IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00PM TUESDAY 30 MARCH by International Art Centre

IMPORTANT & RARE ART Auction 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March 2021

2 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Lot 46 Gretchen Albrecht

Lot 37 Michael Smither

Lot 40 Michael Smither

4 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March Viewing Times International Art Centre, 202 Parnell Road, Auckland Wednesday

24 March

11:00am - 5:00pm

Thursday

25 March

9:00am - 5:30pm

Friday

26 March

9:00am - 5:30pm

Saturday

27 March

10:00am - 4:00pm

Sunday

28 March

11:00am - 4:00pm

Monday

29 March

9:00am - 5:30pm

Tuesday

30 March

9:00am - 5:00pm

Parking During Viewing: Allocated carparks located directly behind International Art Centre Parking During Auction: Upper and lower carparks at rear of International Art Centre Further parking at St John’s Car Park, entry at 244 Parnell Road, 40 metres up from International Art Centre

Cover illustration: Lot 27 Banksy Back cover illustration: Lot 11 Max Gimblett

202 Parnell Road, Auckland, New Zealand Telephone + 64 9 379 4010 Toll Free 0800 800 322 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz

Lot 44 Toss Woollaston

6 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Contacts Richard Thomson Ph +64 9 379 4010 richard@artcntr.co.nz Mobile 0274 751 071 Maggie Skelton Ph +64 9 379 4010 maggie@artcntr.co.nz Luke Davies Ph +64 9 379 4010 luke@artcntr.co.nz If you are unable to attend the live auction register directly with International Art Centre’s online bidding platform www.internationalartcentre.co.nz Visit www.internationalartcentre.co.nz for instructions. With a single sign on you can easily browse catalogues, watch lots and place bids all from the comfort of your mobile device or computer. Conditions of Sale p. 149 Absentee & telephone bids p. 139

202 Parnell Road, Auckland, New Zealand Telephone + 64 9 379 4010 Toll Free 0800 800 322 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz

COLLECTABLE ART 24 FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS Our 50th year in Parnell commenced with an exciting auction and a paperless catalogue. Once again the online bidding platform and App played a vital and increasing role in the success of the sale with a record number of online registrations received. In the spirit of constant refinement and improvement a newly introduced video link to the auction room meant that those who had been watching the slightly delayed livestream on Facebook, could now simply register on our platform to view and participate remotely in real time using our App. Several auction records were achieved including the following; a work by Ted Dutch

fetched $7,810, Charles McPhee fetched $9,540 and Neil Driver fetched $10,570. For International Art Centre, the current climate has clearly confirmed the advantages and benefits of operating with flexibility. We thank our friends, clients and colleagues for their patience and understanding as we continue to explore and adopt the multiple options offered by digital technology. December 2020 saw our first Hybrid auction supported by a paperless catalogue and virtual auctioneer. The recent February sale was an occasion to welcome clients back to the sale room to enjoy live auction bidding.

Banksy $1,954 Charles McPhee $9,530

Neil Driver $10,570

Jacqueline Fahey $19,220

8 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

IAN SCOTT $19,540

PETER STICHBURY $10,510 DICK FRIZZELL $17,415

BANKSY $6,105

GARTH TAPPER $3,355

TED DUTCH $7,510 OWEN MERTON $11,110 BILL HAMMOND $5,405

GORDON WALTERS $16,815

RICHARD LEWER $2,520

HUGH SAWREY $4,090

2020 - A REMARKABLE YEAR - thank you OUR TOP PRICES ACHIEVED IN 2020 (1) Charles F Goldie Memories realised $546,540 | August 2020 (2) Charles F Goldie Harieta Huirua, 1921 realised $516,537 | November (3) Banksy Love is in the Air, 2003 realised $306,318 | November & Charles F Goldie Tumai Tawhiti - not illustrated realised $306,318 | November

Art has long provided a myriad of benefits; inspiration, investment and enjoyment to name but a few. In 2020, the viewing and acquisition of an admired work of art provided both visual shelter from the storm and a silver lining for art lovers and investors alike. Recognising that within every challenge lies opportunity, the early implementation of our own App and online bidding platform was met with confidence and action by buyers and sellers alike. With the achievement of New Zealand’s highest sale total of the year, ($3.6 million November) and the highest single price of the year, ($546,000 for a 1920’s portrait by Charles F Goldie, August) 2020 proved to be one of our most memorable of our 50 years. With six live auctions and six online only auctions, record prices were attained in all genres and International Art Centre’s strengthening position in the Contemporary New Zealand art market was clearly evident. For the second consecutive year, the highest price for a work by a living artist, (Michael Smither’s Still Life with Green Plastic Plate, $216,210 November) was achieved on the floor of our Parnell premises. Headlines were made and excitement engendered by the sale of works by elusive British street artist Banksy. Interest from around the globe saw numerous records achieved for his screen prints as Banksy sales at International Art Centre since June, totalled $1.7 million. Banksy is truly a global phenomenon, the most sought after artist of his generation. Banksy say’s A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.

10 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

(4) Michael Smither Still Life with Plastic Plate realised $216,210 | November (5) Philip Clairmont Still Life realised $180,180 | May (6) Charles Blomfield White Terraces, 1885 $174,170 | November (7) Grahame Sydney Rock of Ages realised $168,000 | May 2020 (8) Banksy Laugh Now realised $156,150 | November 2020 (9) Banksy Soup Can realised $144,140 | August 2020 (10) Michael Smither Lovers, Dolphin and Yellow Ball realised $132,130 | August 2020 (11) Colin McCahon Top of the Cliff, Muriwai realised $132,130 | August 2020 & Charles F Goldie Harata Rewiri Tarapata drawing - not illustrated realised $132,130 | August 2020

2 10 7

ONLINE BIDDING FOR THIS AUCTION

Visit auctions.internationalartcentre.co.nz to register on our online bidding platform

Apple users may download the International Art Centre App from the App store

Android users download from Googleplay

Our bidding platform allows you to browse catalogues, enjoy auctions in real time and place bids from anywhere in the world

Bid from a computer

Bid anywhere from a device

Please note there is a 2% surcharge to use this bidding option for Live auctions

12 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Brian Dahlberg | Shards Of White, Cape Kidnappers | Oil on board | 61 x 94 cm | $8,500

CUBIS T 4 EXH I BI T I O N Currently On View In vite d Ar tis ts Bri a n Da hlber g | J ames Wat kins | Tim o n M a xe y | P a tte r s o n P a r k in | Rus s e ll Ho lli ngs

202 Parnell Road Parnell Auckland 1052 | 09 366 6045 | www.internationalartcentre.co.nz | fran@artcntr.co.nz 13

WORKS FROM THE COLLECTION OF GALLERIST JUDITH ANDERSON LOTS 1 - 8 I believe my love of art was ignited by a lovely neighbour who had attended Elam when luminaries such as John Weeks and A Lois White taught there. She would often come and draw me and my babies. Over the years I managed to visit galleries in the city. Denis Cohn, Rodney Kirk Smith and Peter Webb were forging the path for contemporary galleries.

I am most proud of the Pacifica exhibition showing Chris Charteris and Nikki Hastings McFall amongst other Pacifica artists.

Finally, I began working for Ferner Galleries where I learned the nuts and bolts of the art industry. I opened my first gallery in 1989 working from my shabby old villa in Ponsonby. Moving to large airy premises in Wellesley Street was a big deal. In 1994 John Pule had his first exhibition with me. What marvellous canvases they were.

Relocating to Hawke’s Bay was an enormous challenge and yet somehow, we made a success of it. An historic home and a large purpose-built barn gallery. We mounted some wonderful exhibitions, inviting artist to stay and introducing very different art to the locals! I finally retired just before my 70th birthday marking a lifetime of passion in the world of art. Judith Anderson

ANN SHELTON (b. 1967) Frederick B Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth. Scrapbooks from Hotels 1956 September – November to Petrol 1944 November – 1946 May, 2006 C Type print, edition 1/3, 136.5 x 96.5 $6,500 - 8,500

PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection Purchased from Norsewear Art Awards, 2006 Number 3/3 is held in the collection of the Chartwell Trust EXHIBITED A Library to Scale, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 28 July — 9 September 2007 Ann Shelton’s photographic installation exhibition A Library to Scale examined the scrapbook collection of Taranaki bibliophile, Frederick B. Butler

14 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

From about four galleries operating when I opened, there were around forty when we left Auckland in 2005. Fifteen wonderful years.

PARATENE MATCHITT (b. 1933) Horse No. 41 Oil on wood 207 x 305 x 5 Signed & dated 2011 verso $25,000 - 35,000

PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection

EXHIBITED Game On, Hastings City Art Gallery Te Whare Toi O Heretaunga, 2012

16 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

3 PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection EXHIBITED Peter Peryer, Sue Crockford Gallery, Auckland, 7-24 September 1993 Second Nature, City Gallery, Wellington (toured internationally), 1995-97 Paradise Now?: Contemporary Art from the Pacific, Asia Society Museum, New York, 18 February - 9 May 2004 LITERATURE Peter Peryer, Second Nature Zurich: Edition Stemmle, 1995 Peter Peryer: Photographer Auckland University Press, 2008 COLLECTIONS Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui (acquired 1993); Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (acquired 1996)

18 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

PETER PERYER (1941 - 2019) Edward Bullmore’s Launch (Lake Tarawera), 1993 Gelatin silver print 43 x 28 Signed, inscribed & dated 1993 verso $5,000 - 7,000

PETER PERYER (1941 - 2019) The Three Monkeys Digital print, edition 9/15, 18.7 x 45.2 Signed, inscribed Taken at Nikko Japan & dated 2000 verso $1,500 - 2,500

PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection 5 PETER PERYER (1941 - 2019) Coelacanth Digital pigment print on paper, edition 9/15, 33 x 48 Signed, inscribed Taken at the National Science Museum Tokyo & dated 11/4/00 verso $ 1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection

WARREN VISCOE (b. 1935) The Bather Wooden sculpture 146 x 65 x 24 $6,000 -8,000

PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection

7 SEAN SCULLY (Irish / American b. 1945) This This Etching, aquatint in colour on wove paper 8.8 x 12.6 (image size) 37 x 27,5 ( paper size) Edition 17/50, published by Burnet Editions NYC Signed, inscribed This This & dated 1996 $3,000 - 5,000 PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection Purchased from Timothy Taylor, London Sean Scully is an American-Irish artist internationally recognised for his distinctive abstract compositions that interrogate the properties of light, colour and form. Scully studied painting at Croydon College of Art, London and Newcastle University, where he began to work in abstraction. During a trip to Morocco in 1969, he was strongly influenced by the local textiles and rich colours of the region which he translated into the broad, horizontal stripes and deep earth tones that characterise his mature style. Scully’s travels throughout Morocco and Mexico would also prompt his decision to move from minimalism to a more emotional form of abstraction. Following fellowships in 1972 and 1975 at Harvard University, Scully’s paintings became increasingly monumental and sculptural, consisting of interconnected threedimensional panels that anticipated his later sculpture practice. In 1984 he began to develop the Wall of Light series, replacing the precise stripes of his early paintings with solid blocks of colour, built with increasingly loose and feathered brushstrokes into vertical and horizontal ‘bricks’ that suggest a wall of stone. Subtle differences in colour in the paintings indicate the location in which they were created, the changing seasons and the artist’s own emotions. This series formed the subject of a major touring exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 2007.

