For many years New Zealand Fine Prints along with many other galleries and picture framers stocked prints of pencil sketches by NZ artist Peter Arnold. Arnold's drawings of popular places and buildings around NZ were originally published as prints in the 1980s. The different titles have gradually sold out over the past few years and are now completely out of print (sold out).
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"One Tree Hill, Auckland"
Print of a sketch by NZ artist Peter Arnold |
However as a consequence of advertising Peter Arnold prints for sale at
prints.co.nz until we sold out of the very last one just a few weeks ago we received a fairly steady stream of enquiries about whether a sketch by Peter Arnold was an original artwork or not - and also enquiries as to the value of what looks at first glance like an original pencil sketch by this artist. So if you are looking for information about this artist's work - perhaps having inherited a framed print/sketch - the perhaps unwelcome news is that you are almost certainly the owner of a reproduction print rather than an original artwork.
Confusingly these prints were sold both as black and white images and hand coloured (by the publisher, not the artist). Either coloured or uncoloured they are reproduction prints, not original (i.e. handmade - for example an
etching) prints or sketches. Their value is decorative rather than investment, nicely framed they are worth around $NZ50 each.
An example of the artists' style is the print of Auckland's One Tree Hill illustrated here - there were at least a couple of dozen scenes published in this technique and of similar appearance.
If you are still convinced that you may have an original sketch rather than a reproduction we'd recommend getting an expert in paintings and drawings to take a look at the artwork in real life, try contacting an auctioneer of fine art near you or your local city council run art gallery.
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Thank you for the information.
ReplyDeleteI have what appears to be a reproduction of a Peter Arnold original copy of Kerikeri Basin in colour, which is framed and signed," Peter Arnold, 1985" . My question is his signature, which appears to be in pencil, on all previous reprints?
Greatly appreciated.
iain.lamont.nz@gmail.com
Hello Iain,
DeleteYes, the original pencil drawings are all signed. This is reproduced on the print. You can check that it won't rub out! It will be coloured by hand though, they were nicely done prints.
I bought my first Peter Arnold in 1979 which is black/white drawing of the Stone Store in Kerikeri - also with his signature and the date as '79. My 2nd drawing/sketch, also black/white is of Rangitoto from Mt Eden Crater signed and dated 1979. My last one (black/white) is of Mt Egmont with signature under those words as well as Peter Arnold 1982 on the right hand side. I too would be interested in knowing how to tell an original from a copy or are ALL of them original copies with the original being kept by the artist himself? Hopefully someone will reply
ReplyDeletenonieone@hotmail.com
Thanks for your comment, we didn't realise that the Arnold prints were first published as early as that! Obviously there must be the original sketches out there somewhere and it is possible that you could be the owner of one of them. However there are some easy ways to tell the difference between original sketches and reproduction prints (see the article above and my reply to the previous comment). Another indication of whether you own an original or a print is how much you paid for the artwork in the first place and where you purchased it from. At the time an original sketch by a competent - but not high profile - NZ artist would have cost at least one hundred dollars and would have been bought from either a dealer gallery or directly from the artists' studio.
DeleteI am Peter's nephew and I can tell you that he used a method of reproducing his work by lithograhing. Often he would countersign these in pencil as well. I have both some originals and such copies and suggest that the paper that most originals would have been drawn on would be discoloured by now whereas the prints would still be looking reasonably fresh. The families lost contact with each other and I need to contact him. If anyone knows if he is still alive (he would be approx. 82 now), please advise-agmcgregor@icloud.com.
ReplyDelete