Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is set to sell her rare collection of artworks, including three paintings of past Māori leaders by renowned artist Charles Frederick Goldie.
The International Art Centre is preparing the catalogue for sale in April and director Richard Thomson says the collection includes a dozen paintings, valued between three and four million dollars.
Two of the Goldie paintings are of two Māori chiefs, including Portrait of Tamati Pehiriri, dated 1940 and 47cm by 37.5cm in size.
The third painting is of a Ngāti Raukawa chieftainess titled Te Hei and is 47cm by 41.5cm in size.
“As a painting, it is certainly significant. Goldie’s are the most collected paintings in the New Zealand art market,” says Thomson.
Portrait of Tamati Pehiriri, 1940. Source: International Art Centre
Thomson says the Goldie works are expected to fetch anywhere from $600,000 to $1.2m each.
The paintings have spent 25 years on long-term loan to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, and Thomson says Te Kanawa has decided to sell them “so they can be enjoyed by new people.”
“She’s had a lifetime of discerningly collecting and enjoying art. So it’s her wish that new collectors and buyers will have these paintings to enjoy for further generations.”
The other works for sale are by Australian and New Zealand works of art including masterpieces by Arthur Boyd and Lloyd Frederic Rees.
Thomson says he has received "a lot of inquiries" by people interested in the paintings and the art centre is preparing the collection for sale in April.