20 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

In 1984 Scully achieved an international breakthrough with his inclusion in the major group exhibition An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1985, several major American museums began to acquire the artist’s paintings and he received his first solo museum exhibition at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In recent years Scully has turned to sculpture, working in steel and stone to create colossal structures that engage with the unique energy and history of their location. As in his paintings, Scully’s sculptures feature individual rectangular sections that slot together, maintaining his ongoing interest in interlocking brick forms. Scully has received numerous awards for his work, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (1983) and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1984). He was elected a Royal Academician in 2013 and has twice been shortlisted for the Turner Prize, firstly in 1989 and again in 1993. A major retrospective toured multiple venues in China between 2015 - 2017.

22 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

MICHAEL SMITHER (b. 1939) Blue Mast II (Okahu Bay) Oil on board 120 x 62 Signed & dated 1998 $16,000 - 22,000

PROVENANCE Judith Anderson Collection Purchased directly from the artist c. 1998

9 DORIS LUSK (1916 - 90) Sketch for Sunset Demolition Mixed media on paper 41 x 59 Signed, inscribed Sketch for Sunset Demolition & dated 1980 $2,500 - 3,500

MILAN MRKUSICH (1925 - 2018) Composition with Yellow Circle, 1946 Acrylic on paper 38 x 56 Signed & dated 1946 $10,000 - 15,000

PROVENANCE Sir Ian Charles Athfield Collection until 1987 Ian Athfield Collection c. 1987-88 Private Collection, Auckland

24 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

11 MAX GIMBLETT (b. 1935 ) The Lamp to Light the World, 2015 Gesso, acrylic and vinyl polymer, EX-74 resin, oil-base size, 23.75kt rosanoble gold leaf on wood panel (25 inch quatrefoil) 63.5 x 63.5 Signed, inscribed The Lamp to Light the World & dated 2015 $25,000 - 35,000 PROVENANCE Private Collection, Wellington

NIGEL BROWN (b. 1949) The Hidden Cove - Luncheon Cove, Anchor Island , Dusky Sound Oil on linen 80 x 121 Signed & dated 2010 $12,000 - 16,000

The Hidden Cove resulted from one of three research trips or residencies to Dusky Sound. Some works were painted in situ but much developed from study and continuing research. On the journeys I was accompanied by fellow artists including Robin White, Euan Macleod, Greogory O’Brien, Marilyn Webb and Simon Kaan. Luncheon Cove is both small and hidden and only accessible by canoe or inflatable.

26 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Research conducted by the late Ian Smith of Otago University indicates that early Māori settlement in Dusky Sound consisted of a few scattered families. There was talk of a lost tribe and in this work I reimagine a gathering expressively rather than as a recreated history painting. In 2010 film titled The Waterfall, directed by Peta Carey recorded and examined one of the art project journeys. Nigel Brown

PETER SIDDELL (1935 - 2011) Old House Avondale Oil on board 75 x 50 Signed & dated 1971 $15,000 - 25,000

PROVENANCE Purchased from the Easter Show Art Exhibition, 1971 by current owner Original Easter Show 1st place card affixed verso along with a letter from the artist, dated 29 March, 1971

PAT HANLY (1932 - 2004) Doing It Pencil on paper 52 x 62.5 Signed, inscribed & dated 1989 $4,000 - 6,000

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist 1981, by current owner

28 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

NIGEL BROWN (b. 1949) Leaving the Island of Imposed Structure Oil on linen 82 x 150 Signed & dated 2003 $15,000 - 20,000

This work references the Island of Matariki, situated off shore from Cosy Nook, along the windswept coast between Invercargill and Tuatapere, Southland. It is a vision of sorts where the bush has been replaced with concrete and cubist fragments. Old Man Rock and a large bowl have been shifted on.

A featured influence is the concrete and posts from our lifestyle block by the sea while the woman is a mysterious guardian. Such works grew out of the large lettering and cubism inspired by McCahon, but with a pictorial treatment - Nigel Brown

30 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

PHILIP CLAIRMONT (1949 - 1984) Self - Portrait Woodcut, edition 11/25, 35 x 23.5 Signed, inscribed Self - Portrait & dated 1978 $3,000 - 5,000

NIGEL BROWN (b. 1949) Fern Tension Acrylic on canvas 26 x 18 Signed & dated 1997 $2,000 - 4,000

STANLEY PALMER (b. 1936) From Awana Rd - Aotea - Great Barrier Oil on linen 70 x 110 Signed & dated 2018 $28,000 - 34,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Melanie Roger Gallery

More than simply a depiction of place and topography, Stanley’s landscapes attempt to touch something far deeper. Through his work he asserts the potency of the New Zealand landscape as a metaphor for ourselves, allowing it to ‘reflect our own experiences and perceptions, as well as the inherent fragility and isolation of living in a country surrounded by a vast ocean’ The North Shore Years, Isabel Haarhaus 2004

EXHIBITED Chart of Aotearoa 26th April – 19th May 2018 Melanie Roger Gallery

18A

STANLEY PALMER (b. 1936) Road - Te Paki Station Oil on board 72 x 118 Signed & dated 2001 $20,000 - 30,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Wellington

EXHIBITED Chart of the Far North Janne Land Gallery, Wellington, 2001

32 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

LATE ENTRY

18B

ELIZABETH THOMSON (b. 1955) Astrophysics II, III Cast zinc, oil paint, archival varnish, acrylic on wood disc 750mm diameter Signed, inscribed & dated 2008 verso $12,000 - 16,000

LATE ENTRY

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Wellington Purchased from Mark Hutchins Gallery, Wellington, 2008

PETER STICHBURY (b. 1969) Sullivan Graphite on paper 72 x 54 Signed, inscribed Sullivan & dated 2004 $10,000 - 15,000

FIONA PARDINGTON (b. 1961) Koru Feather, 2003 Pigment inks on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Edition 10/10, 176 x 140 Signed verso $30,000 - 40,000

PROVENANCE Starkwhite label affixed verso

34 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

PHILIP CLAIRMONT (1949 - 1984) Deaths Head - Yellow Oil on hessian laid on board 47.5 x 28.5 Signed, inscribed Deaths Head-Yellow & dated Spring 1970 verso $15,000 - 25,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Painted in 1970, the year after Philip Clairmont’s first solo exhibition, this work invites the viewer to focus on the distillation of the artist’s personal meditations and philosophies. While the painting is not exactly a self-portrait, it’s hard to separate it from the idea of a self-portrait. For one thing, we know that Clairmont extensively studied his own image in the mirror. The close-up nature of the head of “death” in this work which has no outlines, no start or finish, suggests that it is looking back at us like a reflection, or perhaps that the artist has been peering closely at himself, conjuring a mirror-like double from the canvas. The various elements of this painting are a composition of concrete ideas which are deeply intimate and internal to the artist. As Michael Dunn describes it, for Clairmont “obsession with a personal response led to a large number of recognisable self-portraits as well as other images so interwoven with his own life experience that they also are in a way self-portraits”. Deaths Head – Yellow is a perfect example of this second type of image: introspection and fragments of thought and emotion are presented in the form of objects and shapes which collectively represent the artist, making it a self-portrait of sorts.

36 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

There are some instantly recognisable elements to this work, such as the narrow eyes and dotted-out brow line. These resemble the shape and downwards slant of eyes in his self-portraits. There is also the chaotic confluence of colour and shape found that is typical of Clairmont. Other fragments of evidence emerge from this work, too. In Bruce Morrison and Hamish Keith’s 1981 documentary profile of Clairmont, the camera rests briefly on a set of animal teeth as part of a collection of objects in his home. The artist is talking about his “long list of obsessions with studied objects”, and his close relationships with these studied objects. The form of these teeth is reflected perfectly in the sharp, animal-like mouth of this work, drawing a direct line from the artist’s own home full of found objects, to the eloquent representation of self as a painted object.

PAT HANLY (1932 - 2004) Windy Summer Oil pastel & watercolour 47 x 60 Signed & dated 1981 $10,000 - 15,000

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist 1981, by current owner

38 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

PAT HANLY (1932 - 2004) Hot Frost Oil pastel & watercolour 53 x 59.5 Signed, inscribed & dated 1982 $10,000 - 15,000

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist 1981, by current owner

PAT HANLY (1932 - 2004) Nuclear Free Pacific Oil on board 89 x 119 Signed, inscribed Nuclear Free Pacific & dated 1984 $40,000 - 60,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Acquired directly from the artist 1984

EXHIBITED The Fire This Time, An Exhibition of Paintings and Photographs by Patrick and Gil Hanly, Manuwatu Art Gallery Touring Exhibition, Cat. no. 8, 1984 Original exhibition label affixed verso

The Fire This Time Series of paintings were created by Hanly between 1984-86. These works are a visual embodiment of their time, a time of deep concern, passionate protests and a plea for a nuclear free Pacific. Nuclear Free Pacific, was completed just a year before the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. The Greenpeace vessel was attached and sunk by the French DGSE whilst berthed at Auckland’s Marsden Wharf. Discussing this series of work Hanly commented to dealer, Rodney Kirk Smith: We are looking toward a Pacific free of nuclear fire, the holocaust – which was what the first Fire series was really about – just that. A Conversation with Pat Hanly, Art New Zealand 35, Winter 1985.

