At the start of the sale, the room turnout was noticeably less than usual but this soon filled up after the auction started with all seats taken and lots of clients standing at the back. The auction started well with strong bidding on contemporary photography from both phone and room bidders. A great result was achieved for (Lot 3 ), Michael Parekowhai, Amiens which achieved $20,000 hammer. This series of photographs were initially sold in dealer galleries for $3,000 in 2001 so this price shows the stellar rise that Michael Parekowhai has had over the last decade.
Other highlights in the first half of sale included a strong price for a series of Dick Frizzell paintings (Lot 18 ) illustrating The Magpies, an iconic New Zealand poem written in 1941 by Denis Glover. This set of six small paintings had a contemporary folk art feel and were very appealing. They were purchased by Dick Frizzell’s dealer so it may be fair to assume that the artist was keen to have them back in his own collection. The set made $20,000 hammer against a low estimate of $12,000.
The middle section of the sale included some of the higher priced lots and it was here that the sale results were patchy. A major work by Seraphine Pick, Hideout (Lot 23 ) exceeded reserve by $5,000 to make $50,000 hammer, almost an auction record, however the major works by McCahon, Hammond and Hotere were unsold leaving a dent in the low end estimate. Ben Plumbly, the auctioneer did well to coax bids out of the crowd and has some very close referrals to work with, but I’m sure he was wishing his vendors were slightly more flexible with their reserves as many works were passed in close to the low end estimate. The highest price in the sale was realised in this section by Colin McCahon, Helensville, (Lot 65 ) which realised $75,000 hammer.
The crowd was all waiting for the appearance of lot 77, Hampstead Terraces, by the Indian painter Frances Newton Souza which the auctioneer had advised at the beginning of the sale had no fewer that 9 registered telephone bidders. It’s moments like this that an auctioneer lives for – an attractively estimated painting, loads of international interest and the prospect of an exciting bidding duel. Lot 77 did not disappoint, with every available A+O staff member, permanent and casual drafted in to man the phones. The bidding opened at $23,000 and all the action was on the phones apart from a lone NZ room bidder who put in a couple of bids around the $50,000 mark but it was left up to the internationals to battle it out. The lot finally landed at $72,000 to a round of applause.
The sale finished very strongly with two works not usually seen in an Art + Object sale but were very welcome inclusions. Both were rare, of good quality and had lot of buyer interest. A New Zealand Sawmill (Lot 84 ) was by Dame Ngaio Marsh, the famous New Zealand crime writer who initially trained as an artist alongside Evelyn Page around 1920. She gave up painting to concentrate on writing and as a result very few of her paintings exist. So few have come on the market that she doesn’t have a listing on AASD. It was therefore no surprise that this work realised $7,000 hammer against a low estimate of $3,000. The final lot was by Robert Nettleton Field, (lot 85), The Cottage in Spring. This beautiful double sided work had mesmerising colour and a slightly surreal feel to it and is so unlike anything seen on the New Zealand art market in recent times. Three phone bidders fought it out to realise $9,500 hammer against a low end of $4,500. Happily for the New Zealand public, institutions have purchased both these works.
For those of us in the room, the sale felt like a success and it’s unfortunate the results don’t reflect the skill of the auctioneer to create a great atmosphere on the night and keep the sale moving through the tougher patches with humour. I’m sure that some post sale negotiation will see a vast change in the final result.
At the end of the sale the hammer total was $798,000 representing the sale of 32% by value and 49% by lot. Please note these figures do not include post sales.
