Outstanding results at International Art Centre’s July sale saw the two highest prices achieved at auction this year to date.
Important & Rare Art held 29 July drew robust interest from collectors across New Zealand and abroad, both inroom and online. Strong bidding throughout the evening confirmed the enduring demand for quality historical and modernist artworks with exceptional results and several new artist records achieved.
The evening’s highlight, Don Binney’s monumental Fatbird II (Lot 32), soared to $667,012, establishing the highest price achieved at auction in New Zealand in 2025. A keystone of New Zealand modernism, the painting’s commanding presence and provenance captivated collectors.
Modernist works continued to command attention with Leo Bensemann’s Port Hills realising $63,063 reaffirming his place among New Zealand’s most admired modernists.
Flora Scales’ St Tropez, Farm Buildings and Harbour realised $34,782 setting a new auction record for the artist.
International Art Centre’s Important & Rare auctions continue to be the proven, pre-eminent sale category for major works of art offered for sale in New Zealand.
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BUYERS PREMIUM
18.5% plus GST
1 COLIN MCCAHON (1919 - 87)
Moby Dick is Sighted Off Muriwai Beach, 1972
Lithograph, edition of 87/200, 49 x 59 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated ‘72 within plate
$10,000 - 15,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
2 DON BINNEY (1940 - 2012)
Swoop of the Kotare, Wainamu
Screenprint, edition 33/55, print edition II, 66 x 48 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated 1986
$15,000 - 20,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Silkscreen print, edition 33/50, 32 x 23 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated 1973
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Screenprint, edition of 19/25, 87 x 42 cm
Signed & inscribed Amoka
$18,000 - 25,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
3 ROBIN WHITE (b. 1946)
Harbour Cone
4 GORDON WALTERS (1919 - 95)
Amoka
5 PETER SIDDELL (1935 - 2011)
Doorway
Watercolour 34 x 23 cm
Signed & dated 1984 lower right
$15,000 - 20,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
6 DON BINNEY (1940 - 2012)
Maungawhau Jug
Pastel on paper 56 x 76 cm
Signed & dated Jan - June ‘95 lower right
$25,000 - 35,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
7 TERRY STRINGER (b. 1946)
Walk in Head
Bronze, edition 4/5, 37 x 14 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated 2005
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
8 FLORA SCALES (1887 - 1985)
Untitled [Flowers in a Green Vase Placed on the Seat of a Chair]
Oil on canvas 44.5 x 29 cm
Signed lower left
$8,000 - 12,000
EXHIBITED
Titled as, Jar with Flowers, placed on chair, Flora Scales, The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson, 2018
REFERENCE
Becoming Modern: The Paintings of Flora Scales by Jennifer Higgie, 2022
9
FRANCIS MCCRACKEN (1879 - 1959)
Still Life with Anemones, c. 1938
Oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm
Signed lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
10
FRANCIS MCCRACKEN (1879 - 1959)
Anemones, Still Life
Oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
11
FRANCIS MCCRACKEN (1879 - 1959)
Anemones
Oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm
Signed lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
It is rare to uncover a hidden painting, let alone to find two hidden works. Beneath the surface of Anemones (Lot 11) lay two complete earlier works, each more traditional in treatment than the last. Together they chart Francis McCracken’s evolution as an artist, from academic naturalism to a confident modernist voice shaped by European colour and form.
Born in Northern Ireland, McCracken trained at Auckland’s Elam School of Art before serving with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War I, where he was wounded at Ypres. He continued his studies at the Royal Scottish Academy and later in Paris under the Cubist master André Lhôte. The influence of both Cubism and the Scottish Colourists, particularly S.J. Peploe, is evident in his structured compositions and luminous palette.
The rediscovery of these layered canvases offers rare insight into McCracken’s working process and artistic restlessness. Revisiting this still life composition across multiple iterations, he translated a traditional motif into a study of geometry, light and renewal.
12
LOUISE HENDERSON (1902 - 94)
The Swimmer c.1958
Oil on canvas 65 x 102.5 cm
Signed verso
$25,000 - 35,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Webb’s, A2 Art, Auckland, 23/02/2010, Lot No. 149
Art+Object, The Bev & Murray Gow Collection, Auckland, 15/09/2007, Lot No. 266
13 MICHAEL PAREKŌWHAI (b. 1968)
Rainbow Servant Dreaming 2012
Polyurethane & two-pot automotive paint on fibreglass composite 42 x 17 cm
$30,000 - 40,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
14 PETER SIDDELL (1935 - 2011)
Open Door
Oil on hardboard 55 x 35 cm
Signed & dated 1981 lower right
Title inscribed verso
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
15 TERRY STRINGER (b. 1946)
The Head is a Theatre of Dreams
Bronze, edition 4/10, 59.5 x 14.5 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated 2005
$10,000 - 15,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired directly from the artist
EXHIBITED
Shrines and Temples, Zealandia Sculpture Garden, 24 October 2005 - 31 January 2006
16 JENNY DOLEZEL (b. 1964)
The Art of Living
Oil and oil stick on paper 64.5 x 94 cm
Signed lower left, title inscribed lower center
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Art+Object, New Collectors Art (Art lots only), Auckland, 26/02/2019, Lot No. 146
17 IAN SCOTT (1945 - 2013)
Flesh Light
Acrylic on canvas 120 x 91 cm
Signed, inscribed Flesh Light & dated May
1985 verso
$15,000 - 20,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Important & Rare Art, Auckland, 28/11/2023, Lot No. 30
18 GORDON WALTERS (1919 - 95)
Untitled (Reverse left to right)
Gouache on paper 30.5 x 22.5 cm
Inscribed & dated 79/80
$50,000 - 65,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
19 RALPH HOTERE (1931 - 2013)
Drawing for a Black Remuera Painting, 1980
Watercolour and pastel on paper 69.5 x 50 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated Jan 80 lower right
$25,000 - 35,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
20 ALLEN MADDOX (1948 - 2000)
Untitled
Oil on loose canvas 87 x 45 cm
Signed & dated 81 lower left
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
21 GRETCHEN ALBRECHT (b. 1943)
Claritas (Blue Sky Band)
Acrylic and oil on canvas 72.5 x 119.5 cm
Signed, inscribed Claritas (Blue Sky Band) & dated 09 verso
$30,000 - 40,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland, 2014
Kia Ora .... Ka Kite
Oil on linen 40 x 50.5 cm
Titled inscribed lower left
Initialled & dated 07 lower right
$30,000 - 40,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Swing Tag, 12/7/94
Oil on canvas 175.5 x 185 cm
Signed, title inscribed & dated 12/7/94 lower right
Inscribed This was done by Dick Frizzell the great restorer on label affixed verso
$30,000 - 40,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
22 SHANE COTTON (b. 1965)
23 DICK FRIZZELL (b. 1943)
Old
board 44 x 67 cm
Signed & dated 15/08/1989 lower right
inscribed Old Water Tower - Tokoroa lower left
$10,000 - 15,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Important, Early & Rare, Auckland, 28/07/2010, Lot No. 4
24 DICK FRIZZELL (b. 1943)
Water Tower - Tokoroa Oil on
25 TREVOR MOFFITT (1936 - 2006)
After the Criterion Hotel Fire, From the Hokonui/ Moonshine Series
Oil on board 58.5 x 58.5 cm
Signed & dated 98 lower right
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Signed lower right
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Fine New Zealand Paintings, Auckland, 25/03/2004, Lot No. 52
26
SELWYN MURU (1937 - 2024)
Cityscape
Oil on board 51 x 66 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated Sept 2017 verso
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
27 KARL MAUGHAN (b. 1964)
Homage
Oil on canvas 102 x 102 cm
28 PAUL HARTIGAN (b. 1953)
Reubus (The Vapours Series)
Red neon 35 x 68 cm
Signed & dated 2010 verso
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from Depot, Auckland, 2014
REFERENCE
Don Abbott, Vivid: The Paul Hartigan Story, RF Books, Auckland, 2015, p. 269
29 COLIN MCCAHON (1919 - 87)
Flowers for Brenda
Synthetic polymer paint on paper 76 x 55 cm
Signed & inscribed For Brenda - The flowers I should have sent you. Colin.
