Insiders

The most recent Art + Object catalogue features the Judith Binney and Sebastian Black collection and it gives you great insight into the idiosyncrasies of long-time private collectors. This is a collection with its heart in the seventies (about 40 percent of the works are from that decade) but it also tells the familiar story of long friendships between collectors and artists. Works by the same artists appear again and again, often personally inscribed: there are 14 works by Ralph Hotere, 12 by Greer Twiss, five by Pat Hanly and seven by Robert Ellis. And for all of you who, like us, enjoy peeking into other people’s houses to see how they have their art displayed, there are lots of in situ pics too.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, more departures from Webb’s including Charles Ninow. As the Senior Specialist he seemed to be single-handedly holding the fine art department together from what we could see. It’s anybody’s guess how his departure so soon after that of Webb’s other specialist contemporary art auctioneer Sophie Copland fits in with their recently-stated objective of focusing on the visual arts. You can download the Binney/Black catalogue here

Image: Hanly, McCahon, Hooper and Albrecht