KEY POINTS:
The art collection of writer Maurice Shadbolt, which includes works by Michael Smither, Colin McCahon and Don Binney, will go under the hammer this evening.
Many of the paintings in the collection were gifted to the writer who formed close friendships with some of this country's best known artists.
The auction will take place at Webb's in Auckland and is is estimated the entire catalogue will fetch over $300,000.
Shadbolt was one of a handful of writers who carved out a distinctly New Zealand voice.
He is best remembered for his novels A Touch of Clay, The Summer's Dolphin and his historical novel trilogy that included Monday's Warriors, The House of Strife and Season of the Jew.
Some of the artwork up for auction has direct ties to the writer, including the painting Rock Pools by Michael Smither, which was later used for the cover of Shadbolt's novel A Touch of Clay.
Shadbolt formed close friendships with artists and appreciated their work, said son Brendan.
"These are the things that he surrounded himself with. All these paintings were by friends but they weren't just friends, they were people he connected with," Mr Shadbolt said.
Brendan said he had recently been told the story behind Rock Pools by artist Michael Smither.
"They went to Bethells and got some broken bits of pottery and threw them into a pool. Michael then went and sketched it," Mr Shadbolt said.
Brendan Shadbolt said it was hard selling the artwork but "it has to be done".
"You want to get through it, there's an emotional side to it."
He said the auction represents the end of a chapter in the grieving process that began when his father died in 2004.
Wife Gillian recalls the story behind Shadbolt's bar which illustrates the friendships Shadbolt had with artists. The bar is now housed at Te Papa.
She said the formica, sky blue bar was used by the previous owners of the house as a place to "drink piss" and stood in the basement of their Titirangi house where Shadbolt did his writing.
"Maurice was pretty friendly with Colin McCahon, they used to get on the piss every Friday night at Colin's place," Mrs Shadbolt said.
She said one weekend when Shadbolt was away on a writing assignment, the McCahons came over for a visit.
"I said to Colin: Look at that bar where Maurice works, isn't it ghastly?" Mrs Shadbolt said.
She said Shadbolt used to make his coffee on the bar every morning and arrange the papers of the novel he was working on at the time.
"Colin disappeared and Anne and I were talking upstairs and looking at the garden, things like that. After the afternoon the bar was all flash," Mrs Shadbolt said.
McCahon had painted the bar in a vivid blue, red and green with the words: "As there is a constant flow of light we are born into a pure land." McCahon also painted on the bar: "Buttercup Fields Forever."
And when Shadbolt got home?
"I didn't tell him anything. He just opened the door and there it was. He was just speechless and always appreciative of anything that people did for him," Mrs Shadbolt said.
Maurice Shadbolt, NZ writer
Shadbolt was awarded many of New Zealand's top literary awards, sometimes more than once. These included the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award in 1963, 1967 and 1995.
He also won the New Zealand Book Award in 1981 and a Montana New Zealand Fiction Honour Award in 1996.
Shadbolt was appointed CBE in 1989 for his services to New Zealand literature and in 1990 he received the Commemoration Medal for services to New Zealand
He was also appointed an honorary doctor of literature at the University of Auckland in 1997.
Selected bibliography (Source: The University of Auckland)
The New Zealanders. Published: 1959
Summer Fires and Winter Country. Published 1963
Among the Cinders. Published 1965
The Presence of Music: Three Novellas. Published 1967
This Summer's Dolphin. Published 1969
An Ear of the Dragon. Published 1971
Strangers and Journeys. Published 1972
Danger Zone. Published 1975
A Touch of Clay. Published 1974
Figures in Light: Selected Stories. Published 1978.
The Lovelock Version. Published 1980
Once on Chunuk Bair. Published 1982.
Season of the Jew. Published 1986
Monday's Warriors. Published 1990
One of Ben's: a New Zealand Medley. Published 1993
The House of Strife. Published 1993
Dove on the Waters. Published 1996
Selected Stories. Published 1998
From the Edge of the Sky, a memoir. Published 1999.
This evening's auction is at Webb's Epsom showroom at 18 Manukau Road, from 6.30pm. For more information phone: (09) 524-6804 or see the Webb's website.