$40,000 - 60,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Important, Early & Rare, Auckland, 30/03/2011, Lot No. 31
The Marti & Gerrard Friedlander Collection
The paintings by Patricia France and Ralph Hotere, the small Paul Beadle bronze sculpture and the four Marti Friedlander photographs were all part of Marti and Gerrard Friedlander’s art collection, much of which was sold back in 2018. Marti Friedlander (1928-2016) and Ralph Hotere (1931-2013) were friends, and she took many photographs of him. They had several paintings and drawings by Hotere, one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed artists, about whose work much has been written. Untitled, Port Chambers Painting exemplifies strikingly Hotere’s innovative use of materials, steel, acrylic and an old window frame, to visualise anew a topical situation.
Friedlander also photographed Patricia France (19111995), a close friend of Hotere’s, who lived in Dunedin. Her paintings appealed strongly. The Friedlanders had five of France’s enigmatic, faux-naive figurative images; dreamlike, mysterious, compelling, which both invite and elude interpretation.
The exquisite bronze angel by Paul Beadle (1917-1992) hung on their dining room wall for many years. Beadle was undoubtedly one of the most highly accomplished sculptors and medallists to have lived in New Zealand, though his works are now little-seen in public. The Friedlanders knew Beadle well. He belonged to the same Auckland social and cultural milieu during the 1960s and 1970s and she photographed him too. Beadle was the first Professor of Fine Arts at Auckland University and showed his finely crafted work at the New Vision Gallery and throughout the world.
The subjects of the four photographs make up a diverse group. James K. Baxter (1926-1972) was born and spent his early years in Dunedin. One of New Zealand’s best known poets and social provocateurs, this riveting image was made from a negative in Auckland in the mid-1960s.
Friedlander had photographed Baxter from above in a room where he sat by a table, on which various small object were arranged as if for a still-life. This image was radically cropped from that negative, so that we see only Baxter’s face and head filling the frame. The close-up, in effect, enables us to probe beneath the surface of this complicated man.
The photograph of the artist, writer and film maker, Joanna Paul (1945-2003) was taken in Dunedin, where she was then living. It was one Friedlander’s favourite portraits. She liked Paul alot. According to Friedlander, Paul was a very introspective person, whose art wasn’t getting much attention at the time. The portrait is a virtuoso orchestration of light and shadowed passages. Paul, meditative, looks almost embraced by the couch; the interior an enclosure, as if the outside world is far away. The image of the colonial period house at Puhoi, taken from outside its gate, was also one of Friedlander’s favourites. It was included in her and James McNeish’s Larks in a Paradise: Portraits of New Zealand (1974). Gates, of course, are thresholds. Once open, we could move towards the semi-distant house’s man on the veranda and dark doorway. He and what is inside are not known – a visual metaphor, perhaps, from Friedlander’s experience of rural New Zealand; an immigrant exploring what was strange to her. The colour photograph of the Japanese school girl has only ever been exhibited once (in 2009) and reproduced in my Marti Friedlander (2009). It was one of a large number (c. 500) taken for a planned book on Japan by English writer, Jacqueline Simms, with whom Friedlander travelled in Japan. The book, though, never eventuated. Thus, Friedlander’s Japanese photographs remained unseen and mostly unprinted, except for this smiling child in a narrow alley; the promise of a land and people new to the photographer.
LEONARD BELL
Helen
Gouache and oil wash 39 x 30 cm
Signed lower left
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
The Marti & Gerrard Friedlander Collection
30 PATRICIA FRANCE (1911 - 95)
The Secret
Oil on board 25 x 35.5 cm
Signed lower right
$4,000 - 6,000
- 92)
Untitled, Heavenly Chorus
Wall mounted bronze 16 x 10 cm
Artist Stamp verso
$1,000 - 2,000
33
95)
Dressed for the Party
Gouache 49 x 36 cm
Signed & dated 1978 lower right
$4,000 - 6,000
31
PATRICIA FRANCE (1911 - 95)
32 PAUL BEADLE (1917
PATRICIA FRANCE (1911 -
34 MARTI FRIEDLANDER (1928 - 2016)
Japan - 1985
Vintage cibachrome photograph 37 x 24 cm
Signed lower right, title inscribed lower left
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
The Marti & Gerrard Friedlander Collection
35 MARTI FRIEDLANDER (1928 - 2016)
Puhoi 1968
Vintage silver gelatin print 30 x 25 cm
Signed lower right
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
The Marti & Gerrard Friedlander Collection
36 MARTI FRIEDLANDER (1928 - 2016)
James K. Baxter, Auckland, 1966
Vintage silver gelatin print 25 x 18.5 cm
Inscribed verso
$6,000 - 8,000
PROVENANCE
The Marti & Gerrard Friedlander Collection
37 MARTI FRIEDLANDER (1928 - 2016)
Joanna Paul
Vintage silver gelatin print 19 x 20 cm
Title inscribed verso
$6,000 - 8,000
PROVENANCE
The Marti & Gerrard Friedlander Collection
38 RALPH HOTERE (1931 - 2013)
Untitled, Port Chambers Painting
Acrylic on steel in original Colonial villa window frame 99 x 86 cm
Original John Leech Gallery label affixed verso $80,000 - 120,000
PROVENANCE
The Marti & Gerrard Friedlander Collection
Ralph Hotere’s Untitled, Port Chambers Painting is as much an act of resistance as it is an object of beauty. Created at the height of public opposition to the proposed aluminium smelter at Aramoana in the early 1980s, the work embodies the artist’s conviction that art could stand in direct conversation with environmental and political crisis. Rather than approaching landscape through the traditional pictorial lens, Hotere compresses it into steel and found architecture. An original colonial sash window framing a brooding abstract field on steel. The result is both painting and object, protest and elegy.
Hotere’s handling of metal, paint and negative space has an austere lyricism familiar to those who know his best works. The surface is charged but restrained, abstract yet atmospheric. It carries the hum of protest without a slogan in sight. His integration of industrial material and domestic salvage has long marked Hotere as one of the most original voices in post-war New Zealand art, collapsing distinctions between painting, sculpture and the readymade.
Works from this series are tightly held. With its exceptional provenance, strong visual impact and direct connection to one of the most decisive moments in Hotere’s career, this is a rare opportunity to acquire a museum-calibre piece from one of New Zealand’s most significant artists.
39 RALPH HOTERE (1931 - 2013)
Orange
Lacquer on corrugated iron with cast pewter mountings, 250 x 176 cm
Signed, inscribed Orange & dated ‘03 verso $150,000 - 200,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Art+Object, Important Paintings & Contemporary Art, Auckland, 29/11/2018, Lot No. 61
Dr Francis Pound and Sue Crockford Collection
A commanding late work by one of New Zealand’s most important artists, Orange, distills Ralph Hotere’s lifelong commitment to place, material and protest. Two monumental panels of corrugated iron, a material deeply rooted in the New Zealand landscape, form both the surface and structure of the work. The dark, lacquered exterior is cut back to reveal flashes of rich orange on the verso, the colour pushing through the negative cross form with quiet intensity.
By the 2000s, Hotere had largely abandoned canvas in favour of industrial materials, creating works that blurred painting, sculpture and object. Orange sits squarely within this late period: austere, physical and unmistakably of the land. Works from this late period are increasingly scarce and highly sought after, particularly those tied to the environments and causes that defined the final decades of Hotere’s practice.
