an especially effective method of sale; we encourage you to get in touch for an obligation-free discussion around the process and how we may best facilitate this.
117
✃
Subscribe to Auction Catalogues $77.50 Subscription price New Zealand Australia Rest of the World
NZ$ $77.50 $115.00 $165.00
Subscription include: 4 Important, Early & Rare catalogues 4 Contemporary & Collectable catalogues
Name
............................................................................................................................................................
Address
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................ Telephone
Please charge my Visa /Mastercard
find cheque enclosed
Expiry date ................/................. Signature ......................................................... Fax to +64 9 307 3421 or Post to International Art Centre PO Box 37344 Parnell Auckland 1151 Alternatively subscribe online www.fineartauction.co.nz or by calling Toll Free 0800 800 322 with credit card details
202 PARNELL ROAD AUCKL AND NEW ZEAL AND PH 09 379 4010 www.finear tauction.co.nz
✃
.
............................................................ email .................................................................................
118 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
Absentee Bid Form Important & Rare Wednesday 23 November 2016
✃
I instruct International Art Centre to bid on my behalf for the following lots up to the prices indicated below. My bids are to be executed at the lowest attainable price level. All bids are subject to Conditions of Sale printed in this catalogue. Alternatively, register then bid online www.fineartauction.co.nz
Registration Bidding Number Name Address Telephone
✃
Lot Number
Signature
Mobile
Artist & Title
...........................................................................................
Max. Bid $NZ excluding buyers premium
/
/ 2016
International Art Centre offers this service to clients unable to attend sale and is not responsible for error or failure to execute bids. Fax +64 9 307 3421 or post to PO Box 37344 Parnell, Auckland 1151 before 3pm day of sale
202 PARNELL ROAD AUCKL AND NEW ZEAL AND PH 09 379 4010 www.finear tauction.co.nz
119
Recent Prices Realised Prices quoted are fall of the hammer which attract buyers premium The Relocation Auction 14 July 2016 1 $8,000 2 $7,000 3 $5,400 4 $1,200 7 $950 8 $1,100 10 $1,100 11 $1,100 12 $4,750 13 $275 14 $3,400 19 $4,000 20 $100 22 $1,100 23 $650 24 $1,000 25 $400 26 $1,200 27 $1,100 28 $600 29 $375 30 $1,500 31 $1,100 32 $400 33 $1,300 34 $450 35 $575 36 $5,250 38 $500 39 $500 40 $6,000 41 $1,500 42 $1,200 43 $2,600 44 $4,250 45 $2,000 46 $300 47 $1,500 48 $4,000 49 $5,500 50 $4,000 51 $2,200 52 $350 53 $500 55 $3,000 56 $3,000 57 $1,500 58 $1,600 59 $1,600
60 $1,100 61 $550 62 $200 63 $600 64 $100 66 $4,500 67 $2,000 68 $900 69 $2,800 70 $1,600 72 $900 73 $800 74 $5,500 75 $2,250 76 $1,850 77 $400 78 $900 79 $6,500 80 $800 81 $1,050 82 $500 83 $1,600 84 $700 85 $600 86 $2,500 87 $520 89 $2,000 90 $700 91 $800 92 $1,100 94 $300 95 $700 96 $1,200 97 $800 98 $500 99 $700 100 $1,500 101 $800 102 $800 103 $800 104 $550 105 $350 107 $800 108 $400 109 $900 110 $1,500 112 $800 113 $850 114 $425 115 $1,000 116 $450 117 $350
118 $350 119 $950 120 $4,500 121 $450 122 $1,400 123 $350 124 $425 125 $700 126 $225 127 $425 128 $450 129 $950 131 $500 133 $500 134 $400 135 $500 136 $300 137 $175 138 $1,500 142 $500 143 $500 144 $1,650 146 $1,000 147 $575 148 $500 149 $1,000 150 $1,200 151 $1,400 152 $1,250 153 $400 154 $500 156 $600 157 $425 158 $250 159 $600 161 $350 162 $700 164 $450 165 $600 166 $650 167 $750 168 $320 169 $550 170 $600 Important & Rare 24 August 2016 1 $6,800 2 $3,000 3 $5,500 4 $10,500
www.fineartauction.co.nz 120 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
