What we know about an artwork's history changes our enjoyment of it

This morning we watched an insightful and entertaining look at why people like original paintings better than an identical forgery.  In this TED talk Paul Bloom argues that our beliefs about the history of an object change how experience it. And not just as an illusion but a deep measurable change in the way our brain feels pleasure viewing art.



How do we respond when the artworks may look the same but they have a different origin?  Pyschologists have argued that we care so much about origins because we are snobs, as Bloom says "we are focused on status".  So owning a handmade limited edition print is more prestigious than owning a reproduction of the same image because there are always going to be fewer original prints available to buy. Although Bloom doesn't doubt that this does play some role he believes humans are also to some extent "natural born essentialists".   He means we don't just respond to art in the way that we see it, our response is also conditioned on our beliefs about "what they really are, where they came from, what they are made of, what their hidden nature is".  You can own something that looks exactly the same as another artwork but it doesn't have the same history so your respond differently to it. 

Bloom quotes Christchurch philosopher of art Denis Dutton (whom we have featured in NZ Art Print News previously) who wrote "the value of an artwork is rooted in assumptions about the human performance underlying its creation".   Bloom's argument would be that owning an orginal print (which is the product of a creative act, knowledge of materials and technical skill) means the buyer will get a deeper pleasure from owning it than a poster of the same print.   If they were told that it was not an original print their pleasure in owning it would diminish (a case in point is Dick Frizzell's Mickey to Tiki lithograph which was reproduced with the edition number 5/50 on it, occasionally we have been contacted by people given this print as a gift whose pleasure in the gift is lessened when they are told that it is a reproduction although it looks identical to the original print).

It's an interesting question if choosing artworks with a meaningful history - even if they are "reproductions" - can have still give you a deeper pleasure. For instance if you collect only prints by quality artists or fine examples of the best paintings from New Zealand.  NZ Fine Prints try and stock only meaningful artwork, we have never understood the part of the market where custuomers are looking to buy art to "match the curtains".  I guess this touches on the prestige or snobbish element of art ownership alluded to by Bloom as a motivation of buying artwork for your home or office because your choice of art is a way of demonstrating to others your degree of artistic sophistication or level of art appreciation.  But for Prints.co.nz making a distinction between meaningful art and pure decoration is a way of helping us decide what we choose to stock at a "fine art" print specialist.

Lost McCahon painting sells for a pittance on eBay then returns to NZ in mysterious circumstances

Rumours circulating on Facebook about a sensational auction on eBay for a lost Colin McCahon painting which sold for a mere fraction of its worth back in 2006 have been confirmed by people close to the story today - but the mystery of how the painting returned to NZ remains.

Bidding at $US199.99, 4 hours til closing...

Shown here is a screenshot from the auction on eBay "Colin McCahon Bellini II Enamel Paint on Hardboard No Reserve" with bidding at a mere $US199.99 just four hours before it closed with a winning bid of just $US 4500 - approx $NZ6500 today.  This is the deal of the decade for a NZ painting considering Colin McCahon currently holds the record sale price for a painting by a NZ artist with a top price paid of just over $1.1 million (for Let Be, Let Be in 2009).  However the excitement didn't stop when the auction closed as the vendor refused to hand over the painting to the auction winner - Auckland tribal artifact collector Andrew Pendergrast.  Pendergrast claims "someone must have offered [the broker listing the painting on behalf of the vendor] some cash to disclose the vendor's name" because despite the vendor's agent being forced to refund $1000 in currency conversion fees and Pendergrast significantly increasing his offer "no matter what I offered the vendor had uplifted the painting from the broker and there was nothing I could do to change his mind". 

Mike Weston, of Auckland pop art studio Weston Frizzell, who today admitted via email to being the unsuccessful underbidder on the auction would not say how he first heard of the auction but said he "watched for a few days and it seemed to have gone un-noticed - I couldn't sleep". Weston inadvertently got locked out of the auction at the last minute due to bidding an auto bid amount over the unregistered buyer limit - "If I'd bid only $10k [instead of $50k] I would have got it" says Weston ruefully. 

Vendor photograph of painting

The painting, shown here at right, is one of Colin McCahon's Bellini series, and almost certainly from the group of 19 paintings purchased by the American collector Edward Danziger from Auckland's Ikon Gallery in the early 1960s. According to McCahon expert Martin Browne who tracked down Edward Danzinger in the 1990s there was "definitely at least one missing Bellini Madonna painting" even after Brown's time-consuming detective work managed to reveal the whereabouts of two more Bellini Madonna paintings along with at least another half a dozen McCahon artworks that had previously been part of Danzinger's collection.  Although Browne would have to sight the painting in the flesh to confirm his view on its authenticity he says that there was a painting referred to as "The Second Bellini Madonna, 1961" shown in Contemporary New Zealand Painting at the Auckland Art Gallery in November December 1961 and "there seems a good chance that the eBay one may be it". According to Browne in all probability "someone got themselves a bargain".

Prominent New Zealand dealers and galleries approached for comment would not say if the painting had been purchased by them, one Auckland dealer summed up their collective response - if it were them "that would be confidential information" which they would not divulge.

