2021 has been a great year for women artists at auction and there are a couple of favourites who have had significant jumps in value in the past year. Louise Henderson, Jacqueline Fahey and Seraphine Pick were featured in this auction, consignments which had possibly come in on the back of great auction results both at Webb’s and other auction houses recently. Plus, Fahey, at the age of 92 has just commenced representation with powerhouse Auckland dealer gallery Gow Langsford and a recent exhibition in April 2021 sold out very quickly, cementing good interest in the artist. In this sale, three works by Fahey, placed toward the back of the sale had multiple room and phone bidders on each lot with the best result going to Can Painting Change Anything? (Lot 95 ), which realised $24,500 against a low estimate of $8,000 and a great return on the $6,000 which was paid for the work in 2007 at auction.
Pioneering modernist Louise Henderson also had excellent results with the dreamy fluid diptych painting Untitled c.1965 (Lot 67 ) selling in the room at $65,000, just shy of the low estimate but a huge jump from 2015 when the painting was sold as two separate works in The Ron Sang Collection at Art + Object. At that time, the combined total for the two was $15,000. Following on from the huge price Webb’s achieved for an abstract Louise Henderson watercolour in April 2021 which left many seasoned art watchers shaking their heads, another watercolour from the same period Flower Forms 1972 (Lot 69 ) also did well to realise $19,000 against a low estimate of $15,000. A couple more sales at this level and the benchmarked price might be here to stay.
A similar trend in the auction room has been seen for the important artists from the Maori Modernist movement. Buck Nin is one who belongs to this group and his work was represented in the recent Toi Tu Toi Ora exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery by an important painting depicting Whakaari /White Island. Two paintings consigned from the estate of the artist both received a huge amount of interest with spirited bidding coming from all areas including phones, internet, and the room. A very late work Untitled c.1989 (Lot 85 ) realised $45,000 against a low estimate of $18,000 and in an example of how quickly the market has moved, the second work Untitled c.1990 (Lot 86 ) sold for $65,000 to the internet, low estimate was $25,000. This work had been offered in 2019 with the same estimate of $25,000-$35,0000 at IAC and had gone unsold.
In other highlights, the group of works consigned from the collection of Tony Fomison’s mother also performed well. Fomison has long been undervalued when his contribution to the art history is considered. In the last few years, the market has begun to catch up and three of the four paintings sold well over estimates. The highest price was taken by the work with the most unusual medium, Self Portrait (1975) (Lot 56 ) was painted on a tea towel but more elegantly described in the catalogue as ‘oil on cloth on board’. This work was well contested by a room and phone bidder to realise $130,000 against a low estimate of $80,000. The more typical work Perriot/Dracula (Lot 57 ) painted in Fomison’s high chiaroscuro had more a few more bidders competing between the room and the phones and ended up selling for $95,000 against an $80,000 reserve.
One of the best works in the sale was Colin McCahon’s painting Jump E.4 one of the aforementioned Christchurch connection paintings. The best example of this series to come through auction, the estimate of $250,000-$350,000 was pretty fair. When the lot started at $180,000 there was a lot of bidding under the low estimate between the bidders however the action really slowed down right on reserve. The painting sold for $252,500 hammer, just one bid over reserve.
The other works with a Christchurch connection didn’t achieve such great results. The interesting but academic collection of works by Leo Bensemann all went unsold but the Rita Angus watercolour Portrait of Robert Irwin (Lot 37 ) consigned from the same collection sold high to make $32,500 from a start of $25,000.
The gloss also appears to have come off the Banksy market in New Zealand with the two offerings in this sale both failing to find a buyer on the night. Other editions of Jack and Jill (Lot 80 ) and Barcode (Lot 81 ) had been offered recently at IAC, with Barcode realising $95,000 a couple of weeks ago. There was just one phone bidder for each lot, and both were hammered subject well under low estimate and two days after the sale are still sitting as unsold on the online results.
A tot up of the auction results after the sale put the clearance rate on the night at 40% which is a lot lower than recent sales at Webb’s and other auction houses. The selection of stock was interesting but on reflection some of the estimates felt high. The late period rock pool painting by Michael Smither Three Rock Pools and Lava Flow 2004 (Lot 51 ) was a very commercially appealing picture and was touted in the presale publicity to hit a new record price but was sold subject in the room at $215,000 well under the low estimate of $250,000. It was the same story for Pat Hanly’s Torso V 1977 (Lot 54 ). Works from that series generally aren’t an easy sell and the estimate of $60,000-$80,000 was well above recent comparables. That painting also sold subject on the night for $47,500 and was transacted at this level the next day. If the estimates had of been set closer to the final selling price, there might have been a bit more engagement from buyers on some of these lots. With record numbers registering for the auction sales currently across the board, getting the buyers doesn’t seem to be a problem but they still want to see a well-priced estimate to go with the work.
All prices quoted are in $NZ and are hammer prices unless otherwise indicated.