40
RAYMOND CHING (b. 1939)
The Horse and the Stag Oil on board 90 x 107 cm
Inscribed
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
ILLUSTRATED
Ray Ching, Aesop’s Kiwi Fables: Paintings by Ray Ching, David Bateman, Auckland, 2012, p.94-95
EXHIBITED
Aesop’s Kiwi Fables: Paintings by Ray Ching (part 1), ARTIS Gallery, Auckland, 2010
NOTE
Moral: Revenge is dearly bought at the price of liberty
There was once a Horse who had the freedom of a large, green meadow all to himself. Each day he would gallop and graze to his heart’s content. One day a Stag appeared in the meadow and, on seeing the lush green grass, declared that this was the place he had always been looking for. ‘I have as much right as you to graze here,’ he said, shaking his antlers at the Horse. ‘And what is more, I will choose all the best parts for myself.’ The Horse was very angry and wishing to be revenged, went to a man to ask if he would help turn out the Stag. ‘Most certainly’, said the man. ‘But we will have to do it together, and in order to do so, you must let me put a bridle and bit in your mouth and a saddle on your back.’ So desperate was the Horse to regain his pasture for himself that he agreed, and working together they very soon rounded up the Stag and turned him out of the meadow. But when this was accomplished, the Horse acknowledged that he would be forever in the service of the man.
RAYMOND CHING (Aesop’s Kiwi Fables)
41 FIONA PARDINGTON (b. 1961)
Andrew’s Huia Pair
Archival inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper
Artist’s proof 1/1, 140 x 190 cm
Signed on label affixed verso
$30,000 - 40,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
In Andrew’s Huia Pair, Dr Fiona Pardington presents a male and female huia in quiet repose, their distinct beaks subtly signalling the natural duality of the species. The female, with her long curved bill, faces the shorter-beaked male in a composed, almost conversational pairing. Set against a deep black ground, their wattles and white tail-feathers emerge with clarity, as if held in a moment of suspension rather than loss.
Pardington has built a significant practice around reanimating taonga from museum collections, restoring dignity to objects and specimens often removed from their original context. This work reflects that approach. Her handling of light and depth draws out each feather and contour with precision, suggesting presence rather than preservation. The black ground acts not as a void but as a frame, allowing the pair to register as companions rather than scientific subjects.
The extinction of the huia in 1907 represented both an environmental and cultural rupture. Rather than presenting that absence as an endpoint, Pardington creates space for memory and acknowledgement. The work carries a tone of quiet remembrance while resisting sentimentality.
Fiona Pardington is widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists. Her still-life photography has received both national and international recognition, and in 2026 she will represent New Zealand at the Venice Biennale.
42 CHRIS HEAPHY (b. 1965)
A Sunny Afternoon with Phar Lap on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Acrylic on linen 190 x 280 cm
Signed, inscribed A Sunny Afternoon with Phar Lap on the Island of La Grande Jatte & dated 2016 verso
$50,000 - 75,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
43 PAT HANLY (1932 - 2004)
Coromandel Cameos
Oil on board with collage element 138 x 176 cm
Signed and dated 1990 lower right
$70,000 - 100,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Commissioned by the present owners to be published in a calendar to support the anti–mining campaign in Coromandel, 1991
ILLUSTRATED
Gregory O’Brien, Pat Hanly, Ron Sang Publications, Auckland, p. 231
Pat Hanly first visited the Coromandel in the 1960s, drawn to the creative energy of potter and conservationist Barry Brickell at Driving Creek. The coastline, with its sweeping bush and radiant light, became a place of both inspiration and renewal, revisited often in his sailing adventures along the western shore.
By 1990, when Coromandel Cameos was commissioned in support of opposition to mining in the region, Hanly’s connection to the landscape had deepened into advocacy. The work reflects his impassioned response to the resurgence of commercial mining in the late 1980s, particularly the reopening of the Martha Mine.
Visually, Coromandel Cameos is as constructed as it is painted. Hanly layers oil with collage, embedding fragments from earlier works directly into the board. These are not incidental additions but deliberate compositional interventions, creating a richly tactile surface that embodies both memory and reinvention. True to its title, the painting was intended to be viewed through the circle of one’s thumb and forefinger, isolating small sections of the composition, cameos of light, land, and sea.
The glowing sunset at the heart of the work was, in Hanly’s own words, a number 5 — as good as it gets. It is a touch of nostalgia and personal joy, drawn from his ritual of ranking the Coromandel sunsets after long days sailing with friends. Coromandel Cameos stands as a significant late painting from a career defined by innovation, integrity and visual generosity.
Pat and Gil Hanly, 1969, Auckland by Marti Friedlander. Te Papa (O.031284)
44
FRANCES HODGKINS
(1869 - 1947)
The Picnic (Two Women and Children in a Garden)
Watercolour 27.8 x 27.8 cm
Signed lower right
$30,000 - 40,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Webb’s, Auckland, 29 Jun 2004, lot no. 72
Lady Dorothea Turner, Wellington
Mrs Alan Mulgan, Wellington, purchased at Churchill Auctioneers, Thame, 1942
Mr & Mrs Edmond Atkinson, acquired from the artist, c. 1918
EXHIBITION
First Exhibition of Water-colour Paintings by John Marshall. Paintings, Water-colours and Gouaches by Frances Hodgkins, 1869-1947. New Paintings by Keith Vaughan, Leicester Galleries, London, 08 Jun 1956 - 28 Jun 1956
CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ NUMBER
FH0545
REFERENCE
E H McCormick, Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1954, p. 191
Returning to Holland in 1906 before settling in Paris in 1908, she observed the way in which ordinary people often spent time on their doorstep or in the street itself once their domestic activities were completed for the day, accompanied by their children. Hodgkins not only captured their activities, but also became an astute observer of the relationship between mothers and their offspring. While her style of painting gradually reflected both from the broad spectrum of Impressionist but also Post- Impressionist artists who used a brighter, often unnatural palette, her own observations of intimate domestic subject matter demonstrated the influence of Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassat, both successful women artists in what was still very much a man’s world.
From early in her career as an artist in New Zealand, Frances Hodgkins was drawn to images of women and children, often focussing on trying to create an accurate rendition of what she observed, rather than the relationship between mother and child. It is in her watercolours of young Māori mothers on the Otago peninsula that we find a growing sensitivity to her subject matter.
After travelling to Europe in 1901 Hodgkins’ style began to evolve, influenced by the artistic developments she was exposed to in France where one only had to visit the dealer galleries in Paris and beyond to see the experiments Impressionist artists had made in the second half of the nineteenth century painting out of doors. They captured light and its effect on form by building up dabs and dashes of paint to create an impression, a style that Hodgkins quickly adopted. Initially, these Impressionist works were to sell better in Australia than New Zealand, the country of her mother’s birth being more open to new painting approaches than Dunedin or Wellington.
Two Women and Children in a Garden, also known as The Picnic, is an example of her more experimental postimpressistic approach to painting that emerged around 1910. Paint is laid wet on wet, as seen in the upper right where rapid dabs of pigment using a broad brush have been allowed to flow slightly down the paper, suggesting a clump of bushes or trees. Here the subjects are observed in a garden or park, the two women (whether they are mothers or children’s nurses we cannot tell) are seated on the ground with their backs to the artist. Women often took the opportunity provided by these moments of leisure to carry out handiwork such as sewing or embroidery. It is impossible to ascertain if that is the case here although the white folds held by the woman on the left suggest she may be stitching a large piece of cloth.