40 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Poster from The Fire This Time, Manuwatu Art Gallery Touring Exhibition

GORDON WALTERS (1919 - 1995) Rauponga, 1983 Screenprint edition a/p of 50, 50 x 90 $10,000 - 15,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Webb’s 24/09/1999

42 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

26 ISRAEL TANGAROA BIRCH (b. 1976) Golden Oriori Lacquer on stainless steel 101 x 101 Signed $5,000 - 7,000 PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Page Blackie Gallery, 14/02/2008 by current owner

BANKSY (British b. 1974) Keep it Real, 2003 Spray paint on canvas 30 x 30 (35 x 35 including overlap) Signature tagged on right hand overlap $600,000 - 1,000,000

PROVENANCE Framed by Leonard Villa, London with framers label affixed verso Gifted to original owner by the artist, 2003 Subsequently sold to private collector, 2014 This collector now based in Auckland, New Zealand This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Pest Control When Banksy was emerging as a street artist, he spent time with a renowned graffiti artist who spray painted trains in the 1980’s. Banksy accompanied him at night in Bristol to see where and how they sprayed, in return Banksy sent him Keep it Real as a thank you. Keep it Real was sold privately to the current owner in 2014.

BANKSY (British b. 1974) Choose Your Weapon - Soft Yellow Screenprint, edition 8/25, 70 x 70 Signed & numbered $150,000 - 250,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Walton Fine Arts, Chelsea, 2012 - original purchase receipt available to buyer This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Pest Control Banksy’s Choose Your Weapon first appeared on a wall outside London’s Grange pub, Bermondsey in 2010. Shortly after the stencil appeared on the street, it was boarded over. It then reappeared, framed and covered in perspex. In August 2016, it was reported that the perspex itself had been covered in posters and advertising flyers obscuring it from view entirely. In December 2010 Pictures On Walls released limited edition prints of the mural to a multitude of fans who queued for hours in the cold to get their hands on a work by Banksy. The queue notoriously got out of control, with desperate fans pushing and shoving, which resulted in Banksy releasing a special queue jumping edition in grey for those who missed their chance.

Here Banksy implies the dog has become an alternative weapon on the UK streets. The minimalist animal, painted in a hieroglyphic all-white silhouette, is in contrast to the hyperrealistic representation of his master and the style is a clear nod to the late Keith Haring (1958- 90) whose Barking Dog is one of the most recognised motifs of contemporary art in the 1980s. This represents an opportunity to acquire a signed Banksy from an edition of 25. The lowest commercial edition ever published by the artist.

The collection of prints were available in fifteen different colours - all editions of 25. Choose Your Weapon - Soft Yellow features a hooded man with dark clothing and a bandana hiding his face, a visual motif recurrent in Banksy’s stencil work and meant to signifying Britain’s disaffected youth. His menacing appearance is contrasted by his casual hand in the pocket posture and his cartoon Haring dog, chained and barking. Grange pub, Bermondsey

48 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON - SOFT YELLOW

BANKSY (British b. 1974) Morons, 2007 Screenprint, edition 101/150, 56 x 76 Signed & numbered $100,000 - 150,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Originally purchased from Pictures on Walls, original receipt affixed verso Original Pictures on Walls tissue included within frame. Never before framed until now This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Pest Control Morons portrays Christies art auction room full of collectors bidding for a number of artworks, including one in an elaborate frame that reads, ‘I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit’. Banksy uploaded the image on his then website, following a recordbreaking auction result for one of his canvases. Morons is an example of Banksy’s unapologetic critiques on the extraordinarily high prices of his, and many other artists’ artworks pointing a mocking finger at their buyers.

Banksy’s relationship with the art dealers and auction houses is ironically notoriously controversial, which some believe is why he is so successful. The artist has expressed similarly critical opinions of the art world’s commercialism through public pranks such as the famous incident in 2018 at Sotheby’s auction of Girl With Balloon, ceremoniously shredded itself in front of the audience soon after the auctioneer knocked his gavel down.

It is widely thought Banksy based Morons on a famous press photograph of Christies auctioneer Charles Hindlip selling Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers on March 30, 1987 for £22m.

50 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

MORONS

BANKSY (British b. 1974) Chocolate Donuts Screenprint, edition 40/299, 55 x 76 Signed and numbered $70,000 - 100,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Australia Purchased from Pictures on Walls, 2009 This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Pest Control Chocolate Donuts came after the original Banksy Strawberry Donut work, this time featuring a giant chocolate donut covered in sprinkles affixed to the roof of a police van. The blue and red spots as flashing lights of the police vehicles add splashes of colour in the artwork. It could represent Banksy’s ironic commentary on police values in America, the police are stereotyped for their love of takeaway coffee and donuts. Alternatively it could be a satirical suggestion police prioritise the safety of their snacks over the safety of their suspects.

52 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

The image could have a broader meaning, if we view the police as mere enforcers, perhaps they are protecting the very essence of commercialism, represented by the donut. It is rare for Banksy to create a piece that doesn’t have some form of social, environmental or political message so it seems unlikely the artist is referring to just donuts. The police were a frequent subject of Banksy screenprints, such as in his notorious Rude Copper, Have A Nice Day and Flying Copper works. The number of prints released – 299 for each flavour is widely believed to be a reference to the Krispy Kreme financial troubles in 2007, the year it closed down 299 of it’s stores.

chocolate donuts

BANKSY (British b. 1974) Soup Can (Original), 2005 Screenprint, edition 12/250, 50 x 36 Numbered in pencil $80,000 - 120,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Pest Control Banksy’s original four-colour screenprint Soup Cans, is a play on Andy Warhol’s now infamous Pop Art Campbell’s Soup Cans. Banksy has taken the idea that commercial products can be art, as is the Pop Art ethos, but has rendered it in his tongue-in-cheek style with Tesco Value cans of cream of tomato soup.

Typically crafting his images with spray paint and cardboard stencils, Banksy is able to achieve a meticulous level of detail. His aesthetic is clean and instantly comprehensible due to his unique ability to distil complex political and social statements into simple visual elements.

This limited edition screenprint is one of Banksy’s most iconic. Four different variations were released. The number of cans featured on the print and their colours vary. Banksy first turned to graffiti as a young, disillusioned adolescent. Inspired by the thriving graffiti community in his home city, Bristol, Banksy’s works began appearing on trains and city streets in 1993, and by 2001 his signature, stencilled works had cropped up all over the United Kingdom.

His graffiti, paintings, and screenprints use whimsy and humour to satirically critique war, capitalism, hypocrisy and greed. His anti-establishment wit has had an undeniable impact on today’s contemporary street culture.

SOUP CAN (ORIGINAL)

54 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

32 BANKSY (British b. 1974) Gangsta Rat Screenprint, edition 110/350, 49.5 x 34.5 Numbered in pencil over POW embossed stamp $40,000 - 60,000 PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Pictures on Walls, 2006 This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Pest Control Gangsta Rat was originally a mural that appeared in Farringdon in 2004, then Old Street in 2006 and finally New York in 2013 on the occasion of the artist’s painting residency: Better Out Than In. In 2004 it was subsequently produced as a screenprint in Banksy’s iconic spray-stencil style. The work depicts a rat sitting next to a boombox wearing accessories typical of “gangster” street wear, such as a New York Mets baseball cap, an ear piercing and a long chain. In the background the tagged letters IPOW appear as a central splash of colour. This is an ironic social commentary on the ubiquity of Apple products and POW is a reference to Banksy’s print publisher: Pictures on Walls.

The rat character portrayed is reminiscent of the New York underground style that emerged across the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 90s, also drawing inspiration from Blek Le Rat, the French graffiti artist who originally started using rats as his symbol. In the publication Wall and Piece, Banksy said: Every time I think I’ve painted something slightly original, I find out that Blek le Rat has done it as well, only 20 years earlier.

GANGSTA RAT

56 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

hula-hooping girl nfs

58 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

BILL HAMMOND (1947 - 2021) Choreograph Screen Acrylic & metallic paint on four panels 148 x 186 Signed, inscribed & dated 1997 $120,000 - 160,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Important Paintings and Contemporary Art, Webb’s Auckland, 09/08/2011, lot 36 Choreograph Screen is a signature work by a towering figure in the history of contemporary New Zealand art. For over forty years Bill Hammond, who passed away earlier this year, made a vital contribution to New Zealand art. These works now pass into the realm of legacy. Hammond is best known for his magical, haunting bird paintings, reflective of the artist’s deep and personal engagement with our country’s environmental and colonial history. Choreograph Screen, comprised of four highly decorated panels is both an artwork and an item of luxury furniture.

60 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Here, the hand of the master is instantly recognisable in the rich and complex renderings of its unique subjects. Part-animal, part-human, these creatures preside over a fantastical landscape illuminated by copper toned backdrops and foregrounds. Within the work there is a sense of the modern Gothic accentuated by the drips of running paint typical of Hammond’s work. Whilst each panel retains its individual strength and story, the four together create a visual and artistic tour de force.

SIGMAR POLKE (German 1941 - 2011) After Albrecht Durer Praybook, 1986 Watercolour, pencil and ink on paper 69.5 x 99.3 Signed & dated 1986 $150,000 - 200,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christies, London 23 June 2006

Detail

62 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

COLIN MCCAHON (1919 - 1987) North Otago Landscape Acrylic & watercolour on paper 66 x 42 Signed & dated 1967 $50,000 - 75,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland For Colin McCahon, 1967 was the year of North Otago. The works produced over this period need little by way of introduction – the artist devoted himself to reproducing the landscape in a series of repetitious studies. ‘These paintings are most certainly about my long love affair with North Otago as a unique and lonely place’, he wrote for the Barry Lett exhibition catalogue, ‘they are also about where I am now’. They gave life to a language of abstract expressionism which sought to convey the meaning of some of New Zealand’s enduring landmasses. Through the portrayal of these immutable forms, McCahon explored fundamental questions of spirituality and physical erosion. In North Otago Landscape, the viewer is able to access the sublime quality of McCahon’s work. The landscape is pared back to the point that any distinguishing features of location or basic form are unrecognisable. While it shares thematic common ground with his other North Otago paintings, some of which depict green hills, this work goes much further, to the logical conclusion of abstraction. Two horizontal lines are connected by a bold, intersecting vertical line. All is black; all is flat. Black sky and black earth frame a pale nothingness. Were it not for the title, the work could easily be unanchored from any sense of representation or purpose.

