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Within this exciting sale we have included pieces from the worlds of art, design and music to highlight the cultural shift and transformative years from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s.
Get Back, the auction title, was inspired by the infamous Beatles 1969 hit, was chosen because it celebrates their profound global impact on both culture and music — so we are thrilled to be able to feature a guitar signed by band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
Another international presence is pop icon Andy Warhol, whose influence on the time is undeniable. Closer to home, we are delighted to present a variety of works by Pat Hanly, Michael Illingworth, Ans Westra, Leo Bensemann, Michael Smither, Billy Apple, Selwyn Muru, and many more — which we hope you find as groovy as we do.
—TASHA JENKINS HEAD OF ARTTHE NEW ZEALAND
ART WORLD:1958–1972 BY LUCINDA
BENNETT
The year is 1958. Colin McCahon has just returned from five months touring the United States to make the Northland panels, “the largest painting ever done in New Zealand to that date” — eight raw flaps of saturated colour pouring out of him all in one afternoon on the sundeck of his Titirangi home.1 It has taken decades, but modernism is flourishing in Aotearoa, and this year Arnold Manaaki Wilson, Selwyn Wilson, Ralph Hotere, Muru Walters and Kāterina Mataira will show together at Auckland City Art Gallery, the firstever exhibition of modernist Māori art.
1 David Eggleton, Towards Aotearoa: A Short History of 20th Century New Zealand Art (Auckland: Reed Publishing, 2007), 100.
2 “Taonga Tuku Iho: Pauline Yearbury 1926–1977,” Toi Iho, accessed 3 May 2024, https://www. toiiho.org.nz/artists/pauline-yearbury
3 Ans Westra and Mark Amery, Washday at the Pa (Wellington: Suite Publishing, 2011), 34.
The year is 1962. Hotere is in Sangro, Italy, visiting the grave of his brother, who served as a soldier in the Māori Battalion during World War II, the aching Sangro series emerging from his grief. Barrie Bates is at the heart of the pop art movement in London, bleaching his hair and eyebrows, becoming Billy Apple. Back in Aotearoa, Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury and her husband are at the Waitangi Hotel, working on a nine-metre-long mural depicting the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi. 2 Gordon Walters is applying enamel to board to create his first koru painting, a precursor to the multitude of koru works he will go on to paint in oil between 1967 and 1971. Robert Ellis is obsessed by the web of motorways rhizoming across Tāmaki Makaurau and the world; he will spend the next decade on his Motorway series, which will grow to include over 200 paintings, drawings and gouaches. In Pōneke, a young Ans Westra has just begun working as a full-time photographer. Next year, while travelling around the East Cape, a Māori family will invite her into their home for a cuppa and she will shoot her most well-known series, Washday at the Pa. 3
The year is 1965, and attitudes around gender, sexuality, morality and the environment are changing. New Zealand troops are being sent to Vietnam, triggering protests and fresh perspectives on our place in the world. Employment is high, leading to higher enrolment in art schools as rangatahi dream of becoming artists and teachers.4 Distinctions between high and low art are blurring, art making is expanding, Aotearoa is expanding, and yet not everyone is pleased. Obscenity complaints are raised to the police regarding Michael Illingworth’s first solo exhibition at Barry Lett Galleries, in particular the painting As Adam and Eve, which depicts the titular figures nude, genitals swinging, but the gallery refuses to take the work down. Meanwhile, in Te Waipounamu, Selwyn Muru has been studying the oldest art forms in the country, the rock paintings of the Waitaha people; he is thinking of those coarse cave walls as he thickly layers ochre-hued paints to create Kohatu, a painting that would become the first work by a contemporary Māori artist to be acquired into the national collection.
Gordon Walters, 1966. Photographer unknown.
OPPOSITE (LEFT TO RIGHT)
Barry Lett, c1968. Photograph by Marti Friedlander.
Pat and Gil Hanly, 1969. Photograph by Marti Friedlander.
4 Andrew Clifford, “Bright Lights, Big City,” in Unseen City: Gary Baigent, Rodney Charters and Robert Ellis in Sixties
Auckland, ed. Robert Leonard and Andrew Clifford (Auckland and Wellington: Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery and City Gallery Wellington, 2015), unpaginated.
5 “About the Gallery,” McLeavey Gallery, accessed 3 May 2024, https:// mcleaveygallery.com/gallery
6 Such an idea is, of course, indebted to Francis Pound’s The Invention of New Zealand: Art and National Identity, 1930–1970 (Auckland University Press, 2009).
The year is 1968. Peter McLeavey has just moved his eponymous gallery out of his flat on The Terrace to 147 Cuba Street, where it sits to this day.5 In Tāmaki Makaurau, Barry Lett is the biggest name in the game, representing many of the leading painters of the time. A strong advocate of the arts, Lett desires to make contemporary art more accessible to the public, so he releases a set of prints from 12 of his artists – among them Hotere, Illingworth, Walters, Don Binney and Milan Mrkusich. Priced at $35 pre-publication and $40 thereafter, these prints are ubiquitiously featured in many new local private collections.
The year is 1972. Artists are exploring new mediums, Joanna Margaret Paul is using a film camera to document the town of Port Chalmers, recently re-established as a major shipping port, while Fred Graham is exploring and reimagining old mediums; Pat Hanly is pursuing ‘pure painting’, pouring and dribbling glossy enamel housepaint from punctured cans, experimenting with a method he would eventually use to create some of his most celebrated works. New Zealand painters are still painting the landscape – will they ever stop? – but it is no longer the singular, obsessive theme of all painting. The culture of protest that began in the 1960s has intensified and artists such as Hanly, Hotere, McCahon and Robin White are employing art as a political tool, drawing attention to local environmental issues as well as protesting the ongoing Vietnam War, our sporting contact with apartheid South Africa and nuclear testing in the Pacific. The Vega – which will eventually be renamed Greenpeace 3 –sets sail from Northland, the first of hundreds of boats that will sail over the next two decades to protest French atmospheric nuclear testing at Moruroa Atoll. Over the last 50-odd years, our artists, writers and critics have worked to construct a national identity that is rich, complex, inventive, distinct and problematic, as it will always be in a colonised country.6 I wonder, what and who will we speak of 50 years from now?
