Gallery director John Gow had a number of notable successes at last night’s Art + Object auction of the Tim and Sherrah Francis Collection that includes around 220 works collected over their lifetime. Works by Michael Illingworth, Shane Cotton, Rita Angus, and the 66 piece naive collection were all acquired by John on behalf of respected clients and private collectors, with many of the artist's achieving new record prices at auction. The biggest sale of the night, Colin McCahon’s Canoe Tainui was also purchased by John on behalf of a private collector at the record price of $1.35 million; with the added buyer’s premium and auction fees, this will rise to $1,621,68.50.
The 4.8m long Canoe Tainui was purchased by Tim and Sherrah in 1969 (the year of its completion) for the mere price of $550. The text adorning the work is taken directly from the preface of Matire Kereama’s 1968 book, The Tail of the Fish: Maori Memories of the Far North, where each name traces the generations of the Tainui tribe.
For information on this historic auction, see here.
