Dick Frizzell's Iconic New Zealanders Art Auction

As part of The New Zealand Herald's 150th birthday celebrations, acclaimed New Zealand artist Dick Frizzell has created gouache paintings of five Kiwi icons; Sir Edmund Hillary, Dame Whina Cooper, Ernest Rutherford, Kate Sheppard and Richie McCaw.

The original artworks will be auctioned to help raise vital funds for the Starship National Air Ambulance. Year-round, this air ambulance service flies top medical experts to life-threatening emergencies around the country.

The New Zealand Herald Suite of Iconic New Zealanders - Art Auction:

DATE: Tuesday 10 December
TIME: Auction starts at 6.30pm
VIEWING: Artworks can be viewed at Art+Object from 6th December
VENUE: Art+Object, 3 Abbey Street, Newton, Auckland

Interested bidders can register at Art + Object on the evening of the auction, or place an absentee or phone bid if unable to be present. Absentee/phone bidding forms are available here and can be filled in and scanned to info@artandobject.co.nz before 2pm on Tuesday 10th December.

Full details, viewing hours and the complete catalogue can be downloaded here.

In addition to the auction, 150 special edition prints, signed by Dick Frizzell were sold on GrabOne on 13th November SOLD OUT.

Our iconic New Zealanders come from all walks of life and represent a wide range of skills, achievement and endeavour.

Sir Edmund Hillary:
The humility of his reaction to all the post-Everest adulation endeared the beekeeper's son to the world. Over time, he cemented his position as the ultimate figure of a nation's pride precisely because he embodied the values and way of life to which most New Zealanders of his, and any other generation, aspire.

Richie McCaw:
All Black captain Richie McCaw has an outstanding ability to inspire the nation, he embodies the ideal national character and in his brilliant rugby career, McCaw has won everything that there is to win.

Ernest Rutherford:
Throughout his brilliant career - in which he was showered with honours and made a baron in 1931 - Rutherford never lost two essential qualities of the ideal New Zealand character: pragmatism and modesty.

Dame Whina Cooper:
Dame Whina had a long and distinguished career of leadership and service to her people before the hikoi. The march was her greatest achievement, arguably doing more to make Pakeha aware of how deeply Maori felt about the land and history than any of the petitions and protests of preceding generations.

Kate Sheppard:
Kate Sheppard, who joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union in 1885, became the guiding light of the campaign that was to earn New Zealand recognition as the first country in the world where women could vote in national elections.