Summer heat is suggested by the lightness and simplicity of their garments, their upswept hair exposing their necks to any wafting breeze. Their attention is focused on a child of three or four, whose shock of red hair frames a barely perceptible yet determined little face. A second child is initially harder to make out, sitting on the knee of a woman whose aquiline profile suggests a figure of character. A blue-hooded perambulator indicates that a sleeping infant may rest inside. The whole composition is a flurry of washes dabbed and darting, exposed patches of white paper creating a contrast to the depth of blues, yellows and greens, making the garden itself an abstract screen that sets off the figures in the foreground. There is no sense that the artist is intruding on their restful solitude, merely quietly observing their interactions with her rapidly applied brushwork.
MARY KISLER
45
FRANCES HODGKINS
(1869 - 1947)
A Portrait Set La Belle Juife
(Beautiful Jewess) 1903 (Pair)
Watercolour on card 36 x 22, 36 x 25 cm
Signed & dated lower right
Signed & dated 1903 upper right
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Mr & Mrs W H Field Wellington, New Zealand
Continuously in the possession of the Field family
EXHIBITION
Frances Hodgkins: People, New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington, 16 Nov 2017 - 14 Feb 2018
CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ NUMBER
FH0418
FH0419
REFERENCE
E H McCormick, Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1954, p. 171
E H McCormick, Portrait of Frances Hodgkins, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1981, p. 46 (ill.)
After arriving in Tangier in November 1902, Frances Hodgkins focussed on painting market or street scenes of local Arabs (usually men or children) although she had to be circumspect in depicting local women whose lives were often more private than public. However, after she moved on to Tetuan in 1903, she wrote home on 30 March, revelling in the rich subject matter she had discovered among the local Sephardic Jewish community, one of whom welcomed her into her home;
I am painting a beautiful Jewess in full dress – wonderful coif of pearls & emeralds & massive ear-rings reaching to her shoulders. Dress of cloth of gold & black velvet with all sorts of barbaric jewels & ornaments & ropes of pearls & un-set emeralds hung about her neck. It makes a splendid study & I am delighted to get such a chance. The Jewesses here are beautiful – descendants of the Jews that were driven out of Spain by Ferdinand & Isabella…
These two watercolours can be seen as a pair; Hodgkins giving the full figure a title in English, while giving the more intimate portrait the same title in French.
The more formal full portrait, where the woman is set off by the richly carved and gilded Baroque mirror in the background, was almost certainly painted first, and once the sitter trusted Hodgkins, who was no doubt seen as equally exotic in the Jewess’s eyes, she also agreed to being painted close up.
The young woman has dressed in her marriage costume for the occasion, in what is known as The Grand Costume or El-keswa el-kbira, regalia often handed down to younger generations of brides to wear in turn. Hodgkins must have asked if she might paint her portrait in advance, so that the woman had time to dress in her wedding finery. Hodgkins captures the rich detailing of the costume, with its black wrap around black silk velvet skirt (red or maroon velvet were also popular), embroidered in the front with gold metallic threads, worn with a separate bodice and heavily embroidered waistcoat.1 In a tradition also found in Italy in the fifteenth century, the voluminous striped silk sleeves, delicately embroidered in gold threat, are detachable, and the outfit is set off by a traditional jewelled cap which gives the portrait a jaunty air. What Hodgkins depicts in paint and describes in words is remarkably accurate.
The second, more intimate portrait has allowed Hodgkins to pay greater attention to the young woman’s gently smiling expression, using delicate lines to build up facial light and shadow in tones of blue. Dashes of viridian differentiate the emeralds among the cluster of jewels in the young woman’s earrings, while bold ochre brushstrokes only hint at the lavishness of the golden embroidery of her blouse and waistcoat. Unfazed by the artist’s close scrutiny, the sitter gazes back at Hodgkins, proud of both her appearance and the traditions which it upholds.
MARY KISLER
1 Berger, Maurice et al. MASTERWORKS OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM. New York: The Jewish Museum, 2004
46 PETER STICHBURY (b. 1969)
Savannah
Acrylic on linen 137 x 111 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated 2001 verso
$90,000 - 130,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Art+Object, Important Paintings and Contemporary Art, Auckland, 26/04/2012, Lot No. 119
EXHIBITED
The Pleasure Seekers, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland, 2001
Almost a quarter of a century old, this painting comes from Stichbury’s 2001 exhibition The Pleasure Seekers Shown at Anna Bibby Gallery in Auckland, this was a series that Stichbury described as being about people who have been leeched of their identity [to become] sexualised empty shells. It is a classic example of what curator and writer Justin Paton refers to as paintings of the blank and beautiful for the age of appearances.
Despite her sunny name, Savannah appears here not to be warm and relaxed. She is in a hurry, perhaps being pursued. The artist has depicted her three quarter length, glancing back over her left shoulder, her whole body in motion. Carefully coloured and layered hair is flying in the wind and her hands are starting to clench into fists. Notwithstanding her agitation, she remains a poster child for the clean girl aesthetic, her cappuccino complexion flawless with just a trace of bronzer on her high cheekbones, glossy lips parted to show whitened teeth and smokey shadows enhancing her clear blue eyes. Whatever has caught her attention is just out of sight but remains threatening – she is not running for the bus. A narrative is implied: one we can conjure for ourselves. Despite his technical mastery - see here how the brushwork is concealed as the acrylic paint is blended and built up in layers with light and shadow crisply delineated – for Stichbury, the subject is the most important thing. His work is not always about creating a factual representation of an actual person, sometimes the subject and object of the painting can present different and parallel narratives.
Here, for example, Savannah is dressed like an Instagram influencer offering an object lesson in how to wear taupe and not looked washed out. Her figure-hugging knit top and gored autumn-toned skirt are accessorised with a matching belt and handbag which gleams with the materiality of shiny patent leather cleverly suggested by a tiny dot of white paint on the base. But this leaf tossed in the winds of fashion is caught here in a perfect panic.
At Elam in the late 1990s when figurative painting was completely unfashionable, Stichbury learned how to structure a face by copying photographs of German intellectuals from a book, settling into his own style of caricature. Photographs of Stichbury in the studio tellingly show a medical chart based on human anatomy on the wall, indicating how fiction can be based in fact. Cropped at the top and the side, we recognise the photographic origins of this image, reading into Savannah’s overly large head with its huge doll-like eyes, elongated swan-like neck and tiny arms a comment on the freakish beauty of models. She is the product of a culture saturated in images of beautiful women airbrushed to perfection to promote an advertiser’s wares, and perhaps also a victim of her circumstances.
LINDA TYLER
47 MICHAEL SMITHER (b. 1939)
Untitled, Rock Pools
Oil on board 122 x 91.5 cm
Signed & dated 68 lower left
$250,000 - 350,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from the artist
Few New Zealand artists have explored the meeting of land, sea and light with the clarity and contemplative precision of Michael Smither. Emerging in the 1960s from Taranaki and later the Coromandel, Smither forged a painterly language rooted in realism yet charged with metaphysical resonance. His Rock Paintings stand among the most recognisable images in New Zealand art, compositions in which tide pools, rounded boulders and reflected skies become meditations on rhythm, form and the slow sculpting power of nature.
Painted in 1968, this major example captures Smither at the height of his early realist period. Rounded boulders sit in pools of tidal water, each element shaped with a sculptural understanding of weight, light and contour. The composition is still, but never static.
Smither’s realism has never been solely observational. The rock pools offered a site where permanence and flux could coexist, ancient stone shaped by the transient movement of water and light. I wanted to paint permanence and flux together, he has reflected, an ambition that finds full voice in works such as this.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Smither’s Rock Pool paintings had become icons of a distinctly New Zealand realism: intelligent, serene and uncompromising in detail. Examples from this period are held in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and major private collections nationwide. The present work exemplifies the discipline and stillness that secured Smither’s place among our most enduring painters. His influence continues to extend across generations of painters and printmakers who recognise in his work both conceptual depth and technical mastery.
