Serious doubts have been raised over a purported Goldie painting listed for $420,000.
By Katie Todd and Pokere Paewai of RNZ
Six art experts and auctioneers – including four who previously inspected Lost in Thought, Ngāheke, An Arawa Chieftain – have told RNZ they do not believe the painting is by Goldie.
The sale was announced by Christchurch gallery NZ artbroker this week, following what it described as a journey of research, multiple authentications and valuations confirming the work's historical and artistic significance.
It said the piece, which disappeared from public view for over a century, had been traced to an art exhibition in Christchurch in 1917 through its frame details, and its subject had been identified as Patara Te Ngūngūkai – a high-ranking chieftain and tohunga of the Tuhourangi Ngāheke hapū of Te Arawa.
The piece was purchased from an estate in Melbourne in 2020 by someone who took a gamble on it and subsequently confirmed it as a genuine work by the renowned artist C.F. Goldie, NZ artbroker said.
Cordy's Auctioneers director Andrew Grigg said the painting had previously been in his possession but he refused to sell it on behalf of a vendor because he was not convinced by the workmanship.
"There were a number of other works in the collection that were obviously not right and I was never happy with this work ... The whole painting is not right," he believed.
The painting bore a Goldie signature but it was thin, low-quality and flawed with a fold at the bottom, he said.
He returned it to the vendor in 2020 but said he was shocked to see it promoted for sale this week.
"It's promoted as Goldie and being promoted for a serious amount of money. Those that I know and spoken to in the industry totally agree with me that it isn't right," Grigg said.
In a statement, NZ artbroker said the piece had been examined by several experts, including Dr Leonard Bell, former Associate Professor in Art History at the University of Auckland.
Director Jen McBride said she was aware the painting had been assessed in the past but that predated the identification of the tohunga and or the link to the 1917 Canterbury Society of the Arts Annual Exhibition catalogue.
"The vendor believes that the additional context ... has built a compelling case for the work," she said.
Further forensics could be undertaken, McBride said.
"Given the media speculation, I would fully support that."
Getting consensus among experts had proved challenging but it was "expected and reasonable that that process is robust in its debate", McBride said.
"It is unfortunate that the definitive Goldie expert in New Zealand, Roger Blackley, is now deceased."
'Flat' details under infrared
Sarah Hillary, who spent 40 years at Auckland Art Gallery including 25 as principal conservator, said she took a close look at the piece in 2021 using infrared and ultraviolet light.
The inspection was part of a process of researching the history of conservation and looking at different techniques used to identify fake paintings, she said.
She said it was "quite a sweet little painting" but she believed it was most likely not a Goldie.
"Goldie, he's such an incredible artist that even when you get up close to the surface it looks like real flesh and contours of the face are really visible and very smoothly applied. But this painting – it was much flatter and the brushwork was much more visible, the individual strokes, and it looked like the tā moko had just been floated onto the top. It was quite flat and it didn't follow the surface texture," she said.
"With the ultraviolet it was also a very dark colour unlike what you'd expect of an aged resin varnish. It's possible that it has been revarnished at a later date but it also displayed some colours that we could see through the varnish that this doesn't didn't look quite right."
Artist Phillip Waddington, who studied Goldie and painted in his style for over 50 years, was unequivocal in his belief that the painting was not a Goldie.
He told RNZ that he believed it was the work of a "novice painter" and said the mataora was quite flat compared to the texture of a Goldie painting.
Waddington was an expert witness in the 1985 trial of forger Karl Sim, who was convicted of 40 counts of forgery and fined $1000.
Lost in Thought, Ngāheke, An Arawa Chieftain had other giveaways, he said.
"Goldie's father owned a timber mill that milled kauri and his father ran these mouldings for Goldie's frames. And they're original and they're the only frame of that type that was used on his work. They were framed by Leech Gallery in Auckland, and Goldie only used those frames, and in this particular one it is an oak frame from McGregor Wright's Wellington."
The sitter was still likely to be Patara Te Ngūngūkai but copied from a photo, Waddington believed.
He said he wanted to speak out to protect the integrity of Goldie's work.
Another two art experts contacted by RNZ said they too, were concerned about the painting's authenticity, with one commenting the hand did not resonate Goldie "in any sense" in their opinion.
Dunbar Sloane said his auction house had pulled its own 2024 listing after he inspected the painting in person.
He, too, was not convinced it was authentic, he said.
Hillary said it was important art dealers were honest about how they came to conclude a piece was real.
"It's a huge amount of work and it can be very costly to authenticate something. But I do think that it's important for art dealers to go through the process themselves and be very transparent," she said.
NZ artbroker was set to hold a viewing event for the piece in Christchurch on Thursday, July 23.
SHARE ME