Bill Hammond painting sells for $1.7m

An artwork by the late Christchurch artist Bill Hammond has been sold with a huge million-dollar price tag overnight.

Melting Moments 1 sold for $1.715 million at a Webb’s auction event - a new record for Hammond.

It was sold to an online bidder after the auction was over.

The painting, an acrylic on canvas work measuring roughly 1.6 x 2.1m, was expected to fetch around $1.5 million-$2 million.

Is there anything of which one can say look this is new? by Colin McCahon is the most expensive piece of art to be sold in New Zealand, fetching $2.45 million at auction in September 2022.

Another Colin McCahon piece sold at Monday night’s auction for $173,000.

Even though the painting did not break the record, Charles Ninow, the director of art at Webb’s auction house, said it is “incredibly rare” for a painting to be sold for that price in the New Zealand market.

“Very, very, very few paintings have sold to those sorts of figures,” Ninow said.

“This is the first painting by Hammond that’s achieved more than a million dollars and it cements him as one of the all-time greats.

“Melting Moments I is a museum-level work of national significance. Its detail, storytelling and sheer presence are representative of one of our most important artists at the height of his artistic powers.”

On Webb’s auction house website, it explained Melting Moments 1 was painted by Hammond a decade after his 1989 trip to the Auckland Islands.

“Melting Moments 1, Hammond presents us with a busy, populous, noisy habitat, in which the cacophony of birdsong is drowned out by clanging bells and aeroplanes,” the website states.

“The composition is inhabited by Hammond’s now iconic mythical creatures - half human, half bird, which first appeared in his paintings in 1993.”

Other highlights of the auction included Brent Wong’s The Bequest, which sold for $173,000 - $30,000 above the estimated price.

Hammond, who was born in Christchurch in 1947, attended Canterbury University's Ilam School of Fine Arts in the middle of the 1960s.

Although he didn’t start exhibiting until the 1980s, he quickly rose to prominence, eventually becoming one of New Zealand’s most celebrated painters during his lifetime and one of the few to win acclaim outside of our borders.

His star has continued to climb since his death in January 2021, firmly establishing him as one of our genuine “blue chip” artists.

By Rachel Maher