Melting Moments 1, by the late Bill Hammond, has sold for about $1.7 million at an auction event tonight.
Melting Moments 1, by the late Bill Hammond, has sold for about $1.7 million at an auction event tonight.
A painting by late Christchurch artist Bill Hammond has sold with a huge million-dollar price tag.
Melting Moments 1 sold for $1.715m at a Webb’s auction event on Monday night - a new record for Hammond.
It was sold to an online bidder after the auction was completed.
The painting, an acrylic on canvas work measuring roughly 1.6 x 2.1 metres, was expected to fetch around $1.5-$2m.
The most expensive piece of art to be sold in New Zealand was ‘Is there anything of which one can say look this is new?’ by Colin McCahon, which sold for $2.45m at auction in September 2022.
Another Colin McCahon piece sold at tonight’s auction for $173,000.
Even though the painting did not break the record, Charles Ninow, the director of art at Webb’s auction house, said it was “incredibly rare” for a painting to be sold for that price in the New Zealand market.
“Very, very, very few paintings have sold to those sorts of figures,” Ninow said.
“This is the first painting by Hammond that’s achieved more than a million dollars and it cements him as one of the all-time greats.
“Melting Moments I is a museum-level work of national significance. Its detail, storytelling and sheer presence are representative of one of our most important artists at the height of his artistic powers.”
On Webb’s auction house website, it explained Melting Moments 1 was painted by Hammond a decade after his 1989 trip to the Auckland Islands.
“Melting Moments 1, Hammond presents us with a busy, populous, noisy habitat, in which the cacophony of birdsong is drowned out by clanging bells and aeroplanes,” the website states.
“The composition is inhabited by Hammond’s now iconic mythical creatures —-half human, half bird, which first appeared in his paintings in 1993.”
The work of New Zealand artist Bill Hammond has escalated in price since his death.
Other auction highlights included Brent Wong’s The Bequest, selling for $173,000, $30,000 above the estimated price.
The late Hammond, who was born in Christchurch in 1947, attended the University of Canterbury’s Ilam School of Fine Arts in the middle of the 1960s.
Although he didn’t start exhibiting until the 1980s, he quickly rose to prominence, eventually becoming one of New Zealand’s most celebrated painters during his lifetime and one of the few to win acclaim outside of our borders.
His star has continued to climb since his death in January 2021, firmly establishing him as one of our genuine “blue chip” artists.
Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.