48 DON BINNEY (1940 - 2012)
Pipiwharauroa - Shining Cuckoo
Oil on board 75.5 x 62 cm
Signed & dated 1963 lower right
$300,000 - 400,000
PROVENANCE
An Auckland Estate Collection
Purchased from Cordy’s 3 November, 2015
Gifted to the late Marjorie & Prof. Sydney Musgrove, Auckland 1963
Painted in 1963, Pipiwharauroa – Shining Cuckoo belongs to the defining early period of Don Binney’s career. The work was gifted by the artist to Marjorie and Professor Sydney Musgrove, the distinguished Shakespearean scholar and Head of the University of Auckland’s English Department from 1947 to 1979. The connection was personal as well as intellectual, Binney had married the Musgroves’ daughter, the late Dame Judith Binney, in the same year.
This painting stands as a key work from Binney’s formative early series, created the same year as his first solo exhibition at Auckland’s Ikon Gallery, a pivotal moment that established him as one of the leading voices in New Zealand modernism. Pipiwharauroa – Shining Cuckoo exemplifies Binney’s disciplined geometry and structural clarity, qualities that define his most accomplished compositions.
The shining cuckoo, or pipiwharauroa, holds deep resonance in both Māori and in the artist’s personal mythology. Its returning call each spring, first heard by Binney as a child in Kohimarama, became for him a symbol of renewal and continuity. In this painting, the bird hovers in flight above the Waitakere coastline, its green and ochre plumage echoing the tones of earth and sea.
Formally, the composition demonstrates Binney’s command of spatial balance and experiment with form. The bird’s beak, cropped by the picture edge, creates a deliberate foreshortening that heightens the immediacy of its presence. The upward thrust of the wing contrasts with the calm horizon and solitary coastal tree, anchoring the dynamic energy of flight within a precisely ordered design.
This early painting captures Binney’s fusion of natural observation and abstract discipline, a clarity of vision that would define his career. Works of this calibre from the early 1960s are now regarded as benchmarks of New Zealand modernism.
Charles Frederick Goldie
Few artists have shaped New Zealand’s visual identity as profoundly as Charles Frederick Goldie. Trained in the rigorous academic tradition of late-19th-century Paris, Goldie brought exceptional technical precision to his portraits of Māori rangatira, kuia and tohunga.
The two works presented here, A Noble Northern Chief, Atama Paparangi (1912) and Rahapa Hinetapu (1924), are exemplary expressions of his mature style, uniting disciplined craftsmanship with a deep respect for his sitters.
Born in Auckland in 1870, Goldie was the second of eight children to David Goldie, a prominent timber merchant and later Mayor of Auckland, and Maria Partington. His artistic talent was recognised early at Auckland Grammar School and the Auckland Society of Arts. He went on to study under Louis John Steele, who instilled in him a respect for the European academic tradition. With encouragement from Sir George Grey, and his father’s consent, Goldie left for Paris in 1893 to study at the Académie Julian. There, under the guidance of William-Adolphe Bouguereau and other leading Salon painters, he developed the technical precision, tonal mastery, and disciplined draughtsmanship that would define his later work.
In 1898, fully informed in the French academic style, Goldie returned to New Zealand and began collaborating with his former tutor Louis John Steele. The two worked on a number of paintings including Arrival of the Māori in New Zealand, a large scale historically-themed painting after Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa. Before long, the relationship deteriorated, likely caused by tensions around the former student’s growing success. Goldie went on to open his own studio, quickly establishing himself as a successful portraitist of Māori.
From 1900, Goldie devoted himself to painting elderly Māori whom he regarded as custodians of ancestral knowledge. His field trips to Rotorua and Northland brought him into contact with many of his key subjects, whom he painted repeatedly over decades. His intent, as he described, was to record their likenesses as they were.
A Noble Northern Chief, Atama Paparangi (1912) depicts the leader of the Taomauī hapū of Te Rarawa, based at Mitimiti in Northland. Born c.1817, Atama fought alongside Tamati Waka Nene. Goldie renders the sitter with quiet authority and meticulous detail, the sitters furrowed features emerging through a softly modulated light. Goldie returned to the subject repeatedly, producing later versions, one of which was titled An Aristocrat, which was shown at the Royal Academy, London, in 1934 at Lord Bledisloe’s invitation, receiving particular praise for its dignity and composure.
Rahapa Hinetapu (1924) depicts a Te Arawa chieftainess wearing kuru pounamu earrings shaped as inanga (whitebait). The jewel-like composition reveals Goldie’s more relaxed late-career palette and confident economy of touch. Painted during a period when his focus turned to smaller, more personal works, it captures an immediacy of presence rare in his oeuvre. The sitter’s calm gaze balanced against the artist’s controlled handling of paint, textile and ornament.
Goldie’s art was both acclaimed and contested in his lifetime. His paintings commanded record prices and international attention, yet his portrayal of Māori elders through a colonial lens continues to invite critical reassessment. What endures beyond debate is the technical brilliance and psychological depth of his portraits.
By his death in 1947, Goldie had created a body of work that remains central to New Zealand’s cultural record. The portraits of Atama Paparangi and Rahapa Hinetapu represent not only a pinnacle of his achievement but also an enduring testament to his belief in the power of portraiture. More than a century on, these works continue to stand as vital historical records and as examples of portraiture at its most exacting and sincere.
49
CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE (1870 - 1947)
A Noble Northern Chief, Atama Paparangi
Oil on canvas laid on board 37 x 29 cm
Signed & dated 1912 upper left
$800,000 - 1,200,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Auckland c. 1998,
Acquired from International Art Centre Gwen Hunt Collection, Auckland by descent Max & Gwen Hunt Collection, Auckland, Acquired by Private Treaty
Sold by International Art Centre, c. 1977
Collection of Grahame Chote, c. 1970s
ILLUSTRATED
C.F Goldie, His Life & Paintings, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen, 1977, p. 223
50 CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE (1870 - 1947)
Rahapa Hinetapu
Oil on canvas 27 x 22.3 cm
Signed & dated 1924 upper right
$400,000 - 600,000
PROVENANCE
Mr and Mrs J. La Grouw
In a gesture of generosity, the owners, Mr and Mrs J. La Grouw of Rotorua, are donating the full proceeds from the sale to support the Rotorua Museum of Art & History
ILLUSTRATED
C.F Goldie, His Life & Paintings, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen, 1977, p. 263
51 GOTTFRIED LINDAUER (1839 -
1926)
Major George Vance Shannon
Oil on canvas 65 x 55 cm
Signed & dated 1890 inscribed G.V. Shannon.
Major n.z.m. / Born 1842./ verso
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired directly from the artist
Born on 17 August 1842 in Ulster, Northern Ireland, George Vance Shannon was among the many Irish emigrants who helped shape the early colonial fabric of New Zealand. Arriving in 1865, he first settled in Nelson, where he married Emily Hewitt, herself from County Wicklow, that same year. Together they raised a large family of eight daughters and four sons, sadly three children were lost in infancy. Two of Shannon’s sons-in-law, Herbert Richardson and Archibald Leadbetter, would later serve with distinction in the First World War.
A man of enterprise and intellect, Shannon’s career took him from merchant work in Nelson to a senior position in Wellington, where he became widely respected as a customs expert. His business acumen led to his appointment as a director of the Wellington–Manawatu Railway Company, one of the most significant private rail ventures in the country’s development. It was in recognition of his contribution to that enterprise that the small town of Shannon, situated north of Wellington, was named in his honour. A fitting legacy for a man whose life bridged commerce, community and the pioneering expansion of New Zealand’s transport network.
In his later years, Shannon moved to Feilding, turning to farming while maintaining his lifelong sense of civic engagement. He passed away there on 4 June 1920, as recorded in his obituary in the Feilding Star. Today, the town that bears his name stands as a quiet testament to an industrious settler who helped connect a young nation, both literally and figuratively.