64 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Without detail, perspective, or colour, is the landscape even still there? We sense that it is, but it is only because of the title that we know that it is. This is a reminder of the importance of the written word to inform meaning in McCahon’s work, and of the extent to which we rely on this as viewers. The work is powerful and it refers to an infinite, creation-like vision of Otago, and also of the earth. Looking at it, we may find ourselves mentally squinting to imagine the hills it references. The leap we make to imagine those hills must be one of faith, or at the very least, faith in the unshakable nature of McCahon’s relationship with the North Otago landscape.

ROBIN WHITE (b. 1946) Porirua Landscape Oil on canvas 75 x 41 Signed & dated 1970 $200,000 - 300,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Peter McLeavey Porirua Landscape was painted during the time Robin White was an art teacher at Mana College. This was an important and formative period in her career. She was an Elam graduate in her early 20s: a student of Colin McCahon who did not identify specifically as a landscape painter. During this period of teaching and working in Porirua, White was part of a creative community living in Paremata known as Bottle Creek, and developed a strong painterly instinct for the region. Her work from this period has a sense of fortitude and authority in its portrayal of the land, and includes a number of her famous hard-edged portraits of houses and shops. Conscious of her growing influence and reputation as an artist, White wanted to investigate more accessible, affordable forms of art. In the same year she painted this portrait of Porirua, she also began producing screenprints – a medium which emphasised her conscientious approach to both her subject matter (the land) and her viewers.

66 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

The process of printmaking would have heightened White’s awareness of the relationship between artist and medium, particularly as it was being mediated through the reproduced print. Knowing this, the connection between White as artist/observer, and the cross-section of Porirua land she has captured in this rare example of an oil painting from the time, is even more intimate and treasured. The view in Porirua Landscape is precise in its narrowness. White slices vertically through the land to eliminate any evidence of habitation or urban development. The delicate detail of lines and light rise upwards from a strip of calm, blue harbour to the hills. This painting is not heavy-handed in conveying White’s celebrated crisp, hard-edged style. Rather, it speaks to the humbleness of her approach to the land as a pacifist and a bystander, and denotes the spirit of New Zealand land and regionalism as a whole.

PATRICK HAYMAN (1869 - 1947) Man at Sea with a Flying Machine Gouache on paper 38.2 x 57.2 Signed & dated 1986 $5,000 - 8,000

PROVENANCE Blond Fine Art Limited, London Purchased by Malcolm Hillier typed on original label affixed verso

68 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Frances Hodgkins From Cow to Calf An essay by Mary Kisler Lot 38

Frances Hodgkins in her studio

38 FRANCES HODGKINS (1869 - 1947) The Cow also known as The Calf Gouache on paper 52 x 71 Signed $100,000 - 150,000 PROVENANCE Dr Peter Davis Collection Private Collection, Auckland

EXHIBITED Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Cat. no. 12 Original label affixed verso titled The Calf

70 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Being fiercely proud of his Welsh heritage, it may have been Cedric Morris’s recommendation that prompted Frances Hodgkins and her friend Dorothy Selby to spend a fortnight in the tiny fishing village of Solva, Pembrokeshire in October 1936. There was much about village life that would have resonated with Hodgkins’ experiences in Spain and the south of France. The village, nestled along the Solva river in a narrow valley opening out into a deep bay, was a popular attraction for sailors and hikers. Although Hodgkins painted several buildings in the village, she and Dorothy preferred to walk from their lodgings at the Cambrian Inn to the tiny enclave known simply as Middle Mill, which boasted a corn and a woollen mill, their large wooden wheels driven by the steady flow of the river. Hodgkins delighted in the narrow bridge that crossed from the road to the back lane running behind the mills, its three arches reminiscent of others painted on her numerous excursions in the English countryside. The location was sheltered from sea breezes that funnelled up the valley, and when hunger or thirst overcame the two painters, they could retire to the Llanunwas Arms on the far side of the bridge. A small herd of cows were kept in Solva by a farmer known as ‘Willie Thomas Panteg’. Each morning, his daughter ‘Linda the Milk’ would deliver fresh milk to the villagers, before herding the cows up Prendergast Street to the pool below the bridge at Middle Mill. After drinking their fill, she would leave the cows to graze on the water meadow during the day. (1) Thus, Hodgkins was presented with three favourite motifs in one location – the arches of the stone bridge (although she invariably depicted two rather than three); the quaint inn with its glassed-in porch and bothies either end; and ruminating cows on the other side of the narrow river. After her brief holiday, Hodgkins worked on her Solva paintings in Corfe, where she stayed with her friend Amy Krauss for the next six months or so, and then her studio at Worth Matravers, a few miles away on the coast, where she was based until mid1939. She produced at least nine identified works, creating highly individualistic interpretations of what she observed, rearranging and editing favoured motifs into larger exhibition pieces. This practise is illustrated when you compare Sketch for The Cow and the final work under consideration. The sketch shows a relatively anatomically correct beast in scale with its surroundings on the far side of a picket fence, as well as a more rudimentary form taking water from the river. The height of the bridge has been exaggerated,

72 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

and two rather than three arches drawn. The porch stands out clearly against the front wall of the inn, and the hill rising behind is delineated with hasty smudged brushstrokes. The Cow is a larger, more polished iteration of the theme. She refined her motifs, removing the second cow, as well as the readily identified inn, instead placing several simple dwellings which create a kind of rhythm in the composition. She simplified the bridge, its curved form echoing the arches below and reminiscent of an ancient burial mound, but it is her treatment of the cow that is most individualistic. On a monolithic scale, the beast is full of character, its horns sweeping sideways rather than forwards, and its body depicted using segments of grey, mysterious smoky pinks, lilacs, blues and browns, a layering technique much remarked on by contemporary critics. There is an exuberance to the composition that suggests not just the pleasure the artist experienced in applying the paint, but also her recollection of ‘Solva of blessed memory…’ (2) Hodgkins had painted several watercolours of cows being milked when she first went to Europe in 1901, and still kept a photograph of the family’s maid Phemie milking their own house cow in Dunedin, and those recollections may have added to her rare sense of contentment at the time. The Cow was first exhibited in 1948 at a group show at the Leicester Galleries in London, when it was lent by Amy Krauss, who must have acquired it when Hodgkins was living in Corfe. In 1938, Hodgkins had been very taken with Amy’s ‘shy spectacled ginger coloured nephew’ who ‘has a crush on me, on my painting – he gets more pleasure from it he says, than from any artist living or dead. Tall order! Nice to think it can set him sweetly dreaming thus. He little knows! (3) Peter Davis, the young man in question, promptly ‘badgered my parents into buying two gouaches by this painter whose work I have admired ever since.’(4) The gouache was shown again, now titled The Calf, in 1964 when Dr Davis lent his collection to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. A renowned botanist, he drew an analogy in his introduction to the Edinburgh exhibition between his field of scholarship and the collecting of paintings, both requiring ‘an appreciation of form and colour, an eye for proportion and balance’...(5) Davis had inherited Amy Krauss’s collection, and eight Hodgkins paintings were included in the Edinburgh exhibition. A man renowned for a twinkle in his eye, the jaunty cow may well have been his favourite. MARY KISLER

Notes: 1: Paul Raggett, Solva: An Introduction to Village Life and Guide to the Walks, n.p.,5th edition, Printed by D T Pearce, Milford Haven, 2000, p. 24. 2: Frances Hodgkins to Dorothy Selby from Worth Matravers, Dorset, October 7th 1938. 3: Frances Hodgkins to Dorothy Selby from Worth Matravers Dorset, November 30th 1937. 4: Dr Peter Davis, introduction to Modern Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Dr Peter Davis, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, April 18th to May 17th, 1964, n.p.

Sketch for The Cow Private Collection, Auckland

5: Dr Peter Davis, introduction to Modern Paintings and Drawings.

Milan Mrkusich in his studio (detail) Adrienne Martyn; photographer; 1987; Auckland Reproduced courtesy of Te Papa and Adrienne Martyn

Painting Dark, 1968 (diptych) Photographed at the exhibition Meta Grey and Dark Paintings, Petar/James Gallery, December 1972

74 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Milan Mrkusich Painting Dark, 1968 (diptych) An essay by Peter Simpson Lot 39

MILAN MRKUSICH (1925 - 2018) Painting Dark, 1968 (diptych) Oil on canvas 228.6 x 175.2 (90’ x 60’) Signed & dated 1968 $120,000 - 160,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection Petar/James Gallery, Auckland

EXHIBITED Meta Grey and Dark Paintings, Petar/James Gallery, Auckland November-December 1972

Painting Dark, 1968 (diptych) Photographed at the exhibition Meta Grey and Dark Paintings, Petar/James Gallery, December 1972