LAUNCH EVENT
PROGRAMME
AUCKLAND
TUESDAY 14 MAY 6PM—8PM
VIEWING TIMES
WEDNESDAY 15 MAY 10AM—5PM
THURSDAY 16 MAY 10AM—5PM
FRIDAY 17 MAY 10AM—5PM
SATURDAY 18 MAY 10AM—4PM
WELLINGTON
LAUNCH EVENT
TUESDAY 21 MAY 5.30PM—7.30PM
VIEWING TIMES
WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 10AM—5PM
THURSDAY 23 MAY 10AM—5PM
FRIDAY 24 MAY 10AM—5PM
SATURDAY 25 MAY 11AM—3PM
SUNDAY 26 MAY 11AM—3PM
MONDAY 27 MAY 10AM—5PM
LIVE AUCTION
MONDAY 27 MAY 6.30PM
AUCKLAND ENQUIRIES
Tasha Jenkins
Head of Art
tasha@webbs.co.nz
+64 22 595 5610
Georgina Brett Specialist, Art georgina@webbs.co.nz
+64 27 929 5609
PLATES 57 LOTS
WELLINGTON ENQUIRIES
Mark Hutchins-Pond Senior Specialist, Art
mark@webbs.co.nz
+64 4 22 095 5610
CONDITION REPORTS
Hannah Owen Registrar, Art registrar@webbs.co.nz
+64 9 529 5609
LOT 1
MILAN MRKUSICH
Passive Element
1968
screenprint on paper
760 × 540mm
EST $1,000 — $2,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE From the Barry Lett Multiples.
LOT 2
MICHAEL ILLINGWORTH
Tawera
1968
screenprint on paper
760 × 540mm
EST $2,000 — $4,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE From the Barry Lett Multiples.
LOT 3
DON BINNEY
Pacific Frigate Bird
1968 screenprint on paper
760 × 540mm
EST $3,500 — $5,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE From the Barry Lett Multiples.
LOT 5
GORDON WALTERS
Collage 1963 (Study of a Destroyed Painting)
1963
silver gelatin print inscribed Collage 1963 (Study of a Destroyed Painting) in graphite verso 210 × 160mm
EST $1,500 — $2,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
GORDON WALTERS
1960 Gouache (Destroyed)
1960
silver gelatin print inscribed 1960 Gouache (Destroyed) in graphite verso 215 × 165mm
EST $1,500 — $2,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
LOT 6
CARL SYDOW untitled c1969
ink and gouache on paper
275 × 315mm
EST $1,800 — $2,800
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE
This work was previously held in the collection of Carl Sydow.
LOT 7
CARL SYDOW untitled c1969
ink and gouache on paper
270 × 330mm
EST $1,800 — $2,800
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE
This work was previously held in the collection of Carl Sydow.
LOT 8
LOT 9
GORDON WALTERS
Tawa c1968 screenprint on paper 530 × 410mm
EST $4,000 — $7,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Wellington. Acquired from Dunbar Sloane, New Zealand, Australian & European Paintings, Wellington, 1 December 1999, Lot No. 4A.
NOTE From the Barry Lett Multiples.
GORDON WALTERS
Tahi 2021 screenprint on archival paper, 66/100 indented with the Walters Estate chop mark 1055 × 805mm
EST $4,500 — $7,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
LOT 10
OTTO WALSH FOR RAAK AMSTERDAM
Krekel Lamp c1960
aluminium
280 × 280 × 280mm (widest points)
EST $500 — $700
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
LOT 11
EERO AARNIO FOR ASKO
Pastil Lounge Chair 1968
fibreglass
550 × 900 × 900mm (widest points)
EST $2,000 — $4,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
1 Sandy Myhre, “Bay News: Auckland Art Gallery Recognises Northland artist,” Northern Advocate, 10 August 2023, https://www. nzherald.co.nz/northernadvocate/news/bay-news/ FPWOOPPBCVB
4LLYTRDCRWT3BYQ/
2 “Brunette,” Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, https://collections.tepapa. govt.nz/object/38602
PAULINE YEARBURY
The work of wāhine Māori artists has historically been erroneously underrepresented in our national art collections and undervalued by the market; however, the tides are turning, with art professionals and audiences alike coming to recognise their significance. Pauline Kahurangi Yearbury (Ngāpuhi) has only recently gained institutional attention. Her work was included in the recent landmark exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, curated by Nigel Borell at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; and more recently, a series of incised wood panels have travelled to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, where they are currently on display as part of the 24th Biennale of Sydney.1
Despite the present-day forgetting of Yearbury’s talents, in her time she was well recognised. Having entered Elam School of Fine Arts at the tender age of 14 – the youngest student ever to be accepted – Yearbury went on to teach there alongside artists such as A. Lois White, whose serene portrait of Yearbury is held at Te Papa Tongarewa. 2 It was also at Elam that she met her future husband and collaborator, James Yearbury, who is responsible for the incisions in her lyrical wooden panel works and often co-credited as their maker.
Yearbury was a significant figure in the era now known as Māori Modernism, a transformative period that saw Māori artists interpreting modernist ideas through their own cultural context, laying the groundwork for the vibrant contemporary Māori art movement we have today. Yearbury exhibited widely throughout the 1950s and 1960s alongside artists such as Dame Kāterina Mataira, Selwyn Muru, Arnold Manaaki Wilson, Fred Graham and Ralph Hotere, and was included in such landmark exhibitions as Canterbury Museum’s New Zealand Maori Culture and the Contemporary Scene, curated by Buck Nin in 1966. Like many of Yearbury’s pieces, Rangi and Hine-Raumati (both c1970) depict figures from Māori mythology; in this case Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Hine Raumati, whose name can be translated as Summer Maid — one of the wives of Tamanuiterā (the Sun) and mother of Tāne-Rore, the origin of dance. Similar panels depicting Hine Mahuru – Spring Girl – and Tāwhirimātea – God of Winds –are held in the collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
PAULINE YEARBURY Rangi
c1970
acrylic on incised rimu
signed JPY with incision lower left
600 × 300mm
EST $4,000 — $6,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Russell. Acquired directly from the artist.
PAULINE YEARBURY Hine-Raumati (Summer Girl & Child)
c1970
acrylic on incised rimu
signed JPY with incision lower left
600 × 300mm
EST $4,000 — $6,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Russell. Acquired directly from the artist.
LOT 14
RALPH HOTERE
Red on Black 1968 screenprint on paper
760 × 540mm
EST $1,500 — $2,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE From the Barry Lett Multiples.
