Max Gimblett's Bite of the Golden Snake (Lot 25 ) from 2011 sold for $38,000, well above the top estimate of $26,000 and another heavily gilded Gimblett painting this time entitled Nugget (Lot 26 ) and sold at the top estimate of $15,000. Further along in the catalogue, Choice, (Lot 50 ) another small shaped canvas from the Gimblett studio sold for $15,500 exceeding high estimate by $5,500 begging the question .....is gold the new black?.
The first of the international works to be offered was a beautiful still life entitled Flowers in a Blue Vase (Lot 35 ) by British artist Sir Cedric Morris. Selling for $210,000, it will be heading back to England. The painting was purchased in London in 1968 and has remained with the same family until now.
The sale featured two works by Charles F. Goldie and The Aristocrat… (lot 37), the smaller of the two sold for $395,000, just $5,000 short of the high estimate, while the larger Wharekauri Tahuna, a Chieftain of the Arawa Tribe (lot 38) sold at the lower end of the estimate range of $520,000 achieving the highest price of the evening.
The Goldies’ were followed by the two little gems by Raymond McIntyre whose works rarely come to the market. Consigned from the United Kingdom, both Cremorne Wharf (Lot 39 ) and Street Scene, London (Lot 40 ) sold to the same buyer on the phone for $38,000 and $34,000 respectively, above the top estimate for each of $30,000.
Both measuring 30 x 21 cm, these direct plein air paintings were typical of McIntyre's mature style and were mini masterworks.
Australian woman artist and printmaker Dorritt Black was represented by a rare blockprint entitled Air Travel Coconut Palms (Lot 44 ) which went to a phone bidder (no doubt from Australia) for $28,000 just below the top estimate of $30,000.
The catalogue cover, The Springtime of Life, 1890 (Lot 48 ), an oil on canvas by Italian born Girolamo Nerli failed to attract any bids and was passed in.
Bidding for three signed Francis Bacon photo lithographs of his tortured figure paintings from the early 1970's, Triptych, 1972 started at $30,000 and rose to $41,000, just over the low estimate of $40,000.
Internationally, Francis Bacon's paintings sell at auction for millions of dollars so it could be argued that these photolithographic reproductions of his paintings, produced well after the paintings themselves are little more than signed and editioned reproductions of his paintings and lacked any real meaty .substance.
Amongst works by women artists, A Street in Brittany (Lot 60 ) by Dorothy Richmond sold well for $16,000 as did A Days Work (Lot 61 ) by Flora Scales, also selling for $16,000
With the market never short of works by Peter McIntyre, this auction included seven. Top price was paid for Arrowtown (Lot 69 ), an oil painting depicting the town’s main street, which sold just $500 short of the top estimate of $26,000. A painting of the Rangitikei River (Lot 65 ) in the central North Island from a Christchurch collection sold for $22,000.
A small painting by Vera Cummings, Maori Elder with Pipe and Moko (Lot 102 ) measuring 19.5 x 14.5 cm and estimated at $6,000-9,000) sold well at $9,600 which concluded an interesting auction on a high note.
Overall, it was a very successful second auction for the International Art Centre for 2019, with the auction total of around $2.4 million, making it the most successful New Zealand sale so far this year.
All prices are in $NZ and are hammer prices.
