Roy Cowan New Zealand, 1918-2006
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Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by Roy Cowan
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About Roy Cowan
Born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1918, Roy Cowan was awarded the Association of Art Societies Scholarship in 1953 and studied at Slade School of Art in London, where he specialised in lithography. Returning from London in 1955 he taught at secondary level for 4 years, and then resigned to pursue his interest in art on a full time basis. A painter, ceramicist and lithographer, he created a large scale ceramic wall mural for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, and a mural for the foyer of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in Wellington. He was awarded the Governor-General Art Award and made a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in 1988. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to pottery, in the 2000 New Year Honours.
We have records of art auction sales by Roy Cowan from 1994 and in total 311 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 239 (77%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $20,011 for An impressive Lantern Vase sold by Art+Object in March 2023. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by Roy Cowan are held by the Museum Of New Zealand and Christchurch Art Gallery.
Roy Cowan is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 54
- The Find New Zealand Artists web site: a database of artist names that directs researchers to the rich resources found in New Zealand's libraries, art society exhibition histories and published sources.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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