At the International Art Centre Important & Rare sale on 26 March 2024 in Auckland, top price in the sale was realised by a signed version of Banksy’s well known image, Girl with Balloon (Lot 48 ). There are 150 of these from the edition of 600, which are more valuable than the 450 unsigned prints in the edition. The screenprint was sold on a lone bid of $500,000, left with the auction house prior to the sale
A small ink and wash drawing Landscape (Lot 3 ) dated 1949 by Colin McCahon, repatriated from Australia found favour with the buyers when it was bid to $20,000 against a $10,000 low estimate. Works from this early period of McCahon’s practice are hard to come by which could explain its popularity with the buyers.
Within this sale were a couple of small collections with solid provenance, including a selection of works consigned from the brother of artist, Ralph Hotere. The four works spanned a couple of decades, showing the development of the artist’s style from his highly abstract oil paintings of the 1960s, to the later works on paper of the 1990s, done primarily in oil stick, referencing locations from his local Dunedin area. All four pieces sold, Aramoana (Lot 13 ) achieved the highest price at $17,500.
A great photo in the catalogue of academic and scholar Patrick Hutchings, standing amongst sculptures by Peter Corlett in 1991, gave some hint of the man who owned some of the most interesting works in the sale. Patrick Hutchings was New Zealand born but lived most of his life in Australia. He was also the owner of some incredibly fresh works by Robin White, which had been kept unframed in a folio since the 1970s and arrived at the sale in absolutely pristine condition. This is something of a rarity for Robin White, whose works from this period often are faded so it was a real treat to see them in this state.
The most sought-after work from the collection was the classic silkscreen print, Florence and Harbour Cone (Lot 29 ), which had multiple bidders online, competing for the work. It sold well over estimate for $22,000 which is a record for this print and just shy of the artist’s top price for a print at auction.
A group of works by Michael Smither consigned from various vendors received a pre-sale boost, when IAC hosted a talk with the artist during the viewing period during which he discussed the consigned works in detail.
The major work of the group, Composition - Railway 1967 (Lot 37 ), an extensive view of the artist’s hometown of New Plymouth trumped the low estimate when a new online bidder entered the auction at $215,000 with one successful bid and won the lot. The low estimate was $200,000. Despite not being the artist’s most popular imagery from the period, these Tarankai paintings are generally sought after by clients. By comparison, a much later work Akmans (Lot 38 ) dating from the mid-2000’s which reinterpreted the artist’s earlier rock and stone paintings from the 1960s was passed in with no bid.
All eyes were on two paintings by C. F Goldie, after Art + Object had offered six works by the artist in a standalone sale the previous evening which had generated mixed results.
IAC generally do very well selling Goldie’s. They have a consistent pool of buyers on standby each time one is offered and this sale was no exception. The portrait of Rakapa Te Tara, Memories, Rakapa, an Arawa Chieftainess (Lot 41 ) was the smallest of Goldie’s standard portrait sizes measuring 19 x 15 cm, but had a pristine surface which really glowed. Recently offered at a sale at Sotheby’s in New York in 2023, with an estimate of $200,000 -$300,000, USD, the lot had gone unsold at that time.
Four bidders competed for the lot, including one couple in the room and three different online bidders, two of whom joined at the end of the bidding. From a low start of $350,000 (the low estimate was $450,000), the bidding moved through a variety of increments, at one point dropping to $1,000 rises which did slow down proceedings, but finally the hammer fell at $461,000 to an internet bidder.
The second painting Washing Clothes in a Warm Pool, Whakarewarewa (Lot 42 ) also sold above estimate to a different room buyer, who paid $107,500 for the work, against a $100,000 reserve.
Top price in the sale was realised by Banksy’s well known image Girl with Balloon (Lot 48 ). There are 150 of these from the edition of 600, which are more valuable than the 450 unsigned prints in the edition. A lone bid of $500,000 was left in the prior to the sale on the signed and editioned screenprint. As there were no further bids on the night, the sale was concluded to the absentee buyer. This was a great price for the work, which was a little more than the last result for another from the edition which sold in London last year.
An artist who is receiving more recognition after his death is Douglas MacDiarmid, thanks to the tireless efforts of his niece Anna Cahill who has been a strong advocate for his work. MacDiarmid was an early New Zealand modernist before moving to France and living there for most of his life and he still retained connections by regularly exhibiting in his home country. Two works in the IAC sale, were leading examples, especially Night Window 1967 (Lot 61 ), which has the strong illustrative quality and teal colour palette, often seen in works of that period. Multiple parties competed for the work, and it sold for $10,000 against a $5,000 reserve.
Other high quality works by J.B C Hoyte (Lot 64 ) and Charles Blomfield (Lot 65 ) , both top notch examples of the respective artists works failed to elicit a bid on the night which was surprising but a fascinating historical watercolour of Auckland from 1869 in incredible condition (Lot 66 ) by an unknown artist realised $5,700 against a $4,000 reserve.
With a short week upon us, IAC received many post sale offers for unsold works, including the sale of Gretchen Albrecht’s Night - Nomadic Geometries (Lot 25 ) on reserve at $80,000.
The mood in the sale room was interested and engaged and this was reflected in the very solid 64% sell through rate. Although some of the major lots failed to sell, these were works which had been seen recently at auction or were not exceptional examples of the artist’s work. Generally, the middle market (works estimated between $20,000 - $100,000) held up well with most lots selling around or just over low estimate.
In the day following the sale, IAC reported a sale total of $2,800,000 which includes their post sale transactions and buyer’s premium. Despite softening market conditions, I the IAC team there will be pleased with how their year has started.
All prices quoted are hammer price in $NZ unless otherwise noted.