LOT 15
DON PEEBLES
Linear Series Red + Black
1965
oil on canvas
1250 × 1250mm
EST $5,000 — $10,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
RALPH HOTERE, Te Whiti Series
1972
acrylic and ink on paper signed Hotere, dated '72 and inscribed Te Whiti Series in ink lower right 580 × 390mm
EST $30,000 — $50,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired from Gow Langsford, Auckland, c1999.
DON DRIVER
Relief with Balls and Ladder
1968
plastic balls, cans, wooden ladder and vinyl on plywood signed DON DRIVER, dated 1968 and inscribed “RELIEF WITH BALLS AND LADDER” in brushpoint verso 1430 × 930 × 140mm (widest points)
EST $20,000 — $25,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired from Works of Art, Webb's, Auckland, 7 September 2020, lot 23; Private collection, New Plymouth. Acquired directly from the artist, c1970.
DON DRIVER
Hello Dolly
1968
vinyl, acrylic, plastic balls, plastic dolls and canvas on board signed DON DRIVER, dated 1968 and inscribed “HELLO DOLLY” in ink verso
755 × 755mm
EST $7,500 — $12,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Hawkes Bay. Acquired from A2 Art, Webb's, Auckland, 20 June 2017, lot 160.
LOT 19
CARL SYDOW
untitled c1960s
ink and paper collage on paper
525 × 640mm
EST $1,800 — $2,800
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE
This work was previously held in the collection of Carl Sydow.
LOT 20
CARL SYDOW
untitled c1960s
ink and paper collage on paper
525 × 640mm
EST $1,800 — $2,800
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE
This work was previously held in the collection of Carl Sydow.
LOT 21
GINO SARFATTI FOR ARTELUCE
Model 50 Wall or Table Lamp
1968
lacquered aluminium
660 × 80 × 140mm (widest points)
EST $500 — $1,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
LOT 22
JOHAN NAESS System Chair c1970
fibreglass and leather
600 × 700 × 750mm (widest points)
EST $1,500 — $2,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
LOT 23
BILLY APPLE
Apple Sees Red, Live Stills Billy Apple
1963
exhibition poster
300 × 220mm
EST $400 — $800
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE
Produced by Gallery One, London, England for Billy Apple exhibition, Apple Sees Red Live Stills Billy Apple, 1963.
LOT 24
CHARLES ROTHAUSER & BRUCE THOMPSON FOR CAROMA
Utility Stool
1967
plastic
450 × 300 × 300mm (widest points)
EST $100 — $300
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
LOT 25
Four Panton Chairs c1967
fibreglass
800 × 500 × 500mm (widest points, each)
EST $1,500 — $2,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
MELVIN DAY
The Sentinels
1961 oil on board
signed Day and dated 8/61 in brushpoint lower right
650 × 860mm
EST $7,500 — $12,500
PROVENANCE
The Estate of Melvin Day, Wellington.
SELWYN MURU
untitled (Abstract)
1964 oil on board
280 × 810mm
EST $8,000 — $10,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired directly from the artist c1965.
ROBERT ELLIS
River Winding By The City 1964 oil on board signed Robert Ellis and dated ‛64 in brushpoint lower left; inscribed RIVER WINDING BY THE CITY by Robert Ellis and dated 1964 in ink verso 900 × 600mm
EST $22,000 — $32,000
PROVENANCE
The Estate of Robert Ellis, Auckland.
ROBERT ELLIS
Before Robert Ellis moved to Aotearoa in 1957 to take up a lectureship in design at Elam School of Fine Arts, he had served in the British Royal Air Force as an aerial photographer, surveying German cities.1 After the war, Ellis gained his degree at the Royal College of Art in London, where he continued to work as a freelance graphic designer while also travelling extensively around post-war Europe. During the 1960s Ellis began producing works focused on location-specific themes, such as those produced at Rakaumangamanga and Te Rawhiti. It was his international experiences and his time spent exploring his new home of Tāmaki Makaurau by car that informed his City and Motorway series. About these two bodies of work, curator Robert Leonard remarks: “in practice, it is often hard to distinguish City and Motorway works.”2 In his later City paintings, such as the two in this catalogue, we observe Ellis’s growing connection to and knowledge of Aotearoa (its land and its people) reflected in his incorporation of new motifs, such as the kōwhaiwhai we see represented as a meandering koru form curling through Cloud Over the City (1964).
In these 1960s paintings, Ellis expresses the inextricability of the city from the natural world. Ellis’s cities are like dark thumb-prints on the land, intricate streets reduced to indistinct grids that run alongside the sinuous line of a river that has always flowed there, and that we hope always will. In Cloud Over the City, free, expressive sweeps of white, tangerine and flame red become smaller, tighter, restrained by the city limits and yet more frenzied, as though mimicking the restless energy of those who dwell in urban centres. For those who travel frequently by air, these paintings are reminiscent of views below: cityscapes in chaos; hostile sprawling concrete and turbulent motorways. However, Ellis makes disorder orderly, creating formalised urban designs suspended just before being enveloped in atmospheric matter and water.
Ellis’s aerial-perspective City compositions can be seen to explore utopian ideas of human progress and expansion, while, conversely, interrogating humankind’s voracious greed for power and our folly as a consequence.
1 Robert Leonard, “City Mission,” in Unseen City: Gary Baigent, Rodney Charters and Robert Ellis in Sixties Auckland, ed. Robert Leonard and Andrew Clifford (Auckland and Wellington: Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery and City Gallery Wellington, 2015), unpaginated.
2 Ibid
ROBERT ELLIS
Cloud Over The City 1964 oil on board signed Robert Elllis and dated ‛64 in brushpoint lower left; inscribed CLOUD OVER THE CITY by Robert Ellis and dated 1964 in ink verso 900 × 600mm
EST $22,000 — $32,000
PROVENANCE
The Estate of Robert Ellis, Auckland.
PHILIP CLAIRMONT
untitled (Vicki)
c1969
crayon, ink and acrylic on paper
170 × 130mm
EST $5,000 — $6,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Tasman. Acquired from Duncan McKay, Nelson, 2007; Private collection. Acquired directly from the Clairmont family collection, Nelson, 1990.
LOT 31
MELVIN DAY
Tabula c1962
crayon, ink and watercolour on paper
760 × 860mm
EST $6,000 — $9,000
PROVENANCE
The Estate of Melvin Day, Wellington.
