The highlight of the sale, and indeed perhaps in this round of auctions was the rare painting by Eileen Mayo, Sea Holly (Lot 45 ). An inventive artist, technically brilliant and a wonderful observer of animals and nature, Eileen Mayo has a cult following of dedicated buyers in New Zealand, Australia and Britain. Her prints are well known at auction, appearing frequently, however her paintings, especially from this Modernist period of the early 1940s painted in Britain under Henry Moore are rarely seen. The only comparable painting sold at auction was Lobster Pots, sold by Deutscher and Hackett in 2008 and realised $36,000 AUD hammer. Therefore the estimate of $25,000-$35,000 NZ seemed extremely reasonable especially when the work was viewed in person and appeared even better than the catalogue reproduction. A couple of phone bidders battled it out with a very determined room bidder who finally secured the work for $47,250 (hammer) and creating a new auction record for the artist. Although this was a fantastic price, it felt that on a different day, there could have had an even been a higher result.
This painting was the highest priced work of the sale and it’s fair to say that some of the higher priced paintings did struggle however there was a steady stream of sales between $10,000-$30,000 and there was a lot of interest in both the colonials and the traditional. Three of the four works by Frances Hodgkins sold including the charming early work Girl Feeding Poultry (Lot 44 ) which fetched $29,000 hammer. C.D Barraud Mt Ernslaw and Lake Wakatipu (Lot 46 ) was on its fourth outing at IAC, having been sold once a decade since 1971. This beautifully detailed watercolour with great original colour and size realised $40,000 hammer. It was nice to see the fortunes change for one of New Zealand’s most famous expatriate artists. Sydney Lough Thompson, best known for painting scenes of Concarneau in France in the 1920s can be very patchy at auction. IAC were blessed with some great examples including the very pretty Breton Girl (Lot 35 ) which realised $14,000 (hammer). In all, 5 of the 6 Sydney Lough Thompsons sold which was an excellent result for his work.
Although there were some pleasing results, the change in the economy could really be seen at the sale. IAC is usually blessed with a high proportion of the blue rinse brigade who have no problems putting their hands up to bid. Tonight however, there were slow phone bidders, clients wanting to split already split bids taking the increments in $50 rises at some points and a number of the contemporary artworks with no interest at all. Could this be the start of a change in the New Zealand art market?
If so, IAC really don’t have too much to fear. Their pricing is reasonable and attractive, reserves are low and they cater for a wide range of price brackets. If they keep going like this, they will be in a great position to ride out their next forty years in the auction business.
At the end of the sale the hammer price realised was $669,050 giving totals of 72% by value and a clearance rate of 68% by lot. Please note these figures do not include post sales.
