Alfred Henry O'Keefe New Zealand, 1858-1941
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About Alfred Henry O'Keefe
Born in Victoria in 1858, Alfred O'Keeffe moved to New Zealand with his family in 1862, and settled in Dunedin. He studied at Middle District School and then Dunedin School of Art, where he was taught by L. W. Wilson. He joined his father in the family hotel business before going to Paris in 1894 where he bcame a student of C. F. Goldie, and studied under Bougereau and Constant. He returned to New Zealand in 1895 where he taught art, privately at first, and then with the Dunedin School of Art. Best known for his flower studies and vivid portraits, he exhibited with the Otago Art Society. In the early 1920s he set up a barn studio with painter Mabel Hill.
The earliest auction listing we have for Alfred O'Keefe is in 1974 and in total 43 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 29 (67%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $26,764 for Portrait Study of Old Man Reading by Lamp Light sold by Dunbar Sloane in February 1994. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2022. Works by Alfred O'Keefe are held by the Auckland Art Gallery, Museum Of New Zealand and Christchurch Art Gallery.
Alfred Henry O'Keefe is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- Gil Docking, with additions by Michael Gunn covering 1970-90. Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, David Bateman Ltd., New Zealand, 1990 Page 68
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 187
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