Friday’s For Friendship and Foundations

I have told you before about we four friends who call ourselves The Mutual Admiration Society Sisters. We meet often and about once a month we plan something a little different for MASS. This month it was on Friday and we went to see the BNZ (Bank Of New Zealand) Artwork Collection display.

Unfortunately, only three of us went; the fourth having succumbed to a particularly nasty and painful bug.

So. in the pouring rain, we three met up as planned for coffee before going off to be surrounded by works of art that have been collected over the past forty years by this major bank.

We were told, by a very helpful assistant, that the BNZ art collection was started in 1982. And now after four decades, around 350 pieces of artwork in the collection will go to auction.

The proceeds will go to the bank’s new charitable foundation and there are expected to be a lot of proceeds.

Charles Ninow, the Art Director of Webb’s auction house, said “There are well over $10 million worth of artworks in the collection and that’s probably a conservative estimate.

When the collection was established the bank appointed legendary Wellington art dealer Peter McLeavey which Ninow says was a masterstroke.

Peter McLeavey was one of the figures who basically built the market for contemporary New Zealand art. Having him on board, the works he was able to source, his eye.”

Several of the works are so highly regarded that it’s expected numerous records will be broken at the auction.

The collection is touring the country, stopping in Wellington and Christchurch for everyone to feast their eyes, before being sold at Webb’s Auction House in Auckland in September.

The assistant assured me that the auction will be streamed live, and in the event that I have too many wines, I will be able to log in and make an offer on the one that most appealed.

I took some more photos –

So. a joyful way to spend a wet, wintery Friday. But hey – Spring is on the way. The daffodils and irises are bravely blooming and soon the rain will stop and we will have lovely spring sunshine. Yeah, yeah – Pollyanna alive and well and living in Wellington NZ.

Read more about this amazing collection here

JB Wellington NZ, with no rain
August 27, 2022

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