Luckily the ever popular Michael Parekowhai lightboxes The Bosom of Abraham were the first lots in the sale, (Lot 1 ) and (Lot 2 ), and these got the auction off to a good start selling for $8,250 and $7,400 respectively. The works by Parekowhai (of which there were seven in the sale) continued their dream run with You’re My Best Friend (Lot 14 ), (a c-type print diptych of substantial size) selling well in excess of its $20,000 low end to realise $35,000.
This was a spectacular rise from 2005, when this print last sold for $10,000 in a Dunbar Sloane Investment Art Sale. So many artworks are spruiked as great investments, most of them dubiously, so it’s reassuring when a gain actually materialises.
It was disappointing that the two Bill Henson photographs, (Lot 22 ) and (Lot 23 ), failed to sell on the night. Despite being an Australian photographer, A+O have had good results with his work in the past, easily selling some of his images around the $30,000 price bracket. Possibly the estimates on these two, which were in the mid $20,000's, were a little on the high side, with recent sales for lot 22 sitting more around the $Au18,000 mark. Although with A+O’s strong track record selling photography, after sales should see these away.
By A+O standards, the mid- section of the sale contained the more expensive works and drew plenty of solid bidding and some good results including Geoff Thornley, Construction (Lot 67 ) realising $15,000, a great result for an excellent painting by an artist who is underrated at auction. The large scale Max Gimblett, Island (Lot 73 ), exceeded its low end estimate by $10,000 to realise $35,000.
The C F Goldie pencil drawing titled ‘A Souvenir of New Zealand (Portrait of a Maori Smoking)’ (Lot 53 ) provided a bright spot in the evening. This pencil drawing was from a group of three drawings from an Auckland estate. The first two drawings failed to sell but the third, the most detailed and significant piece with an excellent provenance well exceeded its low end estimate of $20,000 to sell for $43,000. Drawings of this quality and detail rarely come on the market so its selling price was well deserved and set a new auction record for a Goldie work on paper.
The highest auction price also came from this mid-section and belonged to Colin McCahon, Cross 1, (Lot 55 ), a previously unrecorded image which has been in a private collection since it was purchased. The bidding was slow but steady and the painting finally achieved $83,000 against a low end of $80,000.
It was the Untitled sculpture by Arnold Manaaki Wilson (Lot 75 ), which really stole the show though. Arnold Wilson was a major player in the New Zealand art scene in the mid twentieth century and beyond. He was one of the first Maori artists to work with sculpture in a non traditional format and was strongly influenced by international art movements and used these influences in his teaching as well.
Despite none of his works appearing for sale at auction before, (none are listed on AASD, but perhaps they are usually sold in decorative arts sales) the estimate on the piece was $12,000-$16,000. The lack of previous sales only added to the works appeal and it was strongly contested in the room to sell for $37,000. It would be a perfect choice for an institution so let's hope that’s where it’s headed.
The final highlight of the sale was the rare Ian Scott Two Worlds (Lot 111 ) from the Girlie Series of the late 1960s. In this series, Ian Scott was exploring ideas of pop art and used images of models and magazine pin ups set in a stylised New Zealand landscape. This is an important series within New Zealand art history and other works from this series are held in major public collections.
Works from this series rarely appear at auction, the last major work was in 2005. This painting had a low end of $12,000 and had a number of bids via the phone, book and room to achieve $17,000. The buyers of the work have another one from the series and are friends with the Scott family, so it was a perfect end for a fantastic painting.
Although the sale was a little tougher than usual for A+O, the auction moved along at a good pace with Ben Plumbly knowing when not to linger. The mid-winter auctions can be difficult to consign and sell so this was a very solid result for A+O, especially as they had more artworks priced in the lower to mid range and not as many ‘blockbuster’ paintings as they have had in previous sales.
The auction realised $859,000 hammer which is 52% by value and 51% by lot.
All prices are expressed in New Zealand dollars unless otherwise indicated.
