Art-buyers snap up paintings of Maori

By DON MILNE

The oldest European works of art concerned with New Zealand "render the inhabitants as larger than the land," wrote art critic Hamish Keith in his introduction to Leonard Bell's The Maori in European Art. That fascination, first illustrated in Tasman's journals of 1642, has continued.

Maori subjects hold a place in New Zealand art that has never been achieved by the Aborigines in Australia. And they clearly continue to hold a place in the hearts of New Zealand art-buyers, too.

This year record prices have been paid by public institutions such as Te Papa for works depicting Maori by such artists as Louis John Steele and Gottfried Lindauer, and the trend continued last month. Record auction prices were set for two works by Charles Goldie and Russell Clark, offered by Peter Webb Galleries in Auckland. (Te Papa has paid more for works by Goldie in private sales).

The Goldie portrait, painted in 1909 of Anaha te Rahui, a famed Maori carver of Rotorua, was sold by Cordy's in 1969 for $5650. Seven years later Webb's sold it for $18,000. A generation on, this fine portrait of the Ngati Tarawhai elder sold at the top of its estimate - $230,000 ($253,000 including 10 per cent buyer's premium).

Russell Clark (1905-66) may not be as well-known as Goldie but his works, according to Bell, "constitute the most substantial and impressive body of work featuring the Maori from the 1940s and 50s." A generation of schoolchildren would be familiar with his work through his drawings of everyday Maori life in the Ureweras for a 1950s primary school bulletin on Ruatahuna.

The painting on sale last month, dated around 1949, showed a keenly observed group of Maori in lively debate at Otaki. It went for a record $120,000 ($132,000 with premium).

Another artist, although not of Maori subjects, arousing increased interest is Lyttelton-based Bill Hammond, whose works are on show at the New Gallery in Auckland.

Reviewing the travelling show, Herald art critic Terry McNamara says it makes a fascinating journey "through a landscape that Hammond has made specially his own and which is instantly recognisable."

Hammond's work comes up increasingly in the saleroom as his reputation spreads. At Dunbar Sloane's Wellington sale at the end of August, works reached $18,700 and $28,050 (premium included); at Webb's last sale Modern Day, a 1991 oil, hit $44,000. Will he soon be up there with Hotere and Hanly?

Finally, the market for good New Zealand pottery may be rising, although it seems stronger in Wellington, where Dunbar Sloane often make it a feature of sales, than in Auckland. At Sloane's August sale a large stoneware garden pot by Roy Cowan went for $1705 and a stoneware vase by Mirek Smisek for $1540.

Good prices, but still not up to the mark of the great Shoji Hamada. Seven of his works, collected by a Foreign Affairs' employee in Japan in the late 1950s, fetched from $1320 for a teacup to $8800 for a rectangular press-moulded vase.

Coming up:

Cordy's has a small selection of art works, including a Hoyte, at its catalogued sale on October 10.

Webb's next sale of affordable art is on October 30.

The International Art Centre will be offering a wide variety, including works by McCahon, Goldie and Lindauer, in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Parnell on November 10.

Dunbar Sloane's next Auckland auction, at the White Heron in Parnell, will be some time next month.