The evening started with the Friedlander collection and the first few lots included some of Marti’s own photographs, none of which had been offered at auction before with one exception. The estimates on each were very realistic and all of them sold over low estimate with spirited bidding. The most popular lot was Tony Fomison in front of his painting Omai (Lot 20 ), which realised $16,500 against a $5,000 reserve.
A small and very beautiful monoprint by Ralph Hotere, who was a personal and long-time friend of Marti Friedlander also sold well to realise $12,500 against a $6,000 reserve. Another elegant work by Hotere, Round Midnight (lot 15), bucked the trend for his lithographs, realising $12,500 against a $6,000 reserve. Perhaps the personal inscription dear Marti / Greetings from Ralph, Sept 2000 helped the price along. The major works in the collection sat towards the end of the sale and these didn’t fare as well on the night as the lower priced works. A large burnished steel window painting also by Ralph Hotere, Untitled Port Chalmers Painting (Lot 21 ), was sold subject at $57,500 against a $70,000 reserve. A woman bidding in the audience managed to secure McCahon’s Study of Kurow Hill (Lot 22 ) for $67,500 under the low estimate of $70,000 and Philip Clairmont’s Corner of the Bedroom Window (lot 23), sold right on low estimate $55,000 to an art dealer in the room. The highest priced work from the collection belonged to Australian artist Rosalie Gascoigne, also a friend of Marti Friedlander. Titled Flagged Down 1992 (Lot 24 ), it was estimated at $230,000-$320,000 and was passed in on the night at $180,000.
The total for the Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Collection was $351,000 including buyer’s premium.
Despite a bit of in room shuffling and movement at the end of the Friedlander sale, auctioneer Ben Plumbly moved straight onto the McCahon sale – it was Guy Fawkes and everyone wanted to get home to let off fireworks he quipped. The 21 lots consigned promised a varied sale, with a mixture of oils, works on paper and prints – some totally fresh to the market and some familiar faces. Hoeing Tobacco (Lot 101 ) was a real connoisseur’s picture, with a fabulous provenance – a hand cut potato print of a farmer, accompanied by a Christmas card from Colin and Anne McCahon to Rita Angus dating from around 1944. A rare and interesting item (only one other example is known in the Hocken library in Dunedin), it unfortunately didn’t find a home on the night and was sold subject at $8,000.
Two small oil paintings, Truth from the King Country (Lot 103 ) and Waterfall (Lot 105 ) both fared well with rapid fire bidding between phones and the room on each and both sold very well, realising $82,000 and $69,000 respectively. The size was appealing, both averaging 25 x 25 cm and were fairly fresh to the market and strong examples of their respective series.
By comparison Manukau 2 (Lot 104 ), has the dubious honour of being the most traded McCahon in recent years. Offered 7 times since 2001 at auction and only selling once at $40,000 in 2016, it once again returned to the auction room with a hefty price increase of $65,000-$85,000. It was sold subject on the night at $50,000.
Cross (Lot 109 ) (estimate $130,000-$180,000) delivered the most exciting and action- packed lot of the night with multiple bidders on the phone and in the room competing for the most admired work in the viewing. Starting at $100,000, the bidding went in $10,000 then $2,500 increments with a new bidder entering the fray at $170,000.
With two of the bidders standing beside each other in the room, the atmosphere was tense, with several ‘hammer down’ moments being superseded by someone changing their mind and the bidding continuing. It was finally all over at $212,000 and a great windfall for the owner who had purchased the work in 1971 from Peter MacLeavy Gallery in Wellington.
The headline work in the sale was the magnificent Elias will he come will he come to save him (Lot 111 ) repatriated from a private collection in Europe especially for the sale. The small series of Elias paintings are among McCahon’s most significant and valuable and are rare on the open market. Another work from the series held the record for McCahon’s work at auction until from 2009 until 2016 when Art + Object sold The Canoe Tainui for $1,350,000. The example in this sale was one of the largest in the series and had a very pleasing use of the cursive script and white highlighting which really made the painting sing. Interest on the night saw the work bid to $875,000, which was well below the low estimate of $1,000,000 but Art + Object hope to finalise the sale in the coming days.
The remaining major oil paintings achieved mixed results, with The First Bellini Madonna (Lot 112 ) selling solidly at its low estimate of $350,000 but South Canterbury Landscape (Lot 113 ) and Kauri Tree Tops (Lot 114 ) both selling subject to vendor approval. Somewhat predictably, the last few lots of prints all realised prices well above low estimate and the standout was the successful sale of the brand new edition Tomorrow will be the same but not as this (Lot 120 ). This print produced in an edition of 100 in 2019 by McCahon House Trust to be sold for fundraising and the edition was sold at the Auckland Art Fair in May for around $5,000 a piece unframed. This work realised $8,500 against a $5,500 reserve.
The sale total currently stands just under $1.8 million including buyer’s premium with 70% sold by volume for 21 lots, which is a handy addition to the Art + Object sales total for the year.
