The sure fire sellers were once again at lots 1 and 2 – with Insects (Lot 1 ) an excellent example of Rick Killeen’s ‘specimen drawer’ style watercolours dating from the late 1970s. Ever popular with buyers and this one in excellent condition, it realised $7,250 against a low estimate of $5,000. Lot 2 was another edition of the silkscreen print of Colin McCahons’ work Tomorrow will be the same but not as this (Lot 2 ), which was produced about two years ago as a fundraiser for McCahon House Trust and sold at the Auckland Art Fair for about $5,000. I’ve mentioned these prints in previous AASD articles as they have had a significant jump in price this year and have been selling in the $14,000-$15,000 range. The work this week set the record selling for $15,800 and the interest and prices paid for these works makes me wonder if the buyers have done their homework and understand what they are buying. Perhaps they believe they are purchasing a print or image produced by the artist? This is no fault of the auction houses as they are all catalogued correctly, but there does seem to be a bit of McCahon mania at present, and possibly people are buying without researching thoroughly.
A work consigned from the estate of modernist period artists John and June Ritchie gave a little taster of what was to come when the bulk of their estate is sold in a couple of weeks time in a new collectors sale at A+O. Mud Flat – Ohiwa (Lot 4 ) was a fantastic abstract colour study still in its original framing and it’s so rare to see good works like this in original condition, I really thought it may have sold better than the modest $2,400 it made, possibly John Ritchie was just a little too obscure for the buyers.
Another artist whose works can be hit or miss at auction is Geoff Thornley, one of New Zealand’s most consistent and pure abstractionist painters. His work often falls flat on the open market, really requiring an educated and sophisticated buyer, but the two works included in the sale which dated from an earlier period had more mainstream appeal. C.82 (lot 6) sold at the reserve in the room at $10,000 and the tondo shaped Construction 3/79 (Lot 7 ) was sold subject at $5,500.
Inching towards the more expensive works in the catalogue was the first of the works by Ralph Hotere in the sale, Untitled (From the Algerie Series) (Lot 20 ), again from the collection of John and June Ritchie who were friends and contemporaries of many of these well known artists. This was a difficult work, all in tones of burnt ochre and not looking like a classic Hotere that one might go for, but the estimate of $25,000-$40,000 proved about right when it was well contested by a couple in the room, against a phone bidder to realise $32,000.
Michael Parekowhai is back after a quieter 2020, with two significant works by the artist appearing in this catalogue. The Moment of Cubism bronze sculpture (Lot 29 ) is a unique bronze but has seven versions that were shown originally at Michael Lett Gallery in 2009. Of these, five have been offered at auction and the last version made $55,000 a big jump from when they sold for $25-28,000 only three years ago. The A+O lot managed to even top this, selling for $57,000 to an art consultant in the room. The second work Kiss the Baby Goodbye (Marquette) (Lot 30 ) was one of the sale highlights, a clever and sophisticated work which is still as significant and relevant to New Zealand’s cross cultural art dialogue as it was when it was created in the mid 1990s. Purchased from Gow Langsford Gallery for approximately $45,000 in 2001, the work was opened at $60,000, well under the estimate of $100,000-$150,000. Two bidders in the room and one on the phone, bid strongly before art consultant Sophie Coupland acquired it for a client for a new record price for the artist of $156,000.
One of the sale highlights was another piece of cross cultural referencing, Theo Schoon’s Untitled Mural (Lot 69 ) which was fresh from the recent Split Level View Finder exhibition which toured nationally and explored Theo Schoon’s place within New Zealand art. This magnificent mural, was originally created for the philatelic centre at the Rotorua Post Office in 1982 but had since been rehoused and was residing at the Tamatekapua Marae. The interest level was hard to gauge as the work is enormous, 1.6 metres high and 4.78 metres long, but that did not deter three bidders, nor did the estimate of $150,000-$250,000 which reflected the fact that that the work was the most significant by the artist to come to market. Three bidders, one on the phone and two in the room bid strongly and confidently in $10,000 rises from $100,000 all the way to $280,000 before the work was sold to a phone bidder. According to A+O it has been sold in a public institution, although we will need to wait a little longer to find out which one.
The previously mentioned McCahon mania was really evident during the sale and it wasn’t just the screen-print that did well. The auction contained seven works by the artist, the most of any artist included that night and they all sold. Landscape Multiple (Lot 62 ) from series of 12 images, some of which have been sold in the last 5 years between $25,000-$35,000 realised $59,000. Two similar North Otago works (Lot 63 ) (Lot 64 ) also from the collection of the Ritchie’s in a very harsh citric yellow colour palette, totally different from the usual green or black and white toned colour palette associated with the series both did very well to realised $68,000 and $64,000 respectively, well over the low estimate of $50,000 on each. A large Northland (Lot 65 ) painting repatriated from London also sold over low estimate to make $215,000.
As I didn't view the auction on the new A+O bidding app, I couldn’t gauge how efficient it was for online bidders, but it did appear a larger number of them are moving onto this platform even for the higher value lots.There have always been a few issues with online bidding since its introduction: it slows down the pace of the auction considerably and there can be a time lag between the auctioneer calling the bid and the client seeing it pop up on their screen. During this sale, I noted three or four occasions when the bidding had to be reopened as the internet bid had registered after the hammer went down or was coming down. The decision to reopen the bidding is at the discretion of the auctioneer and auctioneer Ben Plumbly must have been feeling generous at this auction, but perhaps on other occasions, the internet bidder may not get such a favourable result. With more people gravitating toward this platform for their own convenience, auction houses may need to rethink how they integrate online bidding into a live auction, as its very difficult to please everyone.
The sale overall performed well and the day following the sale, A+O were reporting a total of $1,757,150 hammer ($2,110,660 including BP) and a clearance rate of approximately 60% which includes some post sales, the total figures being comparable to Webb’s sale the previous night. If that’s not consistency in the art market, then I don’t know what is!
All prices are in $NZ and are hammer price unless otherwise noted.