Logging Kauri on the Coromandel
Lot 52 (Detail)
ALFRED SHARPE
52 ALFRED SHARPE (1836 - 1908)
Logging Kauri on the Coromandel
Watercolour 58 x 92 cm
Signed & dated 1882 lower right
$50,000 - 75,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Contemporary & Traditional New Zealand & European Art, Auckland, 28/07/2000, Lot No. 86
EXHIBITED
Golden Evenings: The Art of Alfred Sharpe Auckland City Art Gallery, 5 March - 16 May 1993
REFERENCED
The Art of Alfred Sharpe, Roger Blackley, Auckland City Art Gallery, 1992
House with Clouds Oil on board 50 x 59 cm
Signed & dated 1972 lower right
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
53 PETER SIDDELL (1935 - 2011)
Oil on board 64.5 x 71.5 cm
Signed lower right
$25,000 - 35,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
54 PETER MCINTYRE (1919 - 95)
Lake Taupo
Oil on board 34 x 44 cm
Signed lower right
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Important Early & Rare New Zealand Paintings - 19th Century, Auckland, 01/07/2008, Lot No. 28
55 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 95)
Ballerinas
56 EVELYN PAGE (1899 - 1988)
Still Life With Apricots
Oil on canvas board 35 x 45 cm
Signed lower right
$35,000 - 45,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch
EXHIBITED
Evelyn Page: Seven Decades, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, 4 December 1986 –25 January 1987
ILLUSTRATED
Janet Paul, Neil Roberts, Evelyn Page: SEVEN DECADES, Robert McDougall Art Gallery 1986, p.51, plate 26
57 FRANCES HODGKINS (1869 - 1947)
Market Scene, France c.1902
Watercolour 20.5 x 14.5 cm
Initialled lower right (faint)
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Mr P D Hodgkins, Auckland
REFERENCE
E H McCormick, Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1954, p. 170
CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ NUMBER
FH0366
58 FRANCES HODGKINS (1869 - 1947)
Canal Scene 1903
Watercolour 31 x 21 cm
Signed & dated 1905 lower right
$10,000 - 15,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Mr G A H Field, Waikanae
REFERENCE
E H McCormick, Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1954, p. 172
CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ NUMBER
FH0385
Margaret Stoddart
In New Zealand’s art history, watercolourist Margaret Stoddart’s name has become synonymous with intricate flower studies and delicately rendered landscapes. Perhaps though, she should equally be connotated with dedication and a unique spirit of adventure, which informed her impressive career spanning over five decades.
Margaret Olrog Stoddart (1865-1934) spent her earlier years in Canterbury, where she was a foundation pupil at the newly established Canterbury College School of Art in 1882. An eager curiosity about the natural world was fostered during hours in the garden with her two sisters at the charming Stoddart family home in Diamond Harbour, on the picturesque shore of Banks Peninsula.
Stoddart’s interest in native fauna was encouraged in her early studies at the college, where each week different plant varieties would be the subject of sketching. During these years, Stoddart became an early member of the Christchurch-based Palette Club, a group that formed in 1889, as a collective of artists inspired to work en plein air and paint outdoors amongst nature.
Stoddart emerged from this group to become a truly prolific landscape painter, in her careful study and exploration of the genre. She produced two early examples of what can only be described as artist books in the late 1890s – now both held in the collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhētu.
The older, compiled lovingly between 1886–96, is a considered personal collection of photographs which are laid upon delicately illustrated pages of botanical sketches and symbolic watercolour renderings. An air of tactility is felt on every page, as she brings to life native plants and small details from places visited during her extensive travels. Stoddart’s visits to the Chatham Islands, the Southern Alps, abroad in Tasmania and Victoria, Australia, are all captured in these volumes, amongst various places she explored around Canterbury.
An affluent homelife and the unwavering support of her parents allowed Stoddart the freedom to travel in this way and to experiment with watercolour painting full-time. She remained unmarried and her dedication to both adventure and artmaking, was decidedly revolutionary in paving the way for renowned women to pursue art thereafter.
In the first years of the twentieth century, Stoddart made her first of many visits to Europe, where she would later travel to small towns on painting holidays with expatriates Frances Hodgkins (1869-1947) and Dorothy Richmond (1861-1935).
Across Britain and France, she closely studied the evolution of landscape in the work of the Impressionists and PostImpressionists, while exhibiting her own work at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Watercolours and the renowned Salon in Paris (between 1909-1914). The Impressionistic interpretations of the natural world, which later became more expressive with the introduction of Post-Impressionism, clearly had influence on her oeuvre in equal measure, as did the enduring focus on the everchanging effects of light in painting
So diligent was Stoddart’s study of the landscape genre, that it was the unwavering pursuit of her lifetime approached with both a forensic and aesthetic curiosity. Varying stages of impressionistic influence can be found in her own landscapes, which oscillate between scenes peppered with botanical and architectural details and signs of life, to breathy indications of form that prompt one to narrow the eyes in attempt to see more clearly.
Stoddart’s later paintings exude a quiet charm and confidence, highlighted with a characteristic full signature residing proudly in the lefthand corner, developed from the faint initials found in her more tentative works. These watercolours evoke a feeling of lightness; on shimmering water, as speckled through treetops and in the gentle crispiness of clear sunshine hitting Southland hillsides.
MADELEINE GIFFORD
Margaret Stoddart Album No. 2, pg 13-14, Margaret O Stoddart Album, Canterbury Museum, 2015.115.1
Tidal Flats
Watercolour 34.5 x 25 cm
Signed lower left
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
59 MARGARET OLROG STODDART (1865 - 1934)
60 MARGARET OLROG STODDART (1865 - 1934)
Cornish Road
Watercolour 35 x 14.5 cm
Signed lower left
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
61 MARGARET OLROG STODDART (1865 - 1934)
Day’s Bay
Watercolour 42.5 x 45.5 cm
Signed lower left
$5,000 - 10,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
62 MARGARET OLROG STODDART (1865 - 1934)
The Swagger Walked off into the Sunset
Watercolour 24.5 x 34.5 cm
Signed lower left
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
63 LOUIS RITMAN (American 1889 – 1963)
Portrait of Victor R. Millard
Oil on canvas 44.5 x 37 cm
Inscribed L Ritman to Victor, Paris & dated 1913 lower left
$5,000 - 10,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from Jonathan Grant Galleries, Auckland
64 GARTH TAPPER (1927 - 99)
Waiting
Oil on board 47 x 57 cm
Signed lower right
Signed & dated Nov 79 verso
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
65 GARTH TAPPER (1927 - 99)
Jackie
Oil on board 66.5 x 55.5 cm
Signed lower right
$3,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
EXHIBITED
One Man Exhibition, John Leech Gallery, Auckland 1965
Signed lower right
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired directly from the artist
66 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 95)
Icebreaker and Supply Ship
Oil on canvas 49 x 74.5 cm
Signed lower right
$20,000 - 30,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection Estate of H B Turner, USA
67 PETER MCINTYRE (1910 - 95)
Herding Cattle Oil on canvas 68 x 91 cm
68 ROBERT ELLIS (1929 - 2021)
Collecting Driftwood, Hammersmith, c. 1952
Oil on canvas 74 x 59 cm
Signed lower right
$3,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
EXHIBITED
Royal Academy, London, Gallery VII, 1954, no. 400
ILLUSTRATED
THE ARTIST Magazine, January 1955, Vol 48, No 5, Issue 287, p.98
69 ERNEST BUCKMASTER (1897 - 1968)
Piha
Oil on canvas 90.5 x 127 cm
Signed lower right
Dominion Brewery Label verso
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Ernest Buckmaster (1897–1968) made two extended painting tours of New Zealand in the 1940s and 1950s at the invitation of Dominion Breweries’ managing director, Henry Kelliher, travelling more than 6,000 miles to capture the country’s harbours, coasts and hinterlands.