Now that the long and distinguished career of Milan Mrkusich (1925-2018) has ended it is possible to see that among New Zealand artists he was uniquely distinguished by his undeviating commitment to abstraction from beginning to end; he started out as a dedicated abstractionist in the mid-1940s and was still producing new abstract work well into the twenty first century – an active career of over 60 years. No other New Zealand painter pursued his chosen mode of abstraction so consistently. Even Gordon Walters, likewise committed to abstraction through most of his career, started out as a figurative artist in the 1940s before turning to abstraction. Some younger artists, such as Stephen Bambury and Roy Good have begun and kept on as wholly abstract artists, following in the line established so strongly by Mrkusich. Painting Dark 1968 (diptych) shows Mrkusich at the top of his game. But if absolute undeviating consistency was one characteristic of Mrkusich, so at the same time was continuous change and evolution from beginning to end of his career. He never gave up experimenting and trying out new things. An experienced student of Mrkusich’s work could, I am sure, place any painting of his within a year or two of the date of its making solely by attending to the particular elements of colour, form, edge, texture, shape, size, materials, pigments of which they are composed. What did abstraction mean to Mrkusich at the time this majestic work was painted (1968)? A good description is offered by Alan Wright and Edward Hanfling in their indispensable book: Mrkusich: The Art of Transformation Auckland University Press, 2009: ‘The paintings contain no symbols or signs that can be read, no decipherable codes or references to a familiar world. They are non-objective, autonomous objects that refer to nothing beyond their own immediate reality’ p. 60. As the authors point out, Mrkusich was always alert to developments in abstract painting abroad, especially the United States, and the amplification in size and simplification in imagery of his work at this period certainly owes something to a new generation of abstract painters in America including Frank Stella, Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis and Jules Olitski, but with one important difference. The new American painters of the 1960s rejected the claims of their New York School predecessors such as Mark Rothko and Barnet Newman that their work had transformative sublime or metaphysical meaning and importance. Their attitude by contrast was summed up in Frank Stella’s statement: All I want anyone to get out of my paintings, and all I ever get out of them, is the fact that you can see the whole idea without any confusion…What you see is what you see. Mrkusich, on the contrary, subscribed to the older idea, which

76 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

ultimately derives from Mondrian and Kandinsky, that abstract paintings should have not less meaning than representational art but more. He rejected the criticism, common in New Zealand at the time, that abstraction was mere ‘pattern making’ or ‘art for art’s sake’. He said in 1969: Painting does have a content. It could be termed a speculative metaphysic… It does not exist for itself but for man as a vehicle of awareness Wright and Hanfling, p. 71. In terms of chronology Painting Dark 1968 (diptych) belongs to the middle of Mrkusich’s career, painted when he was 43 and in full flight. The painting was made at a time when corner triangles had begun appearing as a distinctive feature of his work. Initially a single such triangle quite large in scale would appear together with other elements as in, for example, Five Elements on Purple Ground, 1966 or Ambient Gold, 1967. Before long, as in Painting Red 1968, two versions, smaller triangles appeared in all four corners, while the rest of the canvas was dominated by a single uniform colour. Often square in format these ‘corner paintings’ became some of his most celebrated works. Painting Dark (diptych) is intermediate between these two states and unusually involves both small and large triangles in the same work. As in the Corner paintings, four small triangles of different colours (yellow, red, blue and purple) appear in the outer corners of the work (when considered as a single object), while the upper inner corner of each panel of the diptych is a larger darker triangle (which combine to form an even larger triangle); these inner triangles are not repeated at the bottom of the picture, though there is an additional lateral triangle on the edge of the left panel. This work is more complex in structure than the corner paintings, with subtle modulations of dark brown colour occurring where the diagonals divide up the surface (there are no verticals or horizontals anywhere in the picture, apart from the line which joins the two panels of the diptych). Whereas the Corner paintings are notable for their symmetry, Painting Dark is notably asymmetrical, whether considered as one painting or two. Diptych forms are rare (though not unknown) in Mrkusich’s work and in this instance he has obviously delighted in the interplay between the painting as a single object (as accentuated by the four outer corners) and the painting as a double object with each panel having a different character. While sombre in feeling due to the overall darkness of the colours (apart from the corners), this beautiful work is simultaneously stimulating and intriguing because of the complexity of its geometry. PETER SIMPSON

MICHAEL SMITHER (b. 1939) Kitchen Study, No. 8 Oil on board 95 x 53 Signed & dated 1966 $40,000 - 60,000

PROVENANCE From the Collection of Sarah Smither, the artist’s daughter In the painted kitchens of Michael Smither, the rhythms and energy of a young family combine with life’s necessities of food, shelter, and sunshine. By empowering the interior domestic space, Smither eclipses the outside world with brightness. Studies such as this one are focused in a way that seals both the viewer and its subjects in the poetry of a single moment. A number of the artist’s domestic paintings are chaotic, capturing moments of conflict, joy and children fighting. One of the things which makes this work special is that it has a calmer quality to it. There is a quiet feeling to this portrayal of the artist’s young daughter Sarah. From the highchair, Sarah’s right arm reaches over her head in a pose which is not so much a single jerky moment frozen in time as a long, languid stretch. She looks to be basking in the sunshine. In fact, she is part of the topography of a room made up of a perfect duality of space and planes.

78 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Every shape has its complementary opposite – a chair to match the highchair; a plate and knife to the cup and saucer; pot to an element; open door to a wood panelled wall. The compositional aspects of the painting are equally complementary: flat, stacked colour works in a complex arrangement of four different levels of space between table, floor, bench, and the room beyond. The other striking thing about Kitchen Study, No. 8 is that unlike many of the hyper-realistic, modular works which Smither completed in this series, this study has a loose fluidity to it, which adds to the sense of tender observation. As he depicts his daughter in a way that is gentle and loving, Smither’s slightly sketchier, more impressionistic approach also radiates from the painting.

DON BINNEY (1940 - 2012) Mexico D.F. Oil on canvas 200 x 150 Signed, inscribed Mexico Marzo-Abril & dated 1968 $120,000 - 160,000

PROVENANCE Purchased from Barry Lett Galleries, 1969 Private Collection, Canada Purchased from Webb’s, March 2012 by current owner Private Collection, Auckland Mexico D.F. could easily be construed as a portrait of small-town Mexico: there are several bright but unimposing buildings set against an impressive landmass, which has been softly and subtly graded. The buildings look as if they have been pasted there. They are bright and flat, and each shape contrasts greatly with the hill behind it. The message from Binney is loud and clear: they don’t belong here. Their presence is at best incongruous. “D.F.”, Distrito Federal, tells us that this is actually a portrait of densely populated Mexico City. The tiny turquoise building with the Jarritos logo is an enormously successful Mexican soft drink corporation, and the dark green building on the far right represents PRI, Mexico’s ruling party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional). Here, human consumption and our impact upon the land has been filtered through Binney’s minimalist lens, and he is at the peak of artistic self-definition and assurance. Mexico D.F. was painted when Binney travelled to Mexico on the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council travel fellowship which he received in 1967. This journey also took him and his wife Judith through Central America and Europe. It’s worth considering the creative influence this fellowship would have exerted on an artist such as Binney.

80 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Even at this relatively early stage in his career, Binney’s artistic identity was inextricably tied to the land of his birth. His paintings comprised a visual language of institutional resistance. He spoke openly of his reluctance to align himself to international art movements, and pushed back against the idea that New Zealand art should function as a single unified national output. What then, did this funded overseas trip (with the expectation of artistic output and evolution) inspire in him? According to this painting, it inspired transferability, and the cementing of his artistic principles. Mexico D.F. beautifully expresses Binney’s singularity of vision. In the context of an unfamiliar country, he persisted in interpreting the land within his own parameters – not as a painter blind to Mexico’s uniqueness, but rather as one who was unwilling to compromise.

KARL MAUGHAN (b. 1964) Tremaine Ave Oil on canvas 102 x 102 Signed, inscribed Tremaine Ave, 2016 & dated June 2016 verso $24,000 - 32,000

PROVENANCE Purchased from Thermostat Gallery, Palmerston North, 2016

82 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

GRETCHEN ALBRECHT (b. 1943) Floe Acrylic on canvas 200 x 360 cm Signed, inscribed & dated 1999 verso $90,000 - 130,000

PROVENANCE Ex Air New Zealand Collection. Commissioned by Air New Zealand, 1999 for inclusion in Koru Lounge Air New Zealand asset label affixed to side of canvas See larger image inside front cover

Ovals are a gentle shape, what happens in the top part could be reflected in the bottom half so I could have a continuous movement of paint, repetition and rhythm, spiralling, all en-circling, constantly in-flux which I like very much. Gretchen Albrecht

SIMON DENNY (b. 1982) Shenzhen Innovation Paradigm – Mass Entrepreneurship - 1, 2017 Airbrush on synthetic plaster, plastic, vinyl, illuminated MDF plinth. 75 x 120 x 20 $24,000 - 30,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Fine Arts, Sydney, NSW at Auckland Art Fair, 02/05/2017

84 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

MASAYKUI TSUBOTA (Japanese b. 1976) The Layer of Self_mbht1, 2013 Gesso, pigments, acrylic on basswood 40.5 x 22 x 7.5 $1,500 - 2,500

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Yamaki Art Gallery, Tokyo, at Melbourne Art Fair, 15/08/2014

MAX GIMBLETT (b. 1935) Polarity Acrylic on canvas 178 x 178 Signed and dated 1979 on verso $20,000 - 30,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Stockholm, Sweden

47 TOSS WOOLLASTON (1910 - 98) Evening Greymouth Oil on board 57.5 x 73 Signed & inscribed Evening Greymouth verso $40,000 - 50,000 PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Ferner Galleries, 1998

86 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

TOSS WOOLLASTON (1910 - 98) Canaletto, 1987 Oil on board 90 x 121 Signed & inscribed Canaletto $30,000 - 40,000

PROVENANCE Purchased from Aberhart North Gallery, 1987

EXHIBITED M.T. Woollaston, An exhibition of oil paintings to mark the occasion of the artist’s birthday, Cat. no. 8 Aberhart North Gallery 9 - 28 April 1990 Note: The present owner lent the work for above exhibition

Canaletto bears the hallmarks of a typical Woollaston painting: cool, crystalline blues meet with earthy colours; a cloudy sky balances out a composition which is skilful in its treatment of dense, complex perspective. But it leaves us with one question – where exactly is this scene set? The inscription Canaletto, which could be construed as a playful second signature, is our best clue to the artist’s intentions for this intriguing and energetic composition. The 18th century painter Giovanni Canal, known as Canaletto, was celebrated for his painted views of Italy, in particular of Venice. In London’s Wallace Collection, an entire room is devoted to his vedute paintings. They are striking in their jewel-like precision and mathematically precise views of city life and architecture. In his paintings, Canaletto would manipulate the city’s layout in order to construct the most visually pleasing composition – shifting buildings and entire topographical features,

88 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

reimagining each view to fit with his own vision. In his lifetime he enjoyed fame and commercial demand, but was also criticised by some for his city portraits which they judged as unfashionably romantic Knowing this about Canaletto makes it interesting that Woollaston, a New Zealand artist who was influenced more by the plein air impressionists than anyone in the 18th century European style, decided to invoke his name. One possibility is that he was taking the Venetian’s name in vain in this work, and offering to improve on his style. Here’s a new imaginary view of Venice, says Woollaston, painted using the senses; appropriately muddied and brown. In this case, the joke is of course that the resulting work is far from a Canaletto. But Woollaston’s approach may not necessarily have been so cynical. It’s possible he was also acknowledging Canaletto’s artistic imagination, and his willingness to manipulate perspective. In that sense, both artists were united in their cause.

