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Lot #20 - Michael Smither

  • Auction House:
    Mossgreen-Webb's
  • Sale Name:
    Important Paintings and Contemporary Art
  • Sale Date:
    07 Aug 2017 ~ 6.30pm (NZST)
  • Lot #:
    20
  • Lot Description:
    Michael Smither
    Kevin Croon Playing Chess
    oil on hardboard, 1977
    1200mm x 1100mm
    initialled MDS and dated '77 in brushpoint centre
  • Provenance:
    From The Kevin and Levanah Croon Collection, Australia, previously Lower Hutt. Commissioned from the artist by Levanah Croon as a birthday gift to Kevin Croon, 1977.
  • Notes:
    Kevin Croon was a friend of Smither who ran an engineering business; that's one of his excavators behind his head. His wife, Levanah, commissioned the painting as a birthday present and, not long afterwards, the Croons took it with other Smithers they owned to Western Australia where they've been ever since. The Croons acquired a wonderful painting from Michael Smither. According to the artist's own testimony, it was one of the few commissioned portraits he ever made so he pulled out all the stops, so to speak. Kevin Croon wanted to buy Smither's Rocks with Mountain, his favourite Smither painting, but it had been bought by Auckland Art Gallery so Smither incorporated a fragment of the painting and substituted one of Croon's J.C.B Excavators in place of the red tractor. For the viewer, however, there is a certain ambiguity in the image. Are we looking at a painting or a view through a window? The placement of the signature on the V formed by the sitter's arms suggests the former; however, does the signature relate to the painting on the wall or to the painting that includes a painting on the wall? Is Smither engaging in some conceptual gamesmanship here, in keeping with the chess game depicted in the painting? Incidentally, the game in progress shows the queen checkmating the king; according to Levanah Croon, this was a rare victory by her over Kevin, a master of the game. As for the man himself, he is quite distinctive: tall and slim, with bony hands and feet (a feature which, apparently, especially appealed to the artist). The sitter is tidy but relaxed (only a laid-back man would not wear shoes for a portrait sitting). There's a touch of the aesthete about him (or, perhaps, this is seventies' style?) his bushy hair covers his ears fully and the holes in his bangle echo the stones on the wall. But he's a man of action too: he drives diggers; he buys paintings; he has a feeling for things of the mind (chess) and the imagination (art). One somewhat mysterious detail is the carpet, which is rucked up somewhat untidily against the leg of the table and chair. Is this just realism' (that's how the carpet looked) or is it something more? And, if so, what? Does it suggest an untidy' element in Kevin's life? A restlessness, perhaps? (He was about to change countries.) Is it the unconscious, the id, asserting itself against the forces of law and order? Whatever one decides, it contributes its portion to the many pleasures this painting provides. It is one of Smither's finest. PETER SIMPSON
  • Estimate:
    NZ$120,000 - 180,000
  • Realised Price:
    *****

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  • Category:
    Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.



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