Your chance to own art history
Now is your chance to hang a piece of New Zealand art history in your home – and it’s all for a good cause.
More than 160 pieces of art, from ceramics by Mirek Smisek to a screen print by Ma¯ ori artist Shane Cotton, have been put up for auction by Waikanae’s Mahara Gallery as part of a fundraiser for the gallery’s redevelopment.
Gallery director Janet Bayly said she was ‘‘absolutely delighted’’ by the response to the auction; from the people who stopped in to take a look at the pieces for sale to others like Paekakariki couple Jannie and Don Hunn for donating works to sell.
The Hunns decided to part with a watercolour of Plimmer House, painted by Peter McIntyre.
The work was commissioned by Jannie’s father, Leo Tattersfield, and even though she said it was hard to donate, she knew her father would have wanted to support Mahara Gallery.
The gallery had been in the original Waikanae Library building for the past 20 years and had been offered an ‘‘amazing’’ collection of 44 artworks known as the Field Collection, Bayly said.
‘‘That includes 24 paintings by Frances Hodgkins.’’
Hodgkins, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated artists, has a special connection with the Ka¯ piti Coast. Her sister, Isabel, settled around Waikanae in the 1890s and the area became a ‘‘touchstone with New Zealand’’ for the artist, Bayly said.
‘‘When we are able to house this collection of 24 artworks we are able to tell another important element of the Frances Hodgkins story.’’
The collection, which was previously in private hands, has been given to the gallery on the condition that it is upgraded to museum standard. Plans are in place to start rebuilding the gallery midway through next year. But first, the gallery has to fundraise its share of $5.2 million for the project.
Ka¯ piti Coast District Council has committed to paying one third of the costs.
Another third will likely come from sources such as relevant government departments or select trusts and Mahara Gallery will raise the last third.
The auction will be held February 9, starting 5pm at Mahara Gallery, 20 Mahara Place, Waikanae.