49 TOSS WOOLLASTON (1910 - 98) Mapua with Still Life verso Oil on board 60 x 80 Signed $18,000 - 26,000 PROVENANCE Purchased from Aberhart North Gallery, 14/11/1995

90 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

TOSS WOOLLASTON (1910 - 98) Blackball, Westland Watercolour 33.5 x 49.5 Signed & dated 1959 $5,000 - 8,000

PROVENANCE Purchased from Ferner Galleries 22/12/ 1989 as Takaka Landscape

51 TOSS WOOLLASTON (1910 - 98) Taranaki with pencil sketch verso Watercolour 29.5 x 43 Signed $5,000 - 7,000 PROVENANCE Purchased from Ferner Galleries Auckland

51 sketch verso

92 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

TOSS WOOLLASTON (1910 - 98) German P.O.W’s at a Pottery Class, 1945 Oil on board 51 x 61 Signed & dated 1945 $15,000 - 20,000

PROVENANCE Aberhart North Gallery

94 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

DON BINNEY (1940 - 2012) Maungaroa Mixed media on paper 47 x 40 Signed & dated 1981 $20,000 - 30,000

PROVENANCE Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch Original label affixed verso

ROBYN KAHUKIWA (b. 1940) Family Group, 1973 Oil on board 59 x 89.5 Signed & dated 1973 $25,000 - 35,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from New Zealand & Foreign Paintings, Webb’s, 21/09/2000,

55 RALPH HOTERE (1931 - 2013) Aramoana - Observation Point Ink on paper 29.5 x 40 Signed, inscribed Aramoana - Observation Point & dated 1989 $5,000 - 7,000

96 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

RALPH HOTERE (1931 - 2013) Winter Solstice, Carey’s Bay Mixed media on paper 30.2 x 21.1 Signed, inscribed & dated 1992 $10,000 - 15,000

ROBERT ELLIS (b. 1929) City in a Dark Red Landscape Oil on board 91.5 x 91.5 Signed & dated 1965 $25,000 - 35,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland Lot No. 93 Art+Object, 18/08/2011 In the 1960s, Robert Ellis began painting his celebrated Motorway series. The creation of these works involved distilling land data, aerial perspectives and topographical information into painted patterns and symbols. City in a Dark Red Landscape is an intricate work. The bright red which permeates the scene can be interpreted as lava-like; bloody; of the earth. It resembles an urgent river of brake lights, and the light pollution of a city in flux. Through translating different impressions of perspective and landscape into a painted language, Ellis was able to compose elegant - albeit frenetic - symphonies of civilisation and infrastructure such as this one. The painting possesses a sense of both oppressive temporariness and deep-etched permanence: everything is changing, but at the same time, this cityscape feels like forever.

98 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Knowing that Ellis spent time working as an aerial photographer in the Royal Air Force helps - it makes the work’s immense perspective more accessible. Looking through this aerial lens, we encounter the metamorphosis of a free flowing city. The clash of colour in City in a Dark Red Landscape is arresting and visceral; it seems as though the struggle between red and black is pushing against the limits of the painted medium. This feeling of evolution is intentional on the artist’s part. For Ellis, these paintings were a means of exploring ideas about universal urbanisation and city expansion. Specifically, they functioned as a commentary on the motorway development and urban transformation plans which had been underway in Auckland since the 1950’s

58 SYDNEY LOUGH THOMPSON (1877 - 1973) Tunny Fisher Boats on the Waterfront, Concarneau Oil on board 31 x 39 Signed $10,000 - 15,000 PROVENANCE Originally purchased from Fishers Fine Arts, Held in the same family collection since

100 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

59 RAYMOND CHING (b. 1939) Startled Partridge Oil on board 48 x 38 Signed $15,000 - 20,000 PROVENANCE Purchased from Traditional Contemporary Art, International Art Centre, 27/06/1995

101

CHARLES BLOMFIELD (1848 - 1926) White Terraces, Rotomahana Oil on canvas 34.5 x 45.5 Signed & dated 1893 $50,000 - 75,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Rotorua Charles Blomfield has long been recognised as the most popular early New Zealand painter of the Pink and White Terraces and the surrounding region of Rotorua and Lake Tarawera. Blomfield first visited the region during a camping trip in December 1875, commenting that Tarawera and it’s Terraces were exceedingly beautiful and graceful. Returning in 1883 he spent six weeks documenting the Pink and White Terraces and their surroundings. Blomfield’s meticulous sketches and finished paintings are some of the most important historical records we have of the region. It was reported that by September 1885 orders for his work had been received from throughout Europe, America, Australia and other places. Following the Tarawera eruption, Blomfield realised that the paintings he had made of the Terraces were a valuable record, and declined to sell them. He went on to paint and sell scale copies of these works, for which the prices soon trebled. The story of the Tarawera eruption is a dramatic chapter in New Zealand’s history. Eleven days before the eruption, both Maori and European visitors, including the famous Guide Sophia, reported seeing a ghostly Maori war canoe paddling across Lake Tarawera. Guide Sophia consulted her tribe’s tohunga, or priest, Tūhoto Ariki, and he interpreted the phantom canoe as a bad omen. He believed Maori would be punished for exploiting the area for money without paying due respect to their ancestors. In the early hours of 10 June, 1886 Tūhoto Ariki’s prophecy was fulfilled. At Te Wairoa village, people were woken after midnight by a series of strong earthquakes. Around 2am Tarawera erupted with

102 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

fountains of glowing lava and a cloud of ash up to ten kilometres high, through which intense lightning flickered. At Te Wairoa, more than sixty people sheltered in Guide Sophia’s sturdy hut, which remarkably survived the eruption. Later, craters on the south-west side of the mountain blasted open and a crack 17 kilometres long emitted tons of mud and ash. The Tikitapu bush was completely covered by ash and earthquakes were felt throughout the North Island with the noise of the eruption heard as far south as Blenheim. At the time, many Aucklanders thought they were hearing distant cannon fire. Blomfield decided to see the devastation for himself and returned to the area in October to paint several scenes of the terrible destruction. A world away, fourteen Charles Blomfield paintings were being greatly admired in South Kensington, London at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition. This major exhibition, which in the words of the Prince of Wales was intended to: stimulate commerce and strengthen the bonds of the British Empire was opened by Queen Victoria and received over five million visitors. Charles Blomfield died at his residence in Wood Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland in 1926. The White Terraces were at the north end of Lake Rotomahana and faced away from the lake at the entrance to the Kaiwaka Stream. They descended to the lake edge forty metres below. The additional sunlight received from facing north created their bleached white appearance. The White Terrace was the larger of the two formation, covering in excess of three hectares. They were reportedly the largest silica sinter deposits on earth.

103

104 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

61 E G EDWARDS (Late 19th Century) Pink and White Terraces, Lake Rotomahana - A Pair Oil on canvas 43 x 74 Signed $10,000 - 15,000

62 JAMES PEELE (1847 - 1905) A New Zealand Mountain Lake Landscape Oil on canvas 49 x 89 Signed & dated 1889 $3,000 - 5,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Rotorua

105

LAURENCE WILLIAM WILSON (1850 - 1912) Lindis Pass, Lake Manapouri Oil on canvas 60 x 105 Signed & dated 1895 $20,000 - 30,000

106 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

107

WILL ASHTON (Australian 1881 - 1963) St Ives Oil on canvas 53 x 64 Signed & dated 1932 $8,000 - 12,000

108 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

65 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 1995) Shearers’ Hut, Hawkes Bay Oil on board 50 x 60 Signed $8,000 - 12,000

109

66 JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE (1835 - 1913) Milford Sound Watercolour 41 x 73 Signed $15,000 - 25,000

JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE (1835 - 1913) Otira Gorge Watercolour 42 x 68.5 Signed & dated 1876 $15,000 - 20,000

68 JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE (1835 - 1913) Mt Egmont Watercolour 39 x 63 Signed $8,000 - 12,000

110 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

111

69 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 95) Farmer, Lake Hayes Oil on board 66 x 86 Signed $20,000 - 30,000 PROVENANCE Collection of the late John Hall of James Crisp Ltd

112 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

113

70 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 95) The Shearer’s Hut Oil on board 59 x 74 Signed $12,000 - 18,000

71 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 95) Headwaters of the Wanganui Watercolour 71.5 x 54 Signed $14,000 - 18,000

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Wellington Purchased from McGregor Wright Gallery Original label affixed verso

PROVENANCE Private Collection, Auckland, purchased Fine New Zealand Paintings, Jewellery & Decorative Arts, Webb’s, 17/09/2002

EXHIBITED Turnbull House Exhibition, No. 64, 1981

114 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

115

72 COLIN VERNON WHEELER (1919 - 2012) Station Oil on board 34 x 44 Signed $1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Collection of the late John Hall of James Crisp Ltd

73 JOHN WEEKS (1888 - 1965) Still Life with Fruit and Blue Pot Oil on board 35 x 39 Signed $1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE Collection of the late John Hall of James Crisp Ltd

116 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

74 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 95) San Spirito Oil on board 48 x 60 Signed $7,000 - 10,000 PROVENANCE Collection of the late John Hall of James Crisp Ltd Original John Leech Gallery label affixed verso The Basilica di Santo Spirito - Basilica of the Holy Spirit is a church in Florence, Italy. Usually referred to simply as Santo Spirito, it is located in the Oltrarno quarter, facing the square with the same name. The interior of the building – internal length 97 meters – is one of the preeminent examples of Renaissance architecture.

