As most of the previous Banksy’s sold by IAC in 2020 have found homes in New Zealand it was going to be interesting to see whether so many consecutive works in a sale with could find similar homes or go further afield. The amazingly strong results being achieved for Banksy in 2020 isn’t limited to New Zealand. The results achieved at IAC this year reflect a worldwide phenomenon, the humour, graphic nature and political references in the works all finding form in an uncertain world gripped by Covid-19.
There was significant interest in all the Banksy lots from New Zealand and beyond, via telephone bidders and online which slowed the auction down considerably, taking 80 minutes to sell the first 38 lots. The highest prices were achieved by the major images unsurprisingly with Love is the Air (Lot 28 ) selling for $255,000 just shy of the international record for this work in the red colourway. Second highest price was for the fantastic Laugh Now (lot 33a) which sold to a New Zealand buyer in the room for $130,000. The eight works sold for a total of $862,500.
The sale wasn’t all about Banksy though and some other excellent results were found on the night in the traditional artworks that IAC has a strong market for.
A large and early view of Auckland from Mount Hobson, Remuera by J.C Hoyte (Lot 43 ) in pristine condition and colour almost doubled it’s low estimate to sell for $77,500, as did Frances Hodgkins’ very petite and pretty Figures in Hyde Park (Lot 44 ) which made $84,000 against a $50,000 low estimate, a great result considering the last time it was offered in 2012 it is recorded as unsold at $60,000.
Charles Blomfield’s paintings of the Pink and White Terraces pre eruption in 1886 continue to be sought. These scenes often appear in pairs and usually the pairs of works depicting the terraces sell for over $100,000 but this time, just one work, The White Terraces, Rotomahana (Lot 48 ) made the truly extraordinary price of $150,000.
New Zealand art history contains very few social realists and Garth Tapper and Trevor Moffitt are two of the best. This auction highlighted some excellent artworks by both artists which both achieved hearteningly strong prices.
Trevor Moffitt had three works in the sale and the best example was Miner Shaving (Lot 117 ) which came from his first major series of paintings started in 1962 and is so sparse in detail, it could almost be considered abstract. It sold for $16,000 which despite being just over low estimate is a very good price for a work of that size. By comparison Garth Tapper’s The Bushmen, Puhoi (Lot 60 ) sold for almost the same amount but was three times the size. This striking work bore a lot of similarities to another work by Garth Tapper, The Gum Diggers, which was sold just over a year ago, also at IAC. At the time, that work was bid well over estimate, and history repeated this week, with this work also being well contested by telephone bidders to make $17,000 against a low estimate of $12,000.
Noticeably all areas of the market were strong at the IAC sale and several records were set by contemporary artists who are still exhibiting. A classical Michael Hight painting Parihaka Road (Lot 21 ) of beehives with the added bonus of Parihaka mountain in the background sold for $37,000, well over its retail value and setting a new auction record in the process.
One of the best examples of Star Gossage’s work to be offered, Kia Tau Aki Tonu (Lot 26 ) also set a record for the artist. Two earlyish paintings by Bill Hammond Organ Donor Swappa Crate (Lot 24 ) and Organ Donor Swappa Crate 2 (Lot 23 ) took the prize for best future investment, the same buyer managing to nab both of these substantial paintings (just over 1.5m long each), with great colour and lots of dynamic detail for $15,000 each, well under the low estimate of $20,000.
It wouldn’t be an IAC sale without a mention of Charles Frederick Goldie and the results last night for all things Goldie didn’t disappoint. Two portraits had been consigned, one in particular Harieta Huirua, A Chieftainess of the Tuhourangi Tribe (Lot 37 ) was a really great example, from an excellent period of Goldie’s work with lots of luminous paint layers which Goldie is renowned for. A low bid at $300,000 kicked things off from the floor before turning into a three-way competition between the floor, the sheets and the internet. A fairly quick and efficient bidding duel in $10,000 rises led to the room bidder finding success at $430,000 – well over the low estimate of $350,000 but in line with recent comparable sales.
Riding on the wave of Goldie is his most well-known pupil Vera Cummings, who painted in the same style as the master but without the same level of skill or detail. There has been a pronounced uptick in her prices at auction in recent months, and the painting of Harata Rewiri Tarapata (Lot 39 ) sold for $32,000 against a low estimate of $8,000, just beating the result for another version of the same work which was offered in the last IAC sale and realised $30,000 which seemed incredible at the time.
Another area which has seen huge price rises are the C.F Goldie chromolithographs dating from the first half of the 20th century. These used to sell only a few years ago for $800-$1,500 but now are regularly bringing $4,000-$5,000 which seemed a pretty good price for a poster print but the two offered in the IAC sale this week had the added attraction of being housed in hand carved, vintage frames. This pushed the bidding to new heights, with A Good Joke (Lot 110 ) realising $14,000 and Patara Te Tuhi (Lot 111 ) making $15,000, prices I never could have predicted we’d have seen a few years back.
The final sale of the year for International Art Centre returned a truly phenomenal result of $3,088,200 hammer (over 3.6 million including buyer's premium), and although a good part of the sale total was underpinned by the Banksy’s, even without the sale of these eight prints the auction still would have sold in excess of $2 million which is a really incredible result in a very uncertain year.
