Melvin Norman (Pat) Day New Zealand, 1923-2016
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Where to buy or sell art works by Pat Day
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About Pat Day
Born in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1923, Melvin Day studied at the Elam School of Arts and later at Victoria University and at the Courtauld Institute. He taught in London before being appointed director of the National Art Gallery, Wellington in 1968. In 1978 he was appointed government art historian. While a director of the gallery, Day continued painting and two retrospective exhibitions were held, one in 1970 in dunedin and in 1971 The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt. He was influenced by John Weeks, Spanish textural painting and American abstract expressionism.
The total number of works by Pat Day offered for sale by auction since 1977 is 150, of which 115 (77%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $54,292 for Somes Island, Wellington Harbour sold by Dunbar Sloane in June 2019. This year 5 works have been offered for sale. Works by Pat Day are held by the Auckland Art Gallery, Museum Of New Zealand and a further two major public national galleries (see list below).
Pat Day is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- Gil Docking, with additions by Michael Gunn covering 1970-90. Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, David Bateman Ltd., New Zealand, 1990 Page 172
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 61
- 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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