International Art Centre/Supplied
The portrait of Harawira Te Mahikai, chief of the Ngāti Kahungunu Tribe, is the finest to come to market according to an art expert.
A rare Gottfried Lindauer painting is set to break records when it goes to market on March 29, with one art expert deeming it “the finest to ever come to market”.
Lindauer was a man who, along with C F Goldie, excelled in painting important Māori subjects throughout his life, as well as depictions of Māori life during this time period.
He also produced many pieces of little-known or ordinary Māori people, most of them wearing European dress, as would have been the case in their daily life.
Richard Thomson, the director of the International Art Centre, said the Lindauer up for auction was a “real beauty”.
The painting is a portrait of Harawira Te Mahikai, chief of the Ngāti Kahungunu Tribe, and a signatory of the Treaty of Waitangi.
At the time of his death in 1886, Te Mahikai was the last tattooed chief of Waimarama.
“It has all the hallmarks of a Lindauer, you don’t see them that often in this kind of quality,” Thomon said.
Piers Fuller/Stuff.co.nz
A Gottfried Lindauer portrait of Huru Te Hiaro was repaired and moved from Te Papa to Aratoi Museum in Masterton for a Lindauer exhibition (first published June 2017).
The piece was painted in 1883, and Thomson thinks Lindauer perhaps painted it when his son Hector was born and saved to gift to him when he turned 21.
“This one is a real masterpiece, and I think it’s one of the best to come to market ever,” Thomson said.
“It’s in pristine condition, and it was owned by Lindauer himself until he gifted it to his son Hector in 1908.”
The piece was held by descendants of the Lindauers until 1988, when it was bought by a private collector who it has been with ever since.
Lindauer pieces have had a high profile as of late due to the brazen heist of two of the pieces from the International Art Centre in April 2017.
The paintings, which were of Māori elders Chief Ngātai-Raure and Chieftainess Ngātai-Raure, were finally recovered and returned to their rightful owner in December 2022, over five years after they were stolen.
The stolen paintings were recovered in December 2022.
Although the Lindauer up for auction is not one of the stolen paintings, it is the first one to come up for sale since the paintings were recovered.
Thomson said despite “the heightened awareness”, the story of the stolen Lindauers won’t “add fuel to the value of it”.
“It’s probably going to be a record price, and I would be surprised if it wasn’t – it’s almost a certainty,” Thomson said.
The director believes the piece could hit the million dollar mark, and wouldn’t drop below $500,000.
The auction is taking place at the International Art Centre on March 29, and you can register your interest here.