5 $5,000 6 $3,000 8 $4,000 9 $2,500 10 $3,800 11 $10,000 12 $14,250 15 $7,250 16 $3,400 17 $5,000 19 $4,750 20 $4,400 21 $12,750 22 $10,500 25 $21,500 26 $7,500 30 $110,000 31 $47,000 32 $52,500 33 $33,000 34 $300,000 36 $13,500 37 $40,000 38 $370,000 39 $22,000 40 $1,800 42 $80,000 43 $26,000 44 $37,500 45 $50,000 46 $8,400 47 $26,500 49 $64,000 50 $15,000 51 $4,250 52 $21,000 53 $9,500 56 $16,000 57 $4,600 60 $21,000 63 $4,100 64 $16,000 65 $22,500 66 $9,000 68 $14,000 69 $8,000 71 $4,000 72 $2,500 74 $4,500 75 $27,500 76 $18,000 77 $5,500
78 $8,800 79 $11,000 80 $3,300 81 $500 82 $2,400 83 $4,000 84 $3,600 85 $4,000 86 $4,250 87 $3,750 88 $3,750 89 $3,400 90 $14,750 91 $8,500 92 $4,000 93 $4,500 96 $5,100 97 $1,600 99 $7,000 102 $3,500 103 $5,000 104 $1,500 105 $4,200 106 $1,500 108 $3,850 109 $2,200 110 $800 112 $1,600 Modern & Contemporary Art 12 October 2016 1 4250 3 900 5 1500 6 150 7 175 8 150 9 150 11 1600 12 150 13 150 15 1000 16 7500 17 8000 18 9900 19 2450 20 3200 21 1500 22 1200
23 5000 24 1250 27 425 31 650 32 1900 34 1000 35 7500 38 4500 39 9000 40 6750 41 6000 43 7250 46 12000 47 9000 53 2000 57 2700 58 3500 59 2000 60 2800 61 2200 62 1600 63 3800 64 3000 65 1050 67 1000 68 17250 71 200 72 650 73 200 74 1400 75 1100 77 7800 78 2000 79 1800 81 550 82 3000 83 3500 84 200 86 1750 88 200 89 1125 90 3600 91 18000 92 13000 95 1400 96 400 97 525 98 950 99 520 100 4500 101 2000 103 400 106 1100
107 1750 109 800 110 800 112 3900 113 500 114 2050 115 400 117 600 118 1000 119 1000 120 1600 121 300 124 200 125 350 126 600 127 650 129 2200 130 1200 131 2300 132 3650 133 200 134 850 135 1200 136 1150 137 1400 138 2100 139 650 140 1400 141 550 142 250 143 400 146 350 147 1400 148 1000 149 500 150 250 151 700 152 4300 153 1500 155 1100 156 300 157 100 158 325 159 150 160 1600 161 675 162 2200
Conditions of Sale and A Guide to Buyers The highest bidder shall be the buyer. In the event of any dispute as to the bidding in respect of any lot, that lot may be offered again at the discretion of the auctioneer whose decision shall be absolute and final. The auctioneer has the right (i) to refuse any bid; (ii) to advance the bidding at his absolute discretion; (iii) to place a reserve on any lot; (iv) to place a bid or bids on behalf of the seller; (v) to withdraw any lot from sale; (vi) to require a successful bidder to pay forthwith the whole or any part of the purchase price. The auctioneer acts as the agent of the seller and neither he nor the seller shall be responsible for any defects or faults in any lot or for any errors of description or for genuineness or authenticity of any lot and no compensation shall be paid in respect of same. From the time of lot being sold, such lot will be the responsibility of the buyer. Successful bidders are required to pay for purchases immediately on completion of sale unless otherwise arranged. All intending buyers are required to register for a bidding number prior to auction commencing. Subscribers can use their permanent bidding number. We reserve the right to ask for identification if you are a first time client of International Art Centre. Each lot shall be paid for and removed at the buyers expense by no later than 5pm Friday 25 November 2016 unless otherwise arranged failing which the auctioneer and/or the seller shall have the right to forfeit any deposit paid by the buyer and to resell the lot either by public or private sale and any deficiency on costs of resale shall be borne by the defaulting buyer. No lot may be collected whilst auction is in progress. Payment can also not be made until completion of auction. SUBJECT BIDS When the auctioneer declares a lot ‘subject’ this means the bid is below the set reserve and is subject to vendor accepting, rejecting or negotiating the bid. International Art Centre will endeavour to make contact with the vendor immediately after sale or the following day. If the bid is accepted, the highest bidder is obligated to make purchase. ESTIMATES Estimates are provided for each entry and act as a guide only. They are prepared well in advance of sale and are subject to revision at any time. Estimates are based on hammer price and do not include buyers premium.
