Adrian and Peter collected widely but this sale was by no way a textbook collection or an art history lesson in New Zealand art, but they did collect thematically, in favoured artists (McCahon, Shane Cotton, Max Gimblett among others) and sculpture (both large and small scale), early modernism (Francis Hodgkins, Christopher Wood and Raymond McIntyre) and a lot of contemporary art thrown in for good measure. This offering didn’t represent their whole collection either, some parts or works had been sold prior to auction.
Almost everything found favour with the buyers and the prices were extraordinary. Gallerist John Gow, who was a trusted advisor and friend to the couple was on the phone almost all night, bidding, one imagines for Adrian and Peter’s friends and acquaintances who may have wanted something to remember them by. For these buyers who could have also been one of the 1000 online bidders registered, price really was no object, paying sometimes double or triple gallery retail prices for comparable works.
With highlights too numerous to mention, almost everything is worthy of a place in this article but there are a few areas that stand out amongst all the new artist records. It was refreshing to see such a great collection of sculpture come to market. In a hint of things to come, the early lots by Paul Dibble (Lot 1 ), and Molly MacAlister all sold extremely well. Molly MacAlister's The Bird Watcher (Lot 4 ) is a case in point with this cast cement sculpture realising $63,000 against a $24,000 estimate. Either this work (or another from the edition) sold at Webb’s in late 2019 just $11,250. The major sculptural pieces were some the most exciting lots of the night with two monolithic figurative sculptures by Paul Dibble well surpassing the low estimate of $140,000 each to realise $274,000 (Lot 32 ) and $305,000 (Lot 33 ) respectively.
Located at Adrian’s Herne Bay residence, viewing for Michael Parekowhai’s A Peak in Darien (Lot 43 ) was by appointment, but that didn’t stop the potential buyers who turned out in force to bid on the 2011 Venice Biennale sculpture. With an estimate of $900,000-$1,400,000 this was by far the highest priced sculpture to be offered at auction in New Zealand, and the estimate was worthy of such a significant piece. With an online bid of $720,000 to kick things off, multiple bidders competed between phones, the room and online to land in the end at $1,700,000 setting numerous records but most importantly the highest price at auction and the highest price for a living artist at auction in New Zealand, a great achievement for a piece of New Zealand contemporary art.
Another record for a contemporary Maori artist was set by Shane Cotton’s Kaua e Raweke I Te Manu (Lot 47 ), a multi-layered masterpiece by the artist. To live with this painting, rich with detail and meaning would allow the work to reveal itself over time. Many bidders saw the value in the work, and with a $250,000 low estimate, the work seemed bound to exceed this. Once again much bidding on the various channels pushed the price high, to finally land at $510,000 well over the previous record of $252,000 set in 2016.
A museum quality painting, refreshingly still housed in its original frame by Russell Clark, (Lot 24 ) is a rare piece of New Zealand social realism depicting Maori seasonal workers from the late 1940s. Four phone lines competed as well as John Gow on the floor who channelled well known Australian auction room personality Dennis Savill by calling out gazumping $10,000 bids. A $70,000 estimate proved light, with the work finally realising $195,000 and lifting the bar for this period of New Zealand painting.
Colin McCahon was a favourite artist of the pair and their collection included four paintings in this sale, although one Waterfall (lot 51) was withdrawn. The three remaining examples were all of exceptional quality, with one St Mathew: Lightning (Lot 49 ) tipped to be the work prior to the sale that set the record for the highest price at auction. In recent years, the highest priced McCahons that have been offered at auction have failed to sell under the hammer with the exception of The Canoe Tainui which previously held the record for the top price at auction in 2016. With one bidder online and one on the phone, plus John Gow in the room, it did feel as if there wasn’t the same momentum for this painting as for some of the others in the sale, but it managed to sell just over the low estimate at $1,625,000, also surpassing the top price set earlier this year by Banksy at $1,455,000. More surprising was the interest in Entombment after Titian (Lot 50 ), an extremely rare and highly academic work from McCahon’s early career, the first of the religious paintings which shaped a significant part of his entire practice. These works come to market infrequently (only one other in at least 20 years) so it would have been difficult to estimate. Very strong bidding saw the work open almost right on low estimate at $400,000 and this continued in $10,000 rises, until the work was hammered at $910,000.
There is absolutely no question that the auction was a monumental success for both the beneficiaries of the estate of Adrian Burr and Peter Tatham, as well as Art + Object who on day one alone secured over $2 million in buyer’s premium. Single vendor sales like this take a huge amount of time and effort which is additional to the usual auction calendar and the work to coordinate it all in lockdown must have been difficult and stressful.
The sale across two days of art, furniture and decorative items realised $15,077,156 including BP, well in excess of any mixed-vendor or single vendor sale held in New Zealand. This sale alone represents almost half the turnover of the annual auction market in NZ. Over 30 individual artist records were set and the sale benchmarked prices for artists who have potentially been undervalued in the secondary market, such as Bill Hammond.
With such huge prices being achieved for artists in this sale and at Webb’s the following day, the question of a resale royalty payment back to artists has popped up on arts related social media channels after the weekend. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the developed world without either a resale royalty or copyright payment in our legislation. We may see this change in the future and it will be very interesting to see if this strong market momentum is replicated at the final round of sales for all the major auction houses before Christmas.
All prices quoted are hammer prices in $NZ unless otherwise indicated.