70 ERNEST BUCKMASTER (1897 - 1968)
Auckland, Onehunga Harbour with the Old Mangere Bridge
Oil on board 79 x 99 cm
Signed lower left
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
71 JOHN WEEKS (1886 - 1965)
Signed lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
St Tropez
Oil on canvas on board 51.5 x 61 cm
72 JOHN WEEKS (1886 - 1965)
Signed lower left
$4,000 - 8,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Old Brick Works
Oil on board 44 x 56.5 cm
NZ Scaup Oil on board 34 x 47 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated 1981 upper left
$15,000 - 20,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
NOTES
Preparatory sketch for this work is illustrated in Peter Hansard, Wild Portraits - Paintings & Drawings by Raymond Harris-Ching, Seto Publishing, Auckland, 1988
73 RAYMOND CHING (b. 1939)
74 RAYMOND CHING (b. 1939)
Starling
Watercolour 71 x 52 cm
Signed & dated 1974 lower right
$10,000 - 15,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from International Art Centre, 1974
ILLUSTRATED
Raymond Ching, Raymond Ching: The Bird Paintings, Collins Publishing, 1978, p.122 & 123
75 RAYMOND CHING (b. 1939)
Takahe
Graphite on paper 53 x 36.5 cm
Signed centre right
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
ILLUSTRATED
Raymond Ching, Errol Fuller, Studies & Sketches of a Bird Painter, Lansdowne Editions, 1981, p. 199
76 CHUAH THEAN TENG (Malaysian 1914 - 2008)
Durian Harvest - Mothers and Children
Batik 60.5 x 151 cm
Signed lower left
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Kanda’s Gallery B.O.Q., Tokyo
77 CHUAH THEAN TENG (Malaysian 1914 - 2008)
Untitled - Fruit Seller
Batik 151 x 84 cm
Signed lower left
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Kanda’s Gallery B.O.Q., Tokyo
Widely regarded as the father of modern batik painting, Chuah Thean Teng transformed a traditional craft into one of Malaysia’s most celebrated forms of modern art. Working from the 1950s onward, Teng pioneered the adaptation of wax-resist dyeing into a painterly medium, elevating batik beyond its decorative origins to the realm of fine art.
His process was meticulous and inventive, layers of hot wax were applied and removed in succession, each stage sealing in a new field of colour. The technique demanded patience, precision and a deep understanding of tone and rhythm. Through it, Teng achieved an extraordinary luminosity and depth, his figures often appearing to glow from within the cloth itself.
Untitled (Fruit Seller) (Lot 77) exemplifies Teng’s focus on the dignity of labour and the quiet poise of everyday life. The figures are rendered in warm earth tones balanced by vivid blues and greens, the intricate web of wax lines giving the surface a sense of energy and motion.
In Durian Harvest (Mothers and Children) (Lot 76), Teng turns his attention to the grace and intimacy of familial bonds. The composition unfolds horizontally, a frieze of domestic tenderness and community, where women and children gather in rhythmic harmony. These works reveal Teng’s enduring fascination with human connection and the ritual of daily life, articulated through colour, pattern and form.
78 GARTH TAPPER (1927 - 99)
Wheeler Dealers
Oil on board 40 x 72 cm
Signed & dated 1995
Inscribed Wheeler Dealers verso
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Collection
79 JOHN WEEKS (1886 - 1965)
King Country Landscape
Oil on canvas on board 35 x 53 cm
Signed lower right
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE Private Collection
80 JOHN HITCHENS (British b.1940)
Late Summer Evening Trees, 1963
Oil on board 39 x 90 cm
Signed & dated 63 lower right
Signed, title inscribed & dated verso
$2,000 - 3,000 PROVENANCE
81 RALPH HOTERE (1931 - 2013)
Requiem For Tony
Watercolour, pencil and ink on card 37 x 54 cm
Signed & dated Port Chalmers, 1975
$18,000 - 25,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Drawing for a Diptych - Requiem For Tony
82 LORENZO QUINN (b. 1966)
Heart & Soul
Bronze sculpture, edition of 9, 44 x 30 cm
Signed
$30,000 - 40,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
This is the only Heart & Soul sculpture from the edition to leave the foundry mounted on a stone base, making it uniquely distinct from the others in the edition. The remaining examples were produced with acrylic bases.
Spiral
Acrylic
Signed, inscribed Spiral Series - Study & dated 1990 verso
$8,000 - 10,000
EXHIBITED
Aberhart North Gallery, 1991
83 ROY GOOD (b. 1945)
Series - Study, 1990
on hessian laid on canvas 93 x 80 cm
Signed & dated 00 lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
84 JOHN SHOTTON PARKER (1944 - 2017)
PlainSong - The Inscape - Out to Sea, 2000
Oil on canvas 121.5 x 121.5 cm
Chromatic Dark Series No.4
Oil on canvas 51 x 45.5 cm
Signed & dated 1996 verso
$14,000 - 18,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Important & Rare Art, Auckland, 25/07/2023, Lot No. 2
85 MILAN MRKUSICH (1925 - 2018)
Aramoana - Observation Point
Monoprint 23.5 x 31.5 cm
Signed & dated ‘89 lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
86 RALPH HOTERE (1931 - 2013)
Horoscope 2
Mixed media on paper 62.5 x 43.5 cm
Signed, title inscribed upper right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
87 BILL HAMMOND (1947 - 2021)
Ink and watercolour on paper 66 x 49.5 cm
Signed, title inscribed & dated 1991 lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
88 BILL HAMMOND (1947 - 2021)
Red Wine Duty Roster
Figures
Oil on canvas 32 x 47 cm
Signed, inscribed Figures & dated 9/1994 verso
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
The Arrow of Time
Oil on canvas 30 x 168 cm
Signed, inscribed The Arrow of Time & dated 1999
$2,500 - 3,500
PROVENANCE
89 EUAN MACLEOD (b. 1956)
90 PETER JAMES SMITH (b. 1954)
91 EUAN MACLEOD (b. 1956)
Seascape with Feet and Boats
Oil on canvas 38 x 51 cm
Signed, inscribed Seascape with Feet and Boats & dated 2/1999 verso
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
92 PETER JAMES SMITH (b. 1954)
Rocks & Hourglass
Oil on canvas 30 x 30 cm
Signed, inscribed Rock Pool, Piha & dated 1999
Inscribed Rocks & Hourglass verso
$1,000 - 2,000
93 JAN NIGRO (1920 - 2012)
Summer Days
Oil on canvas 81.5 x 112 cm
Signed & dated 77 lower left
Signed & title inscribed verso
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
94 LOIS MCIVOR (1930 - 2017)
Waterfall IV
Oil on canvas 51 x 61 cm
Signed lower right
$2,000 - 3,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Acquired from Ferner Galleries, Auckland
Signed lower right
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
95 PIERA MCARTHUR (1929 - 2025)
Flowering Cherry and Horses
Acrylic on canvas 168 x 112 cm
96
GRAHAME SYDNEY (b. 1948)
Shearer’s Kitchen
Etching, edition 12/25, 16 x 16 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated Dec 1980
$600 - 1,200
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
97 GRAHAME SYDNEY (b. 1948)
My Daughter
Etching, edition A/P, 27 x 30 cm
Signed, inscribed & dated December 1984
$1,200 - 2,200
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
98
GRAHAME SYDNEY (b. 1948)
Untitled, Nude Study
Graphite on paper 31 x 67 cm
Signed & dated 10/3/85 lower left
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
99 PETRUS VAN DER VELDEN (1837 - 1913)
Man in a Souwester (Study for ‘The Orphans’)
Charcoal 45 x 33 cm
Robert McDougal Art Gallery label affixed verso
$1,000 - 2,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
Collection of Mr David Langley, Christchurch
EXHIBITED
The Art of Petrus van der Velden, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, 11 November – 11 December 1963, cat. no.4
ILLUSTRATED
T. L. Rodney Wilson, Petrus van der Velden - A Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, Chancery Chambers (Publishers), Sydney 1979, p. 31 plate
1.2.1.33
100 JOHN GULLY (1819 - 88)
Tasman Coast Watercolour 32.5 x 52.5 cm
Signed & dated 1882 lower right
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland International Art Centre, Art at Home - Online, Auckland, 16/04/2020, Lot No. 28
Parnell resident Tom Bowden is donating 25% of proceeds of Lots 100 - 107 of colonial art to two heritagerelated causes. Pictures to be auctioned include works by John Gully, John Barr Clarke Hoyte, Maud Burge and Sydney Lough Thompson.
