Goldie portrait goes for record $300,000

By REBECCA WALSH

A Charles Goldie painting sold for a record $300,000 at auction in Auckland last night.

John Leech Gallery director John Gow bid for Memories, the portrait of Ngapuhi chieftainess Harata Rewiri Tarapata, on behalf of a private Auckland buyer.

Mr Gow said the buyer was at the auction of investment art at the White Heron Hotel in Parnell but wanted to remain anonymous.

The painting would be hung in pride of place among an extensive art collection.

"It's the most they have ever spent on a painting ... I can assure you they are pleased.

"There are a couple of other little things they are interested in so they will probably bid themselves."

The Auckland buyer was the only one of three bidding for the turn of the century painting to attend the auction.

Auctioneer Dunbar Sloane said the oil on canvas was painted in 1903 when Goldie was "at his prime."

"It's a lovely soft painting many people can live with. Some people find the chiefs a bit hard to live with, they are the warrior types," he said.

"This is more soft and serene and the painting is very peaceful and beautiful when you see it in real life.

"It would be nice if it stayed in Auckland. Her husband was Chief Paul of Orakei."

The painting had been owned for the past 50 years by an Auckland family, who wished to remain anonymous, Mr Sloane said.

In 1997 it was part of a collection of Goldies shown in centres around New Zealand and in Sydney.

The previous auction record for a Goldie - $230,000 - was set last year at a Peter Webb Galleries auction in Auckland.