Please leave a comment below or call the writer at New Zealand Prints if you can help solve the mystery of who was the successful purchaser and how they managed to get this long lost Colin McCahon painting back to NZ.

New Tony Ogle Print - Breakaway Bay

It's always exciting to unwrap a new print from the art studio of leading NZ printmaker Tony Ogle.  The smell of fresh ink is still strong when we take the new prints out of the carefully packed layers of tissue and this sensory treat is followed by the immediate visceral emotional response to Tony's incredibly evocative pictures of NZ coastal scenes that brings on a strangely nostalgic yearning to be out of our inner city gallery to be at one with nature at the beach.  Tony's prints could be a secret weapon to reverse the exodus of kiwis moving overseas - they should be given as gifts to lure home expatriates by the NZ government because they create such a sense of longing for Aotearoa!

Prominent New Zealand writer Graeme Lay encapsulates well the allure of the artwork of the person who is his favourite NZ artist when he writes "Tony Ogle is one of New Zealand's most talented and original landscape artists. His prints, in particular his coastal scenes, are notable for their vibrancy and captivating composition. No other New Zealand artist captures the unique allure and beauty of this country's coastal scenes so distinctively."

Tony says his new print, called simply "Breakaway Bay",  (and pictured here at right) had a very long gestation "this one started off as a pencil sketch some 10 years ago" he says, "[it's] great to get it completed".  Bearing in mind that Ogle has released this new print in New Zealand's mid-winter the artist is quick to add that this is a "vision of the coast in 6 months' time, roll on summer…"  Breakaway Bay is printed by hand, signed and then numbered the artist - this handmade edition is limited to just 200 prints.

NB: On the same day we have listed this new Tony Ogle print we are a wee bit sad to have co-incidentally found a buyer for the last print in the edition of "Crimson Ridge - Te Henga" this morning.  This was a beautiful example of print-making that really captured the essence of Auckland's West Coast which was one of our favourites.

New Zealand Contemporary Landscape prints by Hamish Allan

We are noticing an exciting new trend of New Zealand prints being produced both on fine art paper and printed directly onto canvas. (Although it does make it harder to catalogue new artwork though because we don't want to clutter up our galleries with multiple images in different formats. We have therefore decided to catalogue the prints on paper and add the information about canvas availability, price etc to the main image page).

Christchurch contemporary landscape artist Hamish Allan is part of this trend releasing a series of six prints available both on fine art paper and printed directly onto genuine artists' canvas in the same size.

Allan worked as a physiotherapist before working initially as a sculptor before starting painting fulltime in 2002. Hamish writes that his "approach to painting and design is clear - less is more. Keeping imagery clean and simple, use deeply contrasting tones and texture to add natural quality and visual impact. Local stylised landscapes are integrated into blocks of colour and texture and lifted by perspective and detail. The horizon is used with striking effect as a focal point from which the painting emerges. Horizontal and vertical plains are integral and emphasized, drawing the viewer into the work."

Shown is the delightfully named print "Yawning" by Hamish Allan - another print featuring New Zealand's iconic cabbage tree...

Barry Ross Smith

Barry Ross Smith (1964 - ) was born in Northland, New Zealand. Barry's mother was a school teacher and his father worked at Affco Freezing works and they lived in a small cottage on his uncle's farm. Barry trained as a sign writer and also worked as a commercial artist overseas for many years. Ross-Smith has now been painting professionally for nearly a decade and prints of his farming series have been among our most popular prints for the last few years. His art has also been acclaimed by critics including a terrific review that called Ross-Smith's paintings "hymns to rural New Zealand ... tellingly observed and cleverly rendered" [NZ Herald].

We are delighted to now have Barry's new series of giclee prints in stock - these extremely high quality prints continue his farming theme but there are also new beach, open edition and limited edition prints of Ross-Smith's work. Pictured are "Weathered" and an intriguing new print of the Queen with moko.

Taranaki Artist Peter Lambert - New Prints

The artist Peter Lambert has been exhibiting for over 30 years. Lambert attended evening classes in painting and drawing at the Ilam School of Fine Arts (now part of the University of Canterbury) whilst competing his BSC in Mathematics. He also studied lithography at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland and at Long Island University in New York. As a full-time artist living and working in Taranaki since 1982 Peter has had many years experience refining his technique and his new prints that arrived today are particularly fine examples of contemporary New Zealand printmaking. Pictured is Peter's brand new print "Waiting Around" - a hand made edition of 22 screenprints.

Well-known painter Henry Lowen-Smith releases prints

South Island painter Henry Lowen-Smith has worked as full time artist since 1978 - but has been painting for fifty years. Henry's paintings are held in many corporate and private collections worldwide and in New Zealand. For the first time he has made prints of his favourite paintings - we now stock Henry Lowen-Smith prints of The Lindis Pass, Mount D'Achiac, Snow Grass in Winter and a still life with Grannie Smith Apples.

Introducing Dunedin artist Kerry Fenton-Johns

Kerry Fenton-Johns has just published two prints called Sunlit Palm and Pohutukawa and Kete. Although she was born in Christchurch Kerry now lives in Dunedin and works as a full time artist. She is an active member of the Otago Art Society and has recently won the Otago section of the Yellow Pages art competition.