NOTE
Exhibited in Melvin Day: Continuum, City Gallery, Wellington, 2005.
COLIN MCCAHON
Northland 1959 ink on paper signed McCahon, dated April 59 and inscribed Northland in ink lower edge
620 × 480mm
EST $55,000 — $65,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Christchurch.
TOSS WOOLLASTON
Greymouth
1969 oil on board
signed Woollaston in brushpoint
lower right; inscribed #69/282 in ink verso
580 × 480mm
EST $15,000 — $25,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Whangārei. Passed by bequest; Private collection, Whangārei. Acquired directly from the artist.
LEO BENSEMANN
untitled (East Road, Takaka, Nelson)
c1965
oil on board
595 × 830mm
EST $25,000 — $35,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Tasman.
LEO BENSEMANN
While Leo Bensemann hailed from Tākaka, Golden Bay, much of his formative artistic journey unfolded in Canterbury, where he became closely associated with the region’s artistic milieu. However, a pivotal shift occurred in the 1960s when he returned to the landscapes of his youth, finding renewed inspiration in the rugged terrain, rocky formations and natural contours of the Tākaka region – as we see in the two paintings offered here.
Bensemann’s landscapes are characterised by bold, geometric shapes and defined lines, yet they possess an inherent softness achieved through his adept manipulation of lush colour palettes and gently draped cloud formations. Displaying a strong graphic sensibility tinged with surreal undertones, his work reflects his extensive experience in the print industry, where he excelled as an illustrator, typographer, designer and printer at the esteemed Caxton Press.
After relocating to Christchurch in 1931, Bensemann established himself as a prolific contributor to the Caxton Press, providing illustrations and artworks for their publications. By 1937, he had ascended to a partnership within the press, solidifying his enduring association with the institution. Bensemann’s repertoire at Caxton ranged from intimate portraits of family and friends to intricate woodblock prints and illustrations infused with elements of fantasy, myth and folklore, rendering his style instantly recognisable.
Despite his lack of formal artistic training, Bensemann honed his craft through independent exploration, sharing a studio space with the esteemed Rita Angus. Their close collaboration naturally led to some stylistic resonances in their works. While Angus was aligned with The Group, a collective of artists originating from the Canterbury College of Art, including luminaries such as Colin McCahon, Doris Lusk and Toss Woollaston, Bensemann was eventually invited to join their ranks, further cementing his status within the artistic community.
LEO BENSEMANN
Karamea Bluff West Coast c1963 oil on board signed LEO BENSEMANN and dated '63 in brushpoint lower left 460 × 770mm
EST $30,000 — $50,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Tasman.
However, Bensemann remained resolutely individualistic in his artistic pursuits, cultivating a vast and diverse body of work that straddled the realms of both the printing industry and visual arts. While he had previously experimented with landscape painting, it wasn’t until the 1960s that he committed himself wholeheartedly to the genre. This transition, occurring at a time when many of his contemporaries were gravitating towards abstraction, underscored his nonconformist ethos and deeply personal connection to the land.
Throughout the latter stages of his career, Bensemann traversed various regions, including Central Otago, the West Coast, Canterbury and the Tasman area, producing an array of rich and evocative depictions of the landscapes that held profound significance to him. In doing so, he captured not only the physical grandeur of these environments but also the emotional resonance they held for him as spaces imbued with personal and cultural significance.
MICHAEL ILLINGWORTH
At first glance, Michael Illingworth’s figures are unusual, to say the least. With their egg-shaped heads, triangular noses, enormous eyes and lack of mouths, they are too geometric, too cute, too silent to be taken seriously. And yet it is this very naivety that also gives them their potency; much like a child’s idle drawing that may reveal some horror they have witnessed, Illingworth’s mute, childish figures seem to vibrate with meaning — although what that meaning might be is not always easy to discern. In Untitled (Newborn), a naked woman – if we could call her that – stares off into the distance through dark-ringed pupil-less eyes. Something in their shape and the way shadows fall on her brow seems to suggest she is anxious, as does the arm curving across her golden-brown belly, cradling an abdomen swollen like a gourd. Her breasts are full but pert, not necessarily heavy with milk as they would be if she had just given birth. It is hard to know whether she is mother to a newborn, her stomach still round from a pregnancy just ended, the parenthetical addendum to the lack of a title referencing an actual birth, or whether Illingworth intended a more metaphorical interpretation of ‘newborn’, implying a fresh arrival to the world, akin to Adam and Eve.
1
Among Illingworth’s cast of figures, Adam and Eve are regulars, their identities signalled by their lack of clothing, the sartorial opposite of another recurring pair in his oeuvre, Mr and Mrs Thomas Piss-Quick, who represent all that is mundane and dysfunctional in urban society. By contrast, Adam and Eve symbolise “humankind in a prelapsarian state, innocent of evil and sin.”1 Usually depicted within the landscape, Illingworth’s Adam and Eve have caused controversy over the years for the extent of their nudity, their otherwise triangular bodies sporting startlingly realistic human genitals. Depicted in half-length, the woman in Untitled (Newborn) is unlikely to be Eve. Instead, she seems to be based on another mythic woman. With her body slightly turned, expression unreadable, dark hair falling from a centre parting, this is Illingworth’s Mona Lisa, his take on the most famous of all painted women. Perhaps, then, ‘newborn’ references the speculation around Leonardo da Vinci’s model being pregnant or just post-partum at the time of painting; or perhaps Illingworth, like da Vinci, was simply interested in the analogies between the maternal body and nature – ideas he was exploring more explicitly at this time in his anthropomorphic landscapes such as Land, Land and Island and Pah Hill (both also 1971).
MICHAEL ILLINGWORTH
Untitled (Newborn)
1971 oil on canvas
305 × 255mm
EST $65,000 — $85,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Whangārei. Passed by bequest; Private collection, Whangārei. Acquired directly from the artist.
Smaller in scale than Illingworth’s earlier works, Untitled (Newborn) makes up with luminosity for what it lacks in size. This is one of what Petar Vuletic dubbed Illingworth’s “icons”: tight figurative works in the traditional genres of still life, portrait and landscape. 2 The icons marked a stylistic shift from more textured, expressive paint application to extremely polished, smooth surfaces; a meticulous “process of refinement,” as Illingworth described it, “hours and hours of work until it is finished and then I am utterly exhausted by the effort.”3 The effort, however, was well worth it; the resultant works throb and glow, appear illuminated as though from within, to paraphrase Kevin Ireland, as though they possess “a mysterious inner life” all of their own.4
2 Petar Vuletic, “Michael Illingworth: Alienation and Search for Innocence,” Craccum Art Supplement, 2 September 1968, 10.
