The IAC sale included a generous offering of recent high achievers through their auction rooms, Michael Smither, C.F Goldie and Banksy as well as the first outing for the new IAC auction bidding app which allows clients to watch and bid live during the auction.
The first few lots featured Don Binney screenprints which predictably always sell well above estimate thus guaranteeing a buoyant start to the sale. Swoop of the Kotare, Wainamu (Lot 1 ) realised $17,000 against a low estimate of $12,000 and Kaiarara Kaka, Great Barrier (Lot 3 ) also sold well at $11,000 against a low estimate of $8,000.
The much anticipated Banksy screenprints, followed hot on the heels of three Banksy prints which were offered about six weeks ago at IAC. The previous three works were the subject of intense media interest and a number of room and phone bidders competed in a total frenzy amongst two TV crews and newspaper reporters to realise three world record prices on the night. The two works in this sale, Jack and Jill (Police Kids) (Lot 7 ) and Soup Can (Original) (Lot 8 ) were subject to less media hype but the results this time were even better than the last. These works both had Pictures of Walls and Artrepublic provenance but this time they carried the all important Pest Control authenticity. Jack and Jill, the only screenprint produced by Banksy which hasn’t been street graffitied, carried an estimate of $25,000-$35,000. Recent sales of the print in June and July in Japan and UK had seen prices of £23,000 and £38,0000 so the starting bid at $25,000 was reasonable. Multiple phone bidders then competed in $5,000 rises to $78,000 equalling the top price set in July in Japan. Soup Can (Original), is another edition of the same print offered by IAC in June which at that time fetched $52,000. This time, a determined and unrelenting room bidder absolutely crushed the competition to pay $120,000, double the price of the highest recorded sale set in July 2020 in the USA.
Another of the top selling lots of the sale was a large, powerful watercolour by Colin McCahon from the Earth/Earth Series, View from the Top of the Cliff, Muriwai 1971 (Lot 36 ) painted in deep crimson, showing the sky merging with the sea. It realised $110,000 just over low estimate to a bidder in the room and achieved the highest price for the series at auction. The two works consigned to the sale, painted by Michael Smither weren’t as commercially appealing as the most recent offerings appearing at auction, although both dated from the late 1960s, a golden period for Smither’s painting. Lovers, Dolphin and Yellow Ball 1969 (Lot 37 ) a whimsical painting of a man and woman frolicking naked with a dolphin and a ball was sold subject on the night at $110,000 and transacted the following day, at $10,000 under the low estimate. Doubting Thomas (Lot 39 ) a significant and powerful work, although probably best suited to the true Smither enthusiasts due to its graphic depiction of Thomas pushing his fingers into the wounds of Christ was unsold on the night with a low estimate of $140,000.
The first Goldie to appear at auction in a year was Memories, Rakapa (An Arawa Chieftainess) (Lot 40 ), estimated at $300,000-$400,000 sold with a lot of competition in the room, on the phone and via the new IAC bidding app. The internet buyer was bidding up to $350,000 which is the highest bid placed online for a New Zealand auction but the phone and the room were determined and the work was sold to the room for $455,000. The same room buyer also was successful in creating an instant Goldie collection with the acquisition of a conte drawing of Harata Rewiri Tarapata (Lot 41 ) which also sold well over its $50,000-$80,000 to realise $110,000. Another extraordinary result was achieved by Goldie’s well known pupil, Vera Cummings who painted portraits of Maori in the same style as Goldie. Harata Rewiri Tarapata (Lot 42 ) was one of the most popular lots of the sale with 12 absentee bids left on the sheets. Three further bidders competed against the starting bid of $21,000 against an estimate of $8,000-$12,000 to finally land at $30,000 and set a new record for the artist.
Other interesting results included a new auction record for a work by Tim Wilson, the painter of meticulous South Island landscapes which sell for huge prices at his gallery in Queenstown compared with his typical auction prices. Sadly, Tim Wilson had recently passed away and whether this had anything to do with the result of Lake Te Anau (Lot 77 ) is unknown but it was certainly an strong result with the painting selling for $46,000 against a low estimate of $20,000. Inexplicably (Lot 79 ), Milford Sound, also by Tim Wilson, passed in without a bid. The final lots of the night provided some of the most interesting auction action with two paintings by the naive painter Teuane Tibbo. The Samoan painter who exhibited alongside McCahon and Hotere in the early 1960s has generally achieved modest prices in the low thousands of dollars but these two lots Satele Splili Meeting House (Lot 93 ) and Landscape (94) both were subject to a flurry of bids from all areas to sell for $15,250 and $13,000 respectively, setting yet another new auction record.
A few days ago, I would have concluded that the result of the sale was an amazing post covid result, showing that glum economic projections hadn’t really started to play out in New Zealand. I now conclude that it was also a very lucky result, as it was an auction which benefitted from a three month golden period within NZ, our 100 days of being free from community transmission when life almost carried on as normal. With Auckland now in lockdown and speculation that the rest of the country is soon to follow, this auction result could well be the high point for the rest of the year.
All prices are hammer prices and expressed in $NZ.
