A rare multi-million dollar collection of some of New Zealand's greatest artists has sold at auction for hefty prices — albeit not quite as high as hoped.
More than 100 works went under the hammer at the International Arts Centre in the Auckland suburb of Parnell on Tuesday evening. Among them two that were anticipated to reach bids of $1m or more — a Charles Goldie portrait of Ngati Maniapoto chieftain Te Kamaka in 1916 and Don Binney's Swoop of the Kotare.
The Goldie sold at auction, on a bid of $777,000, tens of thousands shy of the auction house's best estimates. The Binney initially passed in at auction on a final bid of $680,000 — but was sold post auction for $700,000.
University of Auckland art historian Linda Tyler said the auction offered a "blockbuster" collection of art works, many of which were "museum quality" and an impressive number of works by Māori artists.
She said the sales falling short of estimates was likely a reflection of New Zealand's economic recession. "People are a little bit hesitant to push prices over a million."
Tyler said it was quite rare to see so many works from some of the biggest artists Aotearoa had ever seen being sold all at the same time.
But she said their value was more than just monetary. In specific reference to Goldie's portraits of Māori tūpuna she said they told a story of who we are.
"They are part of our cultural patrimony. They are really significant for this country, because they are documenting a time, when those were the interactions with Māori and Pākehā."
Glass door 'thought to be destroyed'
International Arts Centre director Richard Thomson said a number of the works in the auction had been thought lost to the art world.
Among them was a Colin McCahon glass door — one of 12 the artist, who was better known as a modernist painter, was said to have made.
"They are incredibly rare," Thompson said. "They only made 12 and this one is the last one he made. It was thought to be destroyed... but, as it turned out, it has been saved."
Another, a classic Ralph Hotere painting, had the artist's inscription on its back.
Thomson said the 1969 art piece was being sold for the first time by its original owner.
Artistic treasures such as these were would continue to attract interest from buyers, he said, even when money was tight.
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