[MSN] New Zealand. Art dealers dogged again by another 'fake' Goldie

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Art dealers dogged again by another 'fake' Goldie

The curse of the "fake" Goldie drawings has hit respected art dealers, Fishers Fine Arts, again.

The gallery last week withdrew a drawing it said was a Goldie from its online auction site after an art expert deemed it a fake.

Fishers did not seek expert authentication until questions about the work - a crayon on paper drawing of Maori chieftainess Harata Rewiri Tarapata estimated to fetch $16,000 to $22,000 - were raised by a concerned art buyer and the Sunday Star-Times on Thursday.

Controversy about the dubious provenance of some Goldies has dogged Fishers since 2005, when it sold four drawings purported to be by the artist. They were owned by controversial publisher Alistair Taylor, and Fishers had said that the $35,000 paid for one of the drawings, Kapi Kapi (1938), was a record for a Goldie work on paper.

However, Victoria University art history lecturer and Goldie expert Roger Blackley later said the work was undoubtedly a forgery. Fishers has maintained the four works are genuine, even though Taylor could not provide proof of authenticity.

Charles Frederick Goldie is the creator of some of New Zealand's best-loved art works, and has been inspiration to some of New Zealand's most notorious art fakers.

Doubts about the latest drawing were raised by Westport accountant Peter Campbell, who bought a Goldie drawing from Fishers in 2005. He paid $9000 for it after being assured by Simon Fisher, manager of Fishers Fine Arts in Auckland, that it was a genuine work with excellent provenance.

Experts later cast doubt on its authenticity and Fishers refunded Campbell in full.

On Thursday, Campbell contacted Fishers after receiving an email from the company advertising the drawing of Harata Rewiri Tarapata.

Based on his previous experience, Campbell's suspicions were aroused and he suggested Fishers check its provenance with Blackley.

"The date is written out and Goldie usually just wrote the year on his work, and when I consulted Roger Blackley's book about Goldie I found a similar drawing of the same woman. The Fishers' one looked like a copy of that," said Campbell.

Blackley told Fishers he believed the drawing was a fake, and it was withdrawn from sale that day. No bids had been made on the work.

Blackley told the Star-Times: "It is a very crude emulation of a Goldie drawing. There is none of the graphic panache seen in his genuine work of this period, in which a whole variety of crayon strokes are used to build the image. The handwritten inscription is completely unlike Goldie's assertive signature.

"On the strength of the image online, I am convinced that the drawing itself is a fake."

Another Goldie was recently sold. Webbs sold a similar Goldie drawing, Kia Ora, from a private collection in Australia at auction last week for $9500.

Fishers' drawing also came from a private collection in Australia, but despite similarities in the works and their origin, Simon Fisher said the owner of its drawing and the owner of the drawing sold through Webbs were not the same person.

Webbs' head of fine art, Emma Fox, said it had had the drawing for some time.

"We are incredibly careful about selling Goldie works on paper because of the controversy so we got it authenticated by Auckland Art Gallery. The paper restorers there were happy the work was on the right paper, the size was right and the date of the paper was right. They gave us a verbal affirmation that it was a Goldie work on paper."

Fisher said their drawing had been in a private collection in Australia since 1971.

"The current owner was given it by a family friend who is now dead. He does not know how the friend obtained the drawing."

On Thursday, before getting Blackley's assessment, Fisher told the Star-Times he was "absolutely happy" about the drawing and "convinced the seller is legitimate. But if Roger has any doubts about it we will withdraw it from sale."

When asked why this research had not been done before the drawing was put up for auction, Fisher said in his opinion there was "absolutely nothing wrong" with the work.

Fishers are now contacting the owner to have the work sent over for further analysis. 

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