3 Barry Lett, “Interview with Michael Illingworth,” Barry Lett Galleries Newsletter, 19 August 1965.
4 Kevin Ireland, “Michael Illingworth – Out of a Window and into a Garden,” in Kevin Ireland, Aaron Lister and Damian Skinner, A Tourist in Paradise Lost: The Art of Michael Illingworth (Wellington: City Gallery Wellington, 2001), 11.
PAT HANLY
Born in Palmerston North in 1932, Pat Hanly studied at Canterbury School of Art in the early 1950s before travelling to Europe and London to further his artistic studies. However, it was his return to this country in 1962 that marked a profound shift in his artistic expression.
Hanly had a renewed appreciation for New Zealand’s harsh and bright light, a stark contrast to the subdued hues of the Northern Hemisphere. His Figures in Light series from the early 1960s serves as a testament to this newfound inspiration. Here, Hanly masterfully renders figures as ethereal silhouettes, suffused not with darkness but with the very essence of light itself.
Spring and summer became seasons when Hanly’s painting really came alive, as he revelled in the strong light and lush splendour of his wife Gil’s garden. He captured this garden time and again, in his Inside the Garden series, and with closeup details such as flowers or fruit.
The painting offered here, from 1968, shows the outline of two tamarillos plucked from a tree, with stems intact. The strong New Zealand light casts defined shadows of the two fruits, and while the shape gives us a clue to their identity, the colours of the painting could not be described as true to life. Mottled with purples, blues, pinks and oranges, the kaleidoscopic colouring seems to indicate sweet Easter eggs
rather than tangy tamarillos, showing Hanly’s enjoyment of strong colour. Hanly’s works from this late-1960s period are characterised by his experimentation with flicked and spotted paint and a cacophony of colours, creating molecular forms that pulsate on the canvas. While his methods were drawn partly from American abstractionists such as Jackson Pollock, Hanly eschewed true abstraction, retaining the outlines of his subjects and his beloved garden motifs.
As with all of Hanly’s works, this painting exudes vibrancy and energy, a testament to the artist’s mastery of colour, light and sheer joy in capturing his surroundings.
PAT HANLY
Two Tamarillos
1968 oil on canvas signed Hanly and dated '68 in brushpoint upper right 940 × 1050mm
EST $70,000 — $90,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired privately, c1970s.
1
MICHAEL SMITHER
Art historian Bernard Smith aptly describes Michael Smither as an “artist who uses paintings as a language which reveals every aspect of his personal experience.”1 For Smither, the choosing of familial scenes as subjects for his paintings began in 1964, when his eldest child, Sarah – the main subject of this work – was born. The arrival of Sarah sparked a major new theme in Smither’s practice, one that would coexist alongside the iconic mountain and rock-pool works for which he was becoming known. This significant shift in his personal life to embrace the caring required for parenthood is directly reflected in the care and love for humanity shown in the artist’s domestic-narrative compositions post-1964.
There is a tangible element of human warmth and emotive intimacy present in all of Smither’s paintings of Sarah. This sentiment of fatherly tenderness enhances the artist’s portrayal of his three-year-old daughter’s innocent sense of wonder at the insects she and her companion are discovering among the cabbages. Paternal affection is further emphasised by the endearing, exaggerated ungainliness in which Smither has recorded his daughter’s stance. Despite the familial charm of this scene, however, it’s important to acknowledge that Smither seems determined to avoid stylistic sentimentality: on the contrary, the delightfully innocent sense of wonder at the natural world he portrays in his young daughter’s eyes is brilliantly tempered by the stark, almost jarring quality of Smither’s hyper-realistic style.
Acknowledging the significance of this realism is key to appreciating this work: the carefully planned and tightly constructed composition is rendered with vivid colour and extreme linear clarity. Smither’s combining of these pictorial qualities with his exaggerated treatment of the figures of the animated children creates a rather stark sense of contrived theatricality.
The distinctive hard-edged realist style seen here has become synonymous with Smither’s painting. The artist has been able to apply his own regionalist realism to a variety of subject matter, from Taranaki landscapes to still life and imagery of his daughter. Sarah Among the Cabbages is a wonderful example of Smither’s ability to portray the innocent wonder of childhood within an uncompromisingly realist and formal composition.
Sarah Among the Cabbages 1967 oil on board signed M D Smither and dated 67 in brushpoint lower left 900 × 1020mm EST $80,000—$120,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired from International Art Centre, Contemporary &Traditional New Zealand & European Art, Auckland, 5 March, 1999, lot 26.
IAN SCOTT
Golden Girl
1970 oil on board signed Ian Scott, dated ‘70 and inscribed Golden Girl in ink verso 1055 × 1285mm
EST $50,000 — $70,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired directly from the artist, Auckland, c1998.
LOT 40 CARL SYDOW
untitled c1960s
acrylic on board
1280 × 980mm
EST $2,000 — $4,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE This work was previously held in the collection of Carl Sydow.
LOT 41 AFTER ANDY WARHOL
Marilyn Monroe
screenprint on museum board
910 × 900mm
EST $1,000 — $2,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
ANDY WARHOL
Joseph Beuys screenprint on museum board, unique trial proof signed Andy Warhol and inscribed TP 17/45 in graphite lower right 1016 × 813mm
EST
$60,000—$70,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired from Important Works of Art, Webb's, 29 March 2011, lot 6; Private collection. Acquired from Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland.
LOT 43
A SIGNED BEATLES GUITAR Fender Stratocaster
electric guitar
signed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in ink lower edge
EST $15,000 — $25,000
LOT 44
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
NOTE
Helping Hand Group Certificate of Authenticity affixed verso.
AFTER ANDY WARHOL
Campbell's Soup
screenprint on museum board
890 × 590mm
EST $1,000 — $2,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
NOTE
Sunday B Morning Certificate of Authenticity affixed verso.
BILLY APPLE
American Supermarket 1964
exhibition poster
420 × 550mm
EST $400 — $800
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE
Produced by Bianchini Gallery, New York, USA for the Billy Apple exhibition, American Supermarket, 1964.
