Art News

COLIN MCCAHON KAURI TREES, TITIRANGI, 1955-1957 ACHIEVED $412,000

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PRI C E O F T H E AUCT I O N S E A S O N IMPORTANT PAINTINGS & CONTEMPORARY ART CONSIGN NOW JULY 2014

Upcoming Highlights: Important Paintings & Contempora

Colin McCahon Light Falling through a Dark Landscape, estimate $20,000 - $30,000 charcoal on paper, signed McCahon and dated November ‘71 in charcoal lower right; inscribed light falling through a dark landscape in charcoal lower edge, 448mm x 598mm

Pat Hanly A Young Love, estimate $60,000 - $70,000 enamel on hardboard, signed Hanly, dated 79 and inscribed A Young Love, Torso P in brushpoint lower right, 550mm x 540mm

MARKET REPORT: The Summer Auction Season 2014 New Zealand’s first season of major fine art sales for 2014, spanning March and April, was characterised by decisive fluidity at the upper end of the value spectrum. Five works achieved in excess of $200,000 and the top price was $412,700. What is notable about these results is that three of the top five prices did not simply reach their reserves but exceeded them by an average of 28%. Over the last decade, dramatic returns of this nature have been rare; however, during the last financial year, they have become increasingly regular occurrences. The market’s dedication to quality has determined that, for the very best examples, reserves can serve as ground floors and upper estimates are no longer glass ceilings.

cornerstone New Zealand modernist Colin McCahon were undoubtedly the top performers of the season. Not only did the artist’s Kauri Trees, Titirangi (1955–1957) – a definitive example of his early-career explorations into analytical, cubist abstraction – achieve the season’s highest price of $412,700, high-value sales of the artist’s practice totalled in excess of $1 million across the auctions held in March and April.

McCahon’s practice serves as a central reference point throughout much of the development of modern painting in New Zealand and results achieved for his practice this season reflect the market’s desire to acquire works that resonate with key moments in our nation’s cultural history.

price for a living New Zealand artist in half a decade with the hammer price of $328,300 ($2,480 shy of the all-time record). In the absence of a major work by the artist, the last season saw the market’s high regard for his practice translate into exceptional returns for smaller works. Cave Painting 5 (2008 – from the series that includes Farmer’s Market) measures a very modest 34cm x 48cm so the figure of $82,000 achieved for its sale is nothing short of exceptional. By square centimetre, the work’s value sits on a par with the results achieved for the New Zealand market’s most-revered smaller-format works and serves as an indelible indicator of the future trajectory of Hammond’s secondary market.

The results of March and April reveal a great deal about the motivations of the current market. It is telling that the areas of the market that performed best were those that have traditionally been supported by advanced collectors who are well versed in New Zealand’s art-historical narrative. Major works by

After a long drought of exceptional, major works by Bill Hammond, the 2013 calendar year saw Webb’s present three such works in succession; the result for each work built upon the market’s previous performance and, of the three, the highlight was undoubtedly Farmer’s Market which achieved the highest

Outside of works by Colin McCahon, New Zealand’s modern period – the traditional bastion of strong performance on the New Zealand market – was responsible for another four sales in excess of $100,000. While, in general, this season didn’t see works with values in the range of $100,000 to $200,000 achieve

ary Art - July 2014. Consign Now

THE SEASON IN BRIEF

$412,700 NO. 1 PRICE ACHIEVED FOR KAURI TREES, TITIRANGI

BY COLIN MCCAHON

28%

AVERAGE AMOUNT

BY WHICH TOP 3 PRICES EXCEEDED RESERVE

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PRICES IN EXCESS OF $200,000 IN EXCESS OF

Colin McCahon Elias, estimate $250,000 - $350,000 enamel on hardboard. signed McCahon, dated 8’59 in brushpoint lower edge and inscribed Elias, can he save him, will Elias save him in brushpoint.

660mm x 430mm. From the collection of Doris Lusk.

Marti Friedlander Doris Lusk 1978 Collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki Reproduced courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery and the artist.

With a top sale price that exceeded its reserve by 30%, the market’s dedication to acquiring exceptional paintings has determined that upper estimates are no longer glass ceilings. advances on reserves equal to those for works with values in excess of $200,000, the price of $130,000 achieved for Tony Fomison’s refined Mental Defective (1969) was the obvious exception.

Fomison is well known for his utilitarian use of materials and, accordingly, Mental Defective, an epic-scale painting on unstretched hessian, saw the artist at his most direct. The fact that the work soared past its reserve by 37% indicates an implicit understanding of the artist’s practice on the market’s behalf. The price paid for Mental Defective sits within the top 1.5% of results ever achieved for the artist’s practice at auction.

The sale of Lillian Budd’s Modern World (1990) for a ground-breaking figure of $50,000 is significant as it demonstrates the market’s willingness to pay prices for exceptional, contemporary New Zealand artworks (made after 1990) that set a new benchmark for the respective artist’s practice. The sale of Modern World extends on a number of transactions from throughout the financial year that established substantial new auction records for artists with limited sales histories.

These include the sales of: Aura (2001)

by Liz Maw for $56,300, which exceeded reserve by 118%; Grey Lynn Boogie

$1 MILLION SALES OF WORKS

BY MCCAHON

Woogie (2002) by Rohan Wealleans for $19,900, which exceeded reserve by 35%; and Turnbuckle Squat (2010) by Kushana Bush for $8,800, which exceeded reserve by 66%. Together with the price achieved for Modern World, these results reflect that the market place is actively seeking new areas of investment as prices for contemporary artists with moreestablished secondary markets, such as Bill Hammond and Peter Robinson, continue to develop. In the years after making Modern World, Budd would become a core member of the et al. collective and the figure of $50,000 is the highest price achieved at auction by any member of this elusive group.

We are now inviting consignment for our next sale of Important Paintings & Contemporary Art which already includes a number of early entries that engage with key moments in New Zealand’s art history. We encourage you to enquire about a sale strategy that will see your cultural assets best leveraged in the current market.

UPCOMING AUCTIONS Fine and Rare Wine

19 May 2014

A2 Art

27 & 29 May 2014

Fine Jewellery & Watches

28 May 2014

Jewels: Buy, Sell, Collect

28 May 2014

Important Oceanic & African Art

10 June 2014

Fine and Rare Wine

16 June 2014

Interiors: Antiques and Decorative Arts

19 June 2014

Important Paintings & Contemporary Art A2 Art

30 July 2014 25 September 2014

Modern Design

5t October 2014

Important Paintings & Contemporary Art

Contact Sophie Coupland E: scoupland@webbs.co.nz P: 09 529 5603 Charles Ninow E: cninow@webbs.co.nz P: 09 529 5601 New Zealand’s Premier Auction House 18 Manukau Rd, Auckland webbs.co.nz

27 November 2014