PARNELL HERITAGE
Parnell Heritage was established in 2005 to foster and stimulate interest in the importance of history and heritage of Parnell, New Zealand’s oldest suburb. Members are invited to attend events throughout the year, and receive a quarterly newsletter.
The funds received will be used to upgrade and service
The Parnell Heritage website, and to purchase up-todate equipment required to give polished and efficient presentations.
HERITAGE ROSES AUCKLAND
Heritage Roses Auckland looks after public plantings of old-fashioned roses and companion plants at the Nancy Steen Garden, St Stephen’s Graveyard, Highwic and the Symonds Street Cemetery. Funds received will be used to continue the regular maintenance programme and purchase some of the plants and supplies needed throughout the year.
TOM BOWDEN COLLECTION
101 JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE (1835 - 1913)
Southern Lake Scene with Seated Figure
Watercolour 38 x 72 cm
Signed lower right
$10,000 - 15,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland
International Art Centre, The Paul & Kerry
Barber Collection with Important & Rare Art, Auckland, 23/10/2019, Lot No. 107
102 JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE (1835 - 1913)
Whangaroa Harbour
Watercolour 38 x 65 cm
Signed lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland
103 JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE (1835 - 1913)
Otago Harbour
Watercolour 36 x 62 cm
Signed lower left
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland
Signed lower right
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland
International Art Centre, Art at Home - Online, Auckland, 16/04/2020, Lot No. 24
104 SYDNEY LOUGH THOMPSON (1877 - 1973)
Canterbury Landscape Oil on canvas 37 x 45 cm
105 MAUD BURGE (1865 - 1957)
Market Scene, France
Watercolour & gouache on paper 32 x 39 cm
Signed lower right
Hawkes Bay Art Society label affixed verso
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland
International Art Centre, Collectable Art, Auckland, 24/02/2021, Lot No. 103
106 SYDNEY LOUGH THOMPSON (1877 - 1973)
Mervyna Oil on canvas 51 x 40 cm
Signed & dated 07 lower right
Inscribed Mervyna upper left
$5,000 - 8,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland
International Art Centre, Important & Rare Art
Including The Elizabeth Steiner Collection, Auckland, 03/08/2022, Lot No. 121
107 MAUD BURGE (1865 - 1957)
Fishing Village, Brittany
Watercolour 33 x 39 cm
Signed & dated 1925 lower right
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
Tom Bowden Collection, Auckland
International Art Centre, Important, Early and Rare, Auckland, 18/11/2010, Lot No. 26
108 JOHN BARR CLARK HOYTE (1835 - 1913)
Otehei, Bay of Islands
Watercolour 31 x 46.5 cm
Signed lower right
$8,000 - 12,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
109 JOHN BARR CLARKE HOYTE (1835 - 1913)
Mount Egmont with Surveyor Camp
Watercolour 28.5 x 42.5 cm
Certificate of authenticity affixed verso
$4,000 - 6,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Important & Rare Art including the Bill Sutton Collection, Auckland, 30/07/2019, Lot No. 90
110 THOMAS WARNER (1802 - 99)
Taurarua (Judges Bay) April 1873
Watercolour 26.5 x 38.5 cm
Original labels affixed verso
$7,000 - 10,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
International Art Centre, Important & Rare Art, Auckland, 14/08/2018, Lot No. 67
Ex Collection of Sir William Martin, First Chief Justice of New Zealand, appointed 1842
- 1913)
Ship at Anchor Oil on canvas 41.5 x 52.5 cm
$3,000 - 5,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
1949)
Portrait of Guide Sophia Oil on canvas 19 x 13.5 cm
Signed lower right
$7,000 - 10,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
111 PETRUS VAN DER VELDEN (1837
112 VERA CUMMINGS (1891 -
113 JOHN PHILEMON BACKHOUSE (1845-1908)
Pink Terraces, Rotomahana
Oil on oyster shell 20 x 20 cm
Signed, title inscribed
$1,000 - 2,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
114 JOHN PHILEMON BACKHOUSE (1845-1908)
Māori Portrait
Oil on oyster shell 15 x 14 cm
$1,000 - 2,000
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
115 JOHN PHILEMON BACKHOUSE (1845-1908) Rotorua
Oil on oyster shell 11 x 13.5 cm Inscribed
$1,500 - 2,500
PROVENANCE
Private Collection
116 CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE (1870 - 1947)
Pair of C F Goldie Books ; His Life and Painting 1870-1947 & C.F.Goldie Prints, Drawings and Criticism
$2,000 - 3,000
PROVENANCE
In a gesture of generosity, the owners, Mr and Mrs J. La Grouw of Rotorua, are donating the full proceeds from the sale to support the Rotorua Museum of Art & History
Lot 54
PETER MCINTYRE Lake Taupo
Lot 48
DON BINNEY
Pipiwharauroa - Shining Cuckoo
ABSENTEE BIDDING FORM IMPORTANT & RARE ART
6:30pm Tuesday 25 November 2025
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
ADDRESS
TELEPHONE
Signature / / 2025
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 or our bidding platform to participate in the auction live and remotely https://auctions.internationalartcentre.co.nz
RECLAIMED LAND
TIRITI TAIAO
20 November 2025 – 8 February 2026
Tia Ranginui, Ka Hapai te Rama, 2023
Gabryel Harrison On View in the Gallery
Gabryel Harrison, Peonies Never Disappoint (detail)
Consignments Invited Women in Art
Grace Alty – gracealty@artcntr.co.nz
Grace Harris – grace@artcntr.co.nz
We are now inviting consignments for our third annual Women in Art auction, taking place May 2026. The auction celebrates the unique perspectives, innovative dialogues, and vital contributions of female artists in New Zealand. This highly anticipated auction showcases the vision and talent of both established and emerging artists, offering collectors a deeper understanding of the women who have helped shape our artistic landscape.
Kushana Bush, Sleepers with Lobsters, From All Things to All Men Series, 2012
Achived $39,414 – Artist Record – Women in Art, 2025
CONDITIONS OF SALE & 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.
From the time of lot being sold, such lot will be the responsibility of the buyer.
Successful bidders are required to pay for purchases immediately on completion of sale unless otherwise arranged.
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 Friday 28 November 2025 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.
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.
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.internationalartcentre.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.
Bank deposits: Bank instructions on invoice if paying by direct debit. Quote the Lot number(s) purchased and surname as reference.
Credit cards: Visa and Mastercard with a 2% surcharge.
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-identityheritage/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. Uber deliveries within the wider Auckland area can also be arranged.
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
18.5% Buyers premium plus GST on premium applies to all lots. (Total buyers premium is 21.27% including GST)
Lot 50
CHARLES FREDERICK GOLDIE Rahapa Hinetapu
INDEX
ALBRECHT G .................................... 21 B
BACKHOUSE J P 113, 114, 115
BEADLE P 32
BINNEY D ................................2, 6, 48
BUCKMASTER E ...................... 69, 70
BURGE M 105, 107 C
CHING R .......................40, 73, 74, 75
COTTON S ........................................ 22