LOT 46
BILLY
APPLE
NEONS. 1966
exhibition poster
440 × 560mm
EST $300 — $600
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
NOTE
Produced by Pepsi-Cola Exhibition Gallery, New York, USA for the Billy Apple exhibition, NEONS., 1966.
LOT 48
COL JORDAN
Minos IV
1965
acrylic on wood on aluminium signed jordan and dated 5/65 in ink verso
910 × 910mm (widest points)
EST $6,000 — $9,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
ROY GOOD
Cross Variant III
1969
oil on canvas signed ROY GOOD, dated '69 and inscribed CROSS VARIANT III in ink verso
910 × 760mm
EST $5,000 — $8,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
LOT 49
PAT HANLY
Inside the Garden 19
1967
watercolour on paper signed Hanly, dated Oct 67 and inscribed Inside the Garden 19 in ink lower right 540 × 540mm
EST $7,000 — $12,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
LOT 50
JOANNA MARGARET PAUL
Seacliff Landscape 1972
gouache on paper signed JMP, dated 1972 and inscribed Seacliff landscape in graphite lower right 255 × 375mm
EST $1,200 — $2,500
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland.
LOT
51 ANS WESTRA
Ruatoria (Kids Running)
1963. printed 2022 digital print, edition of 25
390 × 390mm
EST $2,200 — $4,200
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
LOT 52 ANS WESTRA
Ruatoria (Jimmy with Bread)
1963. printed later digital print, edition of 25
390 × 390mm
EST $2,200 — $4,200
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
LOT 53 ANS WESTRA
Ruatoria (Kids with Milk Powder)
1963. printed later digital print, edition of 25
390 × 390mm
EST $2,200 — $4,200
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
ARTHUR DAGLEY
Port Theme, Reclamation No3 c1970
acrylic, metal, resin and wood on board signed Dagley in brushpoint lower edge 1430 × 1360mm
EST $3,000 — $5,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Auckland. Acquired c1970.
LOT 55
ROBERT ELLIS untitled 1961
acrylic and wax on card signed Robert Ellis and dated 61 in ink lower right 760 × 535mm
EST $5,000 — $6,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection.
LOT 56
JAN NIGRO
Mining Baroque
1964
acrylic on board signed JAN NIGRO and dated 64' in brushpoint upper right
650 × 800mm
EST $2,500 — $4,500
PROVENANCE
The Jan Nigro Trust Collection, Hamilton.
JAN NIGRO
Mining Series 1964
gouche, graphite and ink on paper signed JAN NIGRO and dated '64 in graphite lower right
376 × 565mm
EST $1,500 — $2,500
PROVENANCE
The Jan Nigro Trust Collection, Hamilton.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
The terms and conditions of sale listed here contain the policies of Webb’s (Webb Fine Art). They are the terms on which Webb’s (Webb Fine Art) and the Seller contract with the Buyer. They may be amended by printed Saleroom Notices or oral announcements made before and during the sale. By bidding at auction you agree to be
bound by these terms.
1. Background to the Terms used in these Conditions
The conditions that are listed below contain terms that are used regularly and may need explanation. They are as follows:
“the Buyer” means the person with the highest bid accepted by the Auctioneer.
“the Lot” means any item depicted within the sale for auction and in particular the item or items described against any lot number in the catalogue.
“the Hammer price” means the amount of the highest bid accepted by the auctioneer in relation to a lot.
“the Buyer’s Premium” means the charge payable by the Buyer to the auction house as a percentage of the hammer price.
“the Reserve” means the lowest amount at which Webb’s has agreed with the Seller that the lot can be sold.
“Forgery” means an item constituting an imitation originally conceived and executed as a whole, with a fraudulent intention to deceive as to authorship, origin, age, period, culture or source,
where the correct description as to such matters is not reflected by the description in the catalogue. Accordingly, no lot shall be capable of being a forgery by reason of any damage or restoration work of any kind (Including re-painting).
“the insured value” means the amount that Webb’s in its absolute discretion from time to time shall consider the value for which a lot should be covered for insurance (whether or not insurance is arranged by Webb’s).
All values expressed in Webb’s catalogues (in any format) are in New Zealand Dollars (NZD$). All bids, “hammer price”, “reserves”, “Buyers Premium” and other expressions of value are understood by all parties to be in New Zealand Dollars (NZD$) unless otherwise specified.
2. Webb’s Auctions as Agent
Except as otherwise stated, Webb’s acts as agent for the Seller.
The contract for the sale of the property is therefore made between the Seller and the Buyer.
3. Before the Sale
3.1. Examination of Property
Prospective Buyers are strongly advised to examine in person any property in which they are interested before the Auction takes place. Neither Webb’s nor the Seller provides any guarantee in relation to the nature of the property apart from the Limited warranty in the paragraph below.
The property is otherwise sold “AS IS”
3.2. Catalogue and Other Descriptions
All statements by Webb’s in the catalogue entry for the property or in the condition report, or made orally or in writing elsewhere, are statements of opinion and are not to be relied upon as statements of fact. Such statements do not constitute a representation, warranty or assumption of liability by Webb’s of any kind. References in the catalogue entry to the condition report to damage or restoration are for guidance only and should be evaluated by personal inspection by the bidder or a knowledgeable representative. The absence of such a reference does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Estimates of the selling price should not be relied on as a statement that this is the price at which the item will sell or its value for any other purpose. Neither Webb’s nor The Seller is responsible for any errors or omissions in the catalogue or any supplemental material.
Images are measured height by width (sight size). Illustrations are provided only as a guide and should not be relied upon as a true representation of colour or condition. Images are not shown at a standard scale. Mention is rarely made of frames (which may be provided as supplementary images on the website) which do not form part of the lot as described in the printed catalogue.
An item bought “on Extension” must be paid for in full before it will be released to the purchaser or his/her agreed expertising committee or specialist. Payments received for such items will be held “in trust” for up to 90 days or earlier, if the issue of authenticity has been resolved more quickly. Extensions must be requested before the auction.
Foreign buyers should note that all transactions are in New Zealand Dollars so there may be a small exchange rate risk. The costs associated with acquiring a good opinion or certificate will be carried by the purchaser. If the item turns out to be forged or otherwise incorrectly described, all reasonable costs will be borne by the vendor.
3.3.
Buyers Responsibility
All property is sold “as is” without representation or warranty of any kind by Webb’s or the Seller. Buyers are responsible for satisfying themselves concerning the condition of the property and the matters referred to in the catalogue by requesting a condition report.
