For the love of art: Paintings by Thirst for Bill Hammond attract strong bids

Kiwi art collectors dug deep at tonight’s Webb art auction, paying high prices for work from some of New Zealand’s most revered artists.

A major work by the late Christchurch artist Bill
Hammond sold for $485,100.

The large acrylic-on-canvas painting, depicting Hammond’s distinctive bird-like creatures and painted in 2015, was one of five Hammonds for sale, three from a private collection in Christchurch.

A 1985 Hammond acrylic-on-linen painting The Strength to Carry On sold for $97,020 and a 1987 oil-on-copper painting titled Song Book 3 sold for $45,478.

Late last year, artist Melting Moments II’s large 1999 acrylic-on-canvas painting of his iconic “green” period sold for a record $939,881, stunning the world of art.

Previously, Hammond’s artwork had sold for around $200,000.

Prices for the late artist’s work have risen since his death last January at the age of 73, especially for the rarest pieces.

Webb’s art director Charles Ninow believes Hammond is now in a similar league to renowned New Zealand artists Colin McCahon and Charles F Goldie.

Prices for Hammond’s paintings have quintupled over the past 18 months, based on price per square centimetre, he said.

It was unusual for prices to rise so quickly after the death of an artist.

“With every artist, there is a sweet spot. There are certain periods of their career that people really want. Usually there is already scarcity and scarcity in the price of desirable work.”

After Ralph Hotere’s death, the market was oversupplied and prices did not rise to the same extent, Ninow said.

Hammond’s painting of birds, which he began creating in the 1990s, rarely made it to market as many were in museums, art galleries and private collectors who did not want to get caught. separate from it.

Since the artist’s death, collectors and investors had realized the importance of Hammond’s work as one of New Zealand’s greatest contemporary artists, and the fact that supply was limited.

Kiwis are increasingly investing in good New Zealand art as insurance against inflation, he said.

The art auction was a collection of who’s who in the Kiwi art world with works by Colin McCahon, Tony Fomison, Max Gimblett, Don Binney, Gordon Walters, Toss Woollaston, Para Matchitt, Ralph Hotere, Shane Cotton, Michael Parekōwhai, Michael Smither, Peter Siddell, Dick Frizzell, Frances Hodgkins and Philip Clairmont are proposed.

Buyers were visibly cautious as many works of art did not encounter a reserve overnight, although bidders could negotiate after the auction.

A painting by Colin McCahon was passed on, subject to negotiation, another sold for $90,956.

Michael Smither’s 1973 oil on panel painting Rockpools, from the estate of New Zealand writer and playwright Maurice Shadbolt, sold for $145,530. Another Smither oil painting, Sunbathers on Board Ship, painted in 1968, sold for $72,765.

A 1973 acrylic on canvas painting by Gretchen Albrecht, Threefold, sold for $127,338 while a second painting by Albrecht, A’ Penumbra (In Memory of my Father) failed to reach reserve.

A 2011 oil on canvas painting, Untitled, by Kiwi artist Andrew McLeod sold for $84,892.

A sketch by Ralph Hotere, Drawing for a Black Window, sold for $31,531 and a 1908 watercolor by Frances Hodgkins, Pansies in a Vase, sold for $72,765.