117

75 JOHN ALEXANDER GILFILLAN (1793 - 1864) The Artist’s Mother Eliza Gilfillan with Second Wife, Mary Gilfillan (née Bridges), in an Interior Pencil and watercolour heightened with white on paper 46.8 x 36.2 $5,000 - 10,000 PROVENANCE Private Collection, United Kingdom The Artist’s Mother Eliza Gilfillan with Second Wife, Mary Gilfillan (née Bridges), in an Interior relates to the similar compositioned watercolour by John Gilfillan featuring the artist’s widowed mother and his first wife Sarah, Collection of Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui. The Whanganui watercolour was gifted by Dr H. W. Wilson and Mr J.P. Wilson, and two labels on its later backing board identify the sitters (‘Eliza Gilfillan, mother’s great aunt’ - on a deleted label - and ‘Sarah Murray, Gilfillan’s fist wife at the spinning wheel’), presumably transcribed from earlier inscriptions by the artist’s descendants. Gilfillan lived with his widowed mother in Scotland after his discharge from the navy in 1816, and married his 15-year-old cousin Sarah Murray in Glasgow on 31 July 1826. Sarah, who had four children, died in

childbirth in 1837, and Gilfillan married another cousin, Mary Bridges, in 1838. It seems likely that the present watercolour reworks the Whanganui interior, replacing his first wife Sarah with his second wife Mary, with whom Gilfillan and his young family emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. On the evening of 18 April 1847, six young upriver Maori attacked the Gilfillan farm. John managed to escape and headed for Whanganui, four hours away on foot. He believed that he was the real target and that his family would not be harmed. He was wrong. When he returned the next morning with an armed party he found his wife Mary and three of their children dead and the homestead a smouldering ruin. Their youngest daughter was badly wounded in the attack and subsequently passed away as a result of her injuries.

JOHN ALEXANDER GILFILLAN Sarah Murray, Gilfillan’s first wife at the Spinning Wheel Collection of Sargeant Gallery, Te Whare O Rehua

118 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

119

SIR WILLIAM FOX (1812 - 93) New York Harbour 1852 Watercolour on seven sheets of paper 16 x 185 $9,000 - 12,000

PROVENANCE Collection of former owners grandmother, surname Wilkie, who was employed at Westoe, the Fox family’s Rangitikei homestead

120 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

A AUSTEN DEANS (1915 - 2011) Styx River, Westland Watercolour 60 x 98 Signed & dated 1992 $4,000 - 6,000

JAMES WEBB (British 1835 - 95) Coast of Spain Oil on board 35 x 50 Signed & dated 1878 $1,000 - 2,000

PROVENANCE Collection of the late John Hall of James Crisp Ltd

121

79 FRANCIS MCCRACKEN (1879 - 1959) The Pink Blouse Oil on canvas 76 x 64 Signed $8,000 - 12,000

122 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

FRANCIS MCCRACKEN (1879 - 1959) Still Life with Anemones Watercolour 78 x 56 Signed & dated 1938 $7,000 - 10,000

FRANCIS MCCRACKEN (1879 - 1959) The Park, Spring Oil on board 66 x 49 $4,000 - 6,000 John Leech Gallery label affixed verso

123

MARGARET OLROG STODDART (1865 - 1934) Snowy Peaks Watercolour 45 x 45 $6,000 - 10,000

PROVENANCE Collection of Late T S Hall, Wellington Collection of New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts until deaccessioned, 1981 NZAFA letter affixed verso Traditional & Contemporary Art, International Art Centre , 26/02/1996

124 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

83 CHRISTOPHER PERKINS (1861 - 1935) Onions and Cabbages Oil on board 49 x 65 Signed & inscribed Onions and Cabbages & dated October 1945 verso $6,000 - 8,000

DOROTHY KATE RICHMOND (1861 - 1935) River Bed, South Island Watercolour 25 x 35 Signed & dated 1934 $1,500 - 2,500

125

OLIVIA SPENCER BOWER (1905 - 82) Love Story to Chester Watercolour 40 x 49 Signed & dated 1968 $5,000 - 7,000

126 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

RICHARD MCWHANNELL (b. 1952) Three Fathers Oil on hessian laid on board 66 x 90 Signed, inscribed Three Fathers & dated 1990 verso $5,000 - 8,000

127

87 ELEANOR KATE SPERRY (1862 - 1893) My Pussy also known as Miss Pussy Oil on canvas 45 x 34 Signed $3,000 - 5,000 PROVENANCE Ex Collection of Sir Robert Stout (1844 - 1930), 13th Premier of New Zealand and attorney general in Sir George Grey’s government Private Collection, Auckland

128 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

EXHIBITED The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout Royal Albert Hall, London Original distressed labels affixed verso

RUDI GOPAS (1913 - 1982) Baltic Harbour, Lithuania Pastel on paper 54 x 42 Signed & dated 1946 $3,000 - 5,000

JOHN GULLY (1819 - 88) Coastal Scene Watercolour 34.5 x 63 Signed & dated 1879 $4,000 - 6,000

JOHN GULLY (1819 - 88) Otira Gorge Watercolour 30 x 36 Signed & dated 1879 $2,000 - 4,000

129

91 TOM ESPLIN (1915 - 2005) Near Lagos, Portugal Oil on board 21 x 32 Signed $4,000 - 6,000

130 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

LEN CASTLE (1924 - 2011) Crater Bowl Glazed ceramic 41 x 41 Signed on base $8,000 - 12,000

ALAN SOMERVILLE (b. 1938) Lest We Forget Bronze, edition 3/50, 30 x 11 Signed & inscribed Lest We Forget on base $3,250 - 3,750

131

ART at HOME 7 Timed online only auction 15 - 21 April 2021

ENTRIES NOW INVITED Contacts: Maggie Skelton maggie@artcntr.co.nz Luke Davies luke@artcntr.co.nz Tel 09 379 4010 Register on the bidding platform to participate www.auctions.internationalartcentre.co.nz This online sale includes a collection of works by Edward William Payton from the Brian and Annette Ferneyhough Collection

Nigel Brown

A quick, easy and reliable solution to affordable consignments. During the 2020 nationwide lockdowns we stayed connected to our clients, keeping them close to our art. The time was spent productively, resulting in the development of our own online bidding platform and App, successfully auctioning works of art with no exhibition viewing, no printed catalogue, while using state-of-theart technology. All transactions were contactless and we reduced our carbon footprint along the way. While the personal service, excitement and atmosphere of our long established live Parnell Road auctions remain and will continue to grow, the success of this online only platform has encouraged us to retain this as a permanent sale category.

Edward Payton from the Brian and Annette Ferneyhough Collection

valuation SERVICES www.internationalartcentre.co.nz

International Art Centre provides formal valuations for insurance purposes, specialising in the preparation of catalogued and photographed inventories. Written valuations can be arranged by appointment. We provide free informal, verbal estimates for any of the works in your collection.

John Alexander Gilfillan Portrait of the Artist’s Son, John Gordon Gilfillan, 1844 Watercolour 24 x 20cm Reproduced courtesy of The Fletcher Trust Collection

International Art Centre | Appointed Valuers of The Fletcher Trust Collection

For valuation enquiries & quotes contact Maggie Skelton maggie@artcntr.co.nz

202 Parnell Road, Auckland, New Zealand Telephone + 64 9 379 4010 Toll Free 0800 800 322

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF ART A 134 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

AUCTIONS IN PARNELL SINCE 1971 135

Important & Rare Art

COLLECTABLE ART

Important & Rare auctions are the proven, pre-

The buzz generated by our Collectable Art auctions

eminent sale category for major works of art offered

reflects the popularity of these sales: an event at

for sale in New Zealand. These auctions take place

which seasoned connoisseurs and budding collectors

three times annually. As we fast approach our 50th

alike converge to appreciate one of the most eclectic

year in business, experience continues to equal

and diverse offerings available to the market. Works

results. 2014 saw Important & Rare auctions realise

span the vital period from mid-century modernism

five of New Zealand’s top ten auction prices. The

through to the cutting-edge of today’s Contemporary

following year saw new records set with the two top

art in New Zealand.

prices in Auckland achieved. With the addition of the record $1.377 million paid for a C F Goldie in April’s

This sale category is an increasingly significant event

2016 sale, International Art Centre achieved the three

in our auction calendar. Offering a number of lower-

highest art auction prices in New Zealand’s history.

priced works from highly-sought after artists in print

Due to an appreciative, and greatly valued clientele of

and edition form, as well as quality works from artists

nationwide and international buyers and sellers we

whose presence on the secondary market is just

look forward to breaking new ground.

beginning to crystallise.

ALWAYS CONSIG

2021 ENTRIES NOW IN 136 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Single Owner Auctions

ART AT HOME ONLINE only Auctions

From time to time, the secondary market is fortunate

A quick, easy and reliable solution to affordable consignments. During the 2020 nationwide lockdowns we stayed connected to our clients, keeping them close to our art. The time was spent productively, resulting in the development of our own online bidding platform and App, successfully auctioning works of art with no exhibition viewing, no printed catalogue, while using state-of-the-art technology. All transactions were contactless and we reduced our carbon footprint along the way. While the personal service, excitement and atmosphere of our famous live Parnell Road auctions remain and will continue to grow, the success of this online only platform has encouraged us to retain this as a permanent sale category.

enough to be exposed to one of those rare collections which transcends the value of its individual works of art, and stands to represent something iconic in its entirety. Our team is well-versed in the process of offering single-owner collections for sale, and take pride in the process of curating a single-owner sale when the opportunity arises. We offer a targeted marketing campaign and maximise the use of both electronic and print-based collateral to effectively showcase such collections to maximum effect. The strong networks we have established locally and internationally are reflected in some of the private collections which have been entrusted to us in recent years.