No lot to be rejected if, subsequent to the sale, it has been immersed in liquid or treated by any other process unless the Auctioneer’s permission to subject the lot to such immersion or treatment has first been obtained in writing.
4. At the Sale
4.1. Refusal of Admission
Webb’s reserves the right at our complete discretion to refuse admission to the auction premises or participation in any auction and to reject any bid.
4.2. Registration Before Bidding
Any prospective new buyer must complete and sign a registration form and provide photo identification before bidding. Webb’s may request bank, trade or other financial references to substantiate this registration.
4.3. Bidding as a Principal
When making a bid, a bidder is accepting personal liability to pay the purchase price including the buyer’s premium and all applicable taxes, plus all other applicable charges, unless it has been explicitly agreed in writing with Webb’s before the commencement of the sale that the bidder is acting as agent on behalf of an identified third party acceptable to Webb’s and that Webb’s will only look to the principal for payment.
4.4. International Registrations
All International clients not known to Webb’s will be required to scan or fax through an accredited form of photo identification and pay a deposit at our discretion in cleared funds into Webb’s account at least 24 hours before the commencement of the auction. Bids will not be accepted without this deposit. Webb’s also reserves the right to request any additional forms of identification prior to registering an overseas bid.
This deposit can be made using a credit card, however the balance of any purchase price in excess of $5,000 cannot be charged to this card without prior arrangement.
This deposit is redeemable against any auction purchase and will be refunded in full if no purchases are made.
4.5.
Absentee Bids
Webb’s will use reasonable efforts to execute written bids delivered to us AT LEAST 24 Hours before the sale for the convenience of those clients who are unable to attend the auction in person. If we receive identical written bids on a particular lot, and at the auction these are the highest bids on that lot, then the lot will be sold to the person whose written bid was received and accepted first. Execution of written bids is a free service undertaken subject to other commitments at the time of the sale and we do not accept liability for failing to execute a written bid or for errors or omissions which may arise. It is the bidder’s responsibility to check with Webb’s after the auction if they were successful. Unlimited or “Buy” bids will not be accepted.
4.6.
Telephone Bids
Priority will be given to overseas and bidders from other regions. Please refer to the catalogue for the Telephone Bids form. Arrangements for this service must be confirmed AT LEAST 24 HOURS PRIOR to the auction commencing. Webb’s accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any errors or failure to execute bids. In telephone bidding the buyer agrees to be bound by all terms and conditions listed here and accepts that Webb’s cannot be held responsible for any miscommunications in the process. The success of telephone bidding cannot be guaranteed due to circumstances that are unforeseen. Buyers should be aware of the risk and accept the consequences should contact be unsuccessful at the time of Auction. You must advise Webb’s of the lots in question, and you will be assumed to be a buyer at the minimum price of 75% of estimate (i.e. reserve) for all such lots. Webb’s will advise Telephone Bidders who have registered at least 24 hours before the auction of any relevant changes to descriptions, withdrawals, or any other sale room notices.
4.7.
Online Bidding
Webb’s offers an online bidding service. When bidding online the buyer agrees to be bound by all terms and conditions listed here by Webb’s.
Webb’s accepts no responsibility for any errors, failure to execute bids or any other miscommunications regarding this process. It is the online bidder’s responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the relevant information regarding bids, lot numbers and contact details. Webb’s does not charge for this service.
4.8.
Reserves
Unless otherwise indicated, all lots are offered subject to a reserve, which is the confidential minimum price below which the Lot will not be sold. The reserve will not exceed the low estimate printed in the
catalogue. The auctioneer may open the bidding on any Lot below the reserve by placing a bid on behalf of the Seller. The auctioneer may continue to bid on behalf of seller up to the amount of the reserve, either by placing consecutive bids or by placing bids in response to other bidders.
4.9.
Auctioneers Discretion
The Auctioneer has the right at his/her absolute and sole discretion to refuse any bid, to advance the bidding according to the following indicative steps:
Increment Dollar
Range Amount
$20 $0–$500
$50 $500–$1,000
$100 $1,000–$2,000
$200 $2,000–$5,000
$500 $5,000–$10,000
$1,000 $10,000–$20,000
$2,000 $20,000–$50,000
$5,000 $50,000 – $100,000
$10,000 $100,000–$200,000
$20,000 $200,000–$500,000
$50,000 $500,000–$1,000,000
Absentee bids must follow these increments and any bids that don’t follow the steps will be rounded up to the nearest acceptable bid.
5. After the Sale
5.1. Buyers Premium
In addition to the hammer price, the buyer agrees to pay to Webb’s the buyer’s premium. The buyer’s premium is 19.5% of the hammer price plus GST. (Goods and Services Tax) where applicable.
5.2. Payment and Passing of Title
The buyer must pay the full amount due (comprising the hammer price, buyer’s premium and any applicable taxes and GST) not later than 2 days after the auction date.
The buyer will not acquire title to the lot until Webb’s receives full payment in cleared funds, and no goods under any circumstances will be released without confirmation of cleared funds received. This applies even if the buyer wishes to send items overseas.
Payment can be made by direct transfer, cash (not exceeding NZD$5,000, if wishing to pay more than NZD$5,000 then this must be deposited directly into a Bank of New Zealand branch and bank receipt supplied) and EFTPOS (please check the daily limit). Payments can be made by debit card or credit card in person with a 2.2% merchant fee for Visa, Mastercard and Paywave, and 3.3% for American Express. Invoices that are in excess of $5,000 and where the card holder is not present, cannot be charged to a credit card without prior arrangement. Cheques are no longer accepted.
The buyer is responsible for any bank fees and charges applicable for the transfer of funds into Webb’s account.
5.3. Collection of Purchases & Insurance
Webb’s is entitled to retain items sold until all amounts due to us have been received in full in cleared funds. Subject to this, the Buyer shall collect purchased lots within 2 days from the date of the sale unless otherwise agreed in writing between Webb’s and the Buyer.
At the fall of the hammer, insurance is the responsibility of the purchaser.
5.4. Packing, Handling and Shipping
Webb’s will be able to suggest removals companies that the buyer can use but takes no responsibility whatsoever for the actions of any recommended third party. Webb’s can pack and handle goods purchased at the auction by agreement and a charge will be made for this service. All packing, shipping, insurance, postage & associated charges will be borne by the purchaser.