ABSENTEE BIDS Absentee bidding arranged - please refer to absentee bidding in back of catalogue. Fax to (09) 307 3421 or post to PO Box 37 344 Parnell before 3pm day of sale. Please do not be offended if a member of our staff ask for your credit card details as security. Absentee bids can also be left via our website to registered members. Our website www.fineartauction.co.nz acts as a useful auxiliary to the catalogue but we recommend inspection or a condition report prior to leaving a bid. Our staff will gladly supply you with a condition report on any lot. TELEPHONE BIDS Telephone bidding available to subscribers and registered bidders. There is no charge for this service. PAYMENT FACILITIES Eftpos: Available for transactions depending on your daily limit. Bank deposits: Bank instructions on invoice if paying by direct debit. Quote the Lot number(s) purchased and Surname as reference. Cheques: Accepted by known clients of International Art Centre or at our discretion. When posting cheques please ensure they are sent to the following address. International Art Centre PO Box 37 344 Parnell, Auckland 1151. Make cheque payable to ‘International Art Centre’. International Art Centre reserves the right to release goods once cheque proceeds have been cleared. Credit cards: Only Visa and Mastercard accepted - with a 2% surcharge. EXPORTING As a general rule, anyone exporting New Zealand works over 60 years of age should apply for an export certificate from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. This does not apply to non New Zealand works. For full details visit www.mch.govt.nz FREIGHT & PACKING International Art Centre arrange door to door delivery both nationally and internationally. Please arrange insurance on your items prior to them leaving our premises. OTHER ENQUIRIES Should you have any questions relating to the sale or if we can be of any other assistance please contact us during business hours on (09) 379 4010, Toll Free 0800 800 322 or email info@internationalartcentre.co.nz BUYERS PREMIUM 16.5% Buyers premium plus GST on premium applies to all lots. (Total buyers premium is 18.97% including GST)
121
Track to the Beach, Otama Oil on canvas 130 x 300 cm Simon Williams Exhibition Patterns of the Land 17 - 30 November
123
Index ALBRECHT G.................................................... 54
HANLY P................................ 2, 3, 10, 29, 35, 38,
SCOTT I........................................... 12, 17, 18, 27
ARNDT M.......................................................... 92
HART P............................................................. 99
SCOTT J F......................................................... 93
BADCOCK D................................................. 109
HIRST D............................................................. 31
SHERWOOD M W.................... 76, 77, 78, 79, 80
BARRAUD C D................................................. 62
HODGKINS W M.............................................. 70
SMITHER M........................................... 34, 43, 46
BENSEMANN L................................................. 32
HOTERE R....................................... 33, 36, 37, 67
STODDART M O......................................... 65, 66
BINNEY D................................................ 1, 15, 16
HOYTE J B C................................. 69, 94, 95, 107
STURROCK A R................................................ 81
BRANGWYN SIR F............................................ 83
INGHAM A........................................... 48, 49, 50
SWAINSON W.................................................. 82
BROWN N.......................... 11, 13, 14, 24, 25, 26
KELLY F.............................................................. 21
TAPPER G......................................................... 61
BULLMORE E.................................................... 23
MACDIARMID D.............................................. 86
TAYLOR E M...................................................... 97
CHING R.................................. 44, 100, 101, 102
MCCAHON C.................................................. 52
THOMPSON S L................................................ 71
CHRISTIE B.......................................................... 7
MCINTYRE P................................... 57, 58, 64, 68
TOLE J............................................................... 98
CLAIRMONT P................................................... 4
NERLI G P B...................................................... 41
TURKINGTON J................................................. 96
CUMMINGS V.................................................. 42
PAGE E............................................................. 51
WALSH J........................................................... 30
DEANS A A.......................................... 60, 84, 85
PARKER J SN.................................................. 5, 6
WALTERS G...................................................... 53
ESPLIN T................................................ 88, 89, 90
PEARSON A..................................................... 45
WEEKS J ....................... 39, 74, 75, 103, 104, 106
FRANCE P........................................................ 72
PEEBLES D........................................................ 22
WHEELER C A.................................................. 73
FRISTROM E...................................................... 55
PEELE J............................................................. 91
WILLIAMS M............................................... 20, 28
GOLDIE C F............................................... 40, 47
PICASSO P....................................................... 87
WOOLLASTON T.............................................. 56
GOOD R.......................................................... 19
RAWORTH W H................................................ 59
WORSLEY C N................................................ 105
GOPAS R (RUDI)............................................ 8, 9
RICHMOND D K...................................... 63, 108
124 Important & Rare Art Wednesday 23 November 2016
202 PARNELL RD AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND TEL +64 9 379 4010 FAX +64 9 307 3421 PO BOX 37 344 PARNELL AUCKLAND 1151 www.fineartauction.co.nz