GNING

NVITED

CONTACT Richard Thomson Ph +64 9 379 4010 M. 0274 751 071 E. richard@artcntr.co.nz Maggie Skelton Ph +64 9 379 4010 E. maggie@artcntr.co.nz Luke Davies Ph +64 9 379 4010 E. luke@artcntr.co.nz www.fineartauction.co.nz 202 Parnell Road, Auckland

137

Lot 12 Nigel Brown (detail)

138 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Absentee Bid Form IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March 2021 I instruct International Art Centre to bid on my behalf for the following lots up to the prices indicated below. I understand my bids are to be executed at the lowest attainable price level. All bids are subject to Conditions of Sale printed in this catalogue.

REGISTRATION NUMBER

We will allocate a bidding number if you don’t already have one

NAME ADDRESS EMAIL

TELEPHONE

LOT NUMBER

ARTIST NAME

MAXIMUM BID $NZ excluding buyers premium

Signature ...........................................................................................

/ 2021

I have read and understand the Conditions of Sale. International Art Centre offers this service to clients unable to attend sale and is not responsible for error or failure to execute bids. Email to info@internationalartcentre.co.nz before 3pm day of sale Alternatively, visit our website www.internationalartcentre.co.nz and place absentee bids online

202 Parnell Road, Auckland, New Zealand Tel + 64 9 379 4010 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz

139

Index ALBRECHT G....................................................43

MCCRACKEN F..................................... 79, 80, 81

ASHTON W.......................................................64

MCINTYRE P...............................65, 69,70, 71, 74

BANKSY............................... 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

MCWHANNELL R............................................86

BINNEY D.....................................................41, 53

MRKUSICH M............................................. 10, 39

BIRCH ISRAEL T..............................................26

PALMER S......................................................... 18

BLOMFIELD C..................................................60

PARDINGTON F...............................................20

BROWN N................................................12, 15, 17

PEELE J.............................................................62

CASTLE L..........................................................92

PERKINS C........................................................83

CHING R............................................................ 59

PERYER P.................................................... 3, 4, 5

CLAIRMONT P.............................................16, 21

POLKE S............................................................34

DEANS A A........................................................ 77

RICHMOND D K...............................................84

DENNY S...........................................................44

SCULLY S............................................................ 7

EDWARDS E G.................................................. 61

SHELTON A.........................................................1

ELLIS R.............................................................. 57

SIDDELL P........................................................ 13

ESPLIN T........................................................... 91

SMITHER M..................................................8, 40

FOX SIR W........................................................ 76

SOMERVILLE A................................................93

GILFILLAN J A................................................. 75

SPENCER B O...................................................85

GIMBLETT M...............................................11, 46

SPERRY E K...................................................... 87

GOPAS R............................................................88

STICHBURY P................................................... 19

GULLY J ......................................................89, 90

STODDART M O...............................................82

HAMMOND B................................................... 33

THOMPSON S L................................................58

HANLY P......................................... 14, 22, 23, 24

TSUBOTA M...................................................... 45

HAYMAN P........................................................ 37

VISCOE W...........................................................6

HODGKINS F....................................................38

WALTERS G...................................................... 25

HOTERE R.................................................. 55, 56

WEBB J.............................................................. 78

HOYTE J B C.........................................66, 67, 68

WEEKS J............................................................ 73

KAHUKIWA R................................................... 54

WHEELER C V.................................................. 72

LUSK D................................................................9

WHITE R...........................................................36

MATCHITT P....................................................... 2

WILSON L W.....................................................63

MAUGHAN, K...................................................42

WOOLLASTON T................. 47, 48, 49, 50, 51,52

MCCAHON C..................................................... 35

140 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Q&A

WITH RICHARD THOMSON & DONNA NICOLOF

https://www.pauawealth.com

142 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

2020 saw continued demand for fine art, this trend appears to be ongoing into 2021 and beyond. International Art Centre facilitated the sale of a number of Banksy’s valued at close to $2million in the midst of the pandemic. Leaving the Banksy phenomena aside, New Zealand artists also did well with numerous new art auciton records witnessed on the floor of our Panrell salesroom. We continue to see interest from existing and new collectors entering in to the market. What is driving this renewed interest and demand for art in recent years? Richard Thomson sat down with Donna Nicolof, CEO of Pāua Wealth Management, a fellow Trustee of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery to get her thoughts. Richard: You launched Pāua Wealth Management last year in the midst of the pandemic, so how is that going? Donna: Like many other businesses, it’s fair to say it hasn’t been without it’s challenges and yet we’ve had a great deal of interest. Most encouraging for us has been that our unique proposition is resonating with people. We identified a gap in the market and led with what was best for clients, truly independent advice, good governance around how money is managed and a strong focus on responsible investing. There are also more people in New Zealand, given the border restrictions, who have more time to contemplate their portfolio and whether in fact they are optimising their financial position. People not only want to talk about their investments , but are looking for that truly independent advice and review of their entire situation. Richard: What’s your take on the increasing demand for fine art, collectables, tangible assets in the past five years? Donna Nicolof: The current low interest rate environment favours borrowers, not savers. Return on cash invested in the bank is negative in real terms, given inflation, so people who have cash in the bank can no longer rely on returns from term deposits. Hence, people are not only looking for where else to invest to achieve a better return on their investment, but investing in things they can enjoy like art. Given interest rates are likely to remain lower for longer, it was not surprising that there were a number of investment opportunities that came to market late last year. Be informed, ask the right questions and seek advice. Richard: Do you advise people on art as an investment? Donna: You’d be far better placed than me to opine on the potential future value of artworks! I do however advocate for having a well diversified portfolio of investments, rather than having all your eggs in one basket or cherry picking particular stocks or asset classes which can in a given period provide stellar returns but doesn’t reflect the risk associated with the investment. We work with a number of families who are invested in residential and commercial property, have an investment portfolio and art collection, diversification is key. Richard: Thanks Donna, we sell art because our clients love art and are passionate about it, not for investment, but that can be a bonus of putting together a good collection I guess. Have you a closing statement Donna? You've got to expect market volatility as the new normal, which makes getting the right strategic advice more important than ever. A diversified investment portfolio returns a more sustainable, less volatile risk adjusted return that better matches the long-term investment objectives of an investor. If we can help any of your clients through these challenging times, we’d be more than happy to do so. Pāua Wealth Management is an boutique wealth advisory business providing advice to wholesale investor clients only. The above information is general information only and does not take into account the readers specific financial situation or investment goals. We recommend readers seek independent financial advice prior to acting on any information in this article. There are no warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or results obtained from any information provided.

143

144 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

145

146 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

147

Lot 56 Raymond Ching (detail)

Conditions of Sale and A Guide to Buyers The highest bidder shall be the buyer. In the event of any dispute as to the bidding in respect of any lot, that lot may be offered again at the discretion of the auctioneer whose decision shall be absolute and final. The auctioneer has the right (i) to refuse any bid; (ii) to advance the bidding at his absolute discretion; (iii) to place a reserve on any lot; (iv) to place a bid or bids on behalf of the seller; (v) to withdraw any lot from sale; (vi) to require a successful bidder to pay forthwith the whole or any part of the purchase price. The auctioneer acts as the agent of the seller and neither he nor the seller shall be responsible for any defects or faults in any lot or for any errors of description or for genuineness or authenticity of any lot and no compensation shall be paid in respect of same.

ABSENTEE BIDS Absentee bidding arranged - please refer to absentee bidding in back of catalogue. Email to info@internationalartcentre. co.nz before 3pm day of sale. Please do not be offended if a member of our staff ask for your credit card details as security. Absentee bids can also be left via our website to registered members. Our website www.fineartauction.co.nz acts as a useful auxiliary to the catalogue but we recommend inspection or a condition report prior to leaving a bid. Our staff will gladly supply you with a condition report on any lot. TELEPHONE BIDS Telephone bidding available to subscribers and registered bidders. There is no charge for this service. PAYMENT FACILITIES Eftpos: Available for transactions depending on your daily limit.

From the time of lot being sold, such lot will be the responsibility of the buyer.

Bank deposits: Bank instructions on invoice if paying by direct debit. Quote the Lot number(s) purchased and surname as reference.

Successful bidders are required to pay for purchases immediately on completion of sale unless otherwise arranged.

Credit cards: Visa and Mastercard with a 2% surcharge.

All intending buyers are required to register for a bidding number prior to auction commencing. Subscribers can use their permanent bidding number. We reserve the right to ask for identification if you are a first time client of International Art Centre. Each lot shall be paid for and removed at the buyers expense by no later than 4:00pm Thursday 1 April 2021 (Before Easter) unless otherwise arranged failing which the auctioneer and/ or the seller shall have the right to forfeit any deposit paid by the buyer and to resell the lot either by public or private sale and any deficiency on costs of resale shall be borne by the defaulting buyer. No lot may be collected whilst auction is in progress. Payment can also not be made until completion of auction. SUBJECT BIDS When the auctioneer declares a lot ‘subject’ this means the bid is below the set reserve and is subject to vendor accepting, rejecting or negotiating the bid. International Art Centre will endeavour to make contact with the vendor immediately after sale or the following day. If the bid is accepted, the highest bidder is obligated to make purchase.

International Art Centre no longer accepts cheques. PROTECTED OBJECTS ACT Art objects over 50 years old made by an artist or maker born in or related to New Zealand may be protected New Zealand objects, and therefore require permission from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage in order to be exported. Applications for permission to export can be made at https://mch.govt.nz/ nz-identity-heritage/protected-objects/exporting FREIGHT & PACKING International Art Centre arrange door to door delivery both nationally and internationally. Please arrange insurance on your items prior to them leaving our premises. OTHER ENQUIRIES Should you have any questions relating to the sale or if we can be of any other assistance please contact us during business hours on (09) 379 4010, Toll Free 0800 800 322 or email info@internationalartcentre.co.nz BUYERS PREMIUM 17.5% Buyers premium plus GST on premium applies to all lots. (Total buyers premium is 20.12% including GST)

ESTIMATES Estimates are provided for each entry and act as a guide only. They are prepared well in advance of sale and are subject to revision at any time. Estimates are based on hammer price and do not include buyers premium.

149

Lot 33 Bill Hammond (detail)

150 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March

Lot 28 Banksy

151

202 Parnell Road, Auckland, New Zealand Tel + 64 9 379 4010 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz

152 IMPORTANT & RARE ART 7:00pm Tuesday 30 March