5.5. Permits, Licences and Certificates
Under The Protected Objects Act 1975, buyers may be required to obtain a licence for certain categories of items in a sale from the Ministry of Culture & Heritage, PO Box 5364, Wellington.
5.6. Remedies for Non-Payment If the Buyer fails to make full payment immediately, Webb’s is entitled to exercise one or more of the following rights or remedies (in addition to asserting any other rights or remedies available under the law)
5.6.1. to charge interest at such a rate as we shall reasonably decide.
5.6.2. to hold the defaulting Buyer liable for the total amount due and to commence legal proceedings for its recovery along with interest, legal fees and costs to the fullest extent permitted under applicable law.
5.6.3. to cancel the sale.
5.6.4. to resell the property publicly or privately on such terms as we see fit.
5.6.5. to pay the Seller an amount up to the net proceeds payable in respect of the amount bid by the defaulting Buyer. In these circumstances the defaulting Buyer can have no claim upon Webb’s in the event that the item(s) are sold for an amount greater than the original invoiced amount.
5.6.6. to set off against any amounts which Webb’s may owe the Buyer in any other transactions, the outstanding amount remaining unpaid by the Buyer.
5.6.7. where several amounts are owed by the Buyer to us, in respect of different transactions, to apply any amount paid to discharge any amount owed in respect of any particular transaction, whether or not the Buyer so directs.
5.6.8. to reject at any future auction any bids made by or on behalf of the Buyer or to obtain a deposit from the Buyer prior to accepting any bids.
5.6.9. to exercise all the rights and remedies of a person holding security over any property in our possession owned by the Buyer whether by way of pledge, security interest or in any other way, to the fullest extent permitted by the law of the place where such property is located. The Buyer will be deemed to have been granted such security to us and we may retain such property as collateral security for said Buyer’s obligations to us.
5.6.10. to take such other action as Webb’s deem necessary or appropriate.
If we do sell the property under paragraph (4), then the defaulting Buyer shall be liable for payment of any deficiency between the total amount originally due to us and the price obtained upon reselling as well as for all costs, expenses, damages, legal fees and commissions and premiums of whatever kinds associated with both sales or otherwise arising from the default.
If we pay any amount to the Seller under paragraph (5) the Buyer acknowledges that Webb’s shall have all of the rights of the Seller, however arising, to pursue the Buyer for such amount.
5.7. Failure to Collect
Purchases
Where purchases are not collected within 2 days from the sale date, whether or not payment has been made, we shall be permitted to remove the property to a warehouse at the buyer’s expense, and only release the items after payment in full has been made of removal, storage handling, insurance and any other costs incurred, together with payment of all other amounts due to us.
6. Extent of Webb’s Liability
Webb’s agrees to refund the purchase price in the circumstances of the Limited Warranty set out in paragraph 7 below. Apart from that, neither the Seller nor we, nor any of our employees or agents are responsible for the correctness of any statement of whatever kind concerning any lot, whether written or oral, nor for any other errors or omissions in description or for any faults or defects in any lots. Except as stated in paragraph 7 below, neither the Seller, ourselves, our officers, agents or employees give any representation warranty or guarantee or assume any liability of any kind in respect of any lot with regard to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, description, size, quality, condition, attribution, authenticity, rarity, importance, medium, provenance, exhibition history, literature or historical relevance. Except as required by local law any warranty of any kind is excluded by this paragraph.
7. Limited Warranty
Subject to the terms and conditions of this paragraph, the Seller warrants for the period of thirty days from the date of the sale that any property described in this catalogue (noting such description may be amended by any saleroom notice or announcement) which is stated without qualification to be the work of a named author or authorship is authentic and not a forgery. The term “Author” or “authorship” refers to the creator of the property or to the period, culture, source, or origin as the case may be, with which the creation of such property is identified in the catalogue.
The warranty is subject to the following: it does not apply where a) the catalogue description or saleroom notice corresponded to the generally accepted opinion of scholars and experts at the date of the sale or fairly indicated that there was a conflict of opinions, or b) correct identification of a lot can be demonstrated only by means of a scientific process not generally accepted for use until after publication of the catalogue or a process which at the date of the publication of the catalogue was unreasonably expensive or impractical or likely to have caused damage to the property.
the benefits of the warranty are not assignable and shall apply only to the original buyer of the lot as shown on the invoice originally issued by Webb’s when the lot was sold at Auction.
the Original Buyer must have remained the owner of the lot without disposing of any interest in it to any third party.
The Buyer’s sole and exclusive remedy against the Seller in place of any other remedy which might be available, is the cancellation of the sale and the refund of the original purchase price paid for the lot less the buyer’s premium which is nonrefundable. Neither the Seller nor Webb’s will be liable for any special, incidental nor consequential damages including, without limitation, loss of profits.
The Buyer must give written notice of claim to us within thirty days of the date of the Auction. The Seller shall have the right, to require the Buyer to obtain two written opinions by recognised experts in the field, mutually acceptable to the Buyer and Webb’s to decide whether or not to cancel the sale under warranty.
the Buyer must return the lot to Seller in the same condition that it was purchased.
8. Severability
If any part of these Conditions of Sale is found by any court to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that part shall be discounted, and the rest of the Conditions shall continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law.
9. Copyright
The copyright in all images, illustrations and written material produced by Webb’s relating to a lot including the contents of this catalogue, is and shall remain the property at all times of Webb’s and shall not be used by the Buyer, nor by anyone else without our prior written consent. Webb’s and the Seller make no representation or warranty that the Buyer of a property will acquire any copyright or other reproduction rights in it.
10. Law and Jurisdiction
These terms and conditions and any matters concerned with the foregoing fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand, unless otherwise stated.
11. Pre-Sale Estimates
Webb’s publishes with each catalogue our opinion as to the estimated price range for each lot. These estimates are approximate prices only and are not intended to be definitive. They are prepared well in advance of the sale and may be subject to revision. Interested parties should contact Webb’s prior to auction for updated pre-sale estimates and starting prices.
12. Sale Results
Webb’s will provide auction results, which will be available as soon as possible after the sale. Results will include buyer’s premium. These results will be posted at www.webbs.co.nz.
13. Goods and Service Tax
GST is applicable on the hammer price in the case where the seller is selling property that is owned by an entity registered for GST. GST is also applicable on the hammer price in the case where the seller is not a New Zealand resident. These lots are denoted by a dagger symbol † placed next to the estimate. GST is also applicable on the buyer’s premium.