The mural in Wairoa library before being removed during renovations in 2001.
Wairoa District Council called in a lawyer to try to stop the sale of a disputed library mural auctioned in Auckland on Tuesday for $97,480.
The sale has shocked Mayor Craig Little, who was surprised that auction house Art+Object went ahead with the sale after it was told about the contested ownership of the mural, which was produced by Wellington artist, craftsman and designer E. Mervyn Taylor for the opening of the town’s Centennial public library in 1961.
Former mayor Jack Livingston was reported to have donated £200 – “probably worth about $20,000 in 2023″, according to Little – and the artwork was commissioned by what was then the Wairoa Borough Council.
Little said the record showed the council paid for the mural and no individual could give away something that belonged to the council.
There was an enduring mystery as to how the artwork left the council’s charge and went missing for 16 years.
There was no record to suggest the council relinquished ownership of the 3600mm x 2800mm mural depicting tangata whenua and colonial settlers in a Wairoa setting, he said.
It was displayed in the library for 40 years before being taken down during renovations in 2001 and put into storage in Wairoa’s old fire station. It then went missing until researchers learned of its location wrapped in blankets in someone’s garage.
In 2015 Wellington researcher Dr Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, of the Massey University College of Creative Arts, started asking questions as part of the E. Mervyn Taylor Mural Search and Recovery Project, looking for at least 13 Taylor murals produced between 1957 and 1964.
She was unable to find the mural – one of five regarded as missing – but, writing in on-line magazine Art News before the auction, she said library staff recalled a woman claiming to be a family member visiting the library during the renovations and becoming distressed at its disappearance.
“If it was not going to be cared for and displayed, she demanded the work should be returned to the family,” Holloway-Smith said she was told.
She said she then learned that the artist’s family knew nothing of the work’s disappearance.
A $5000 reward was arranged and, in 2017, Holloway-Smith received a call: “I’m phoning about the mural you’re looking for … we’ve got it.”
The person declined the reward and did not want to be identified but the researchers were allowed to view, measure and photograph the work, which had been stored in a garage, wrapped in blankets. The researcher went to a local stationery store to buy bubble-wrap and tape to package the panels properly.
“We were relieved that the work was safe but its future remained uncertain,” Holloway-Smith wrote.
But she added that Livingston had donated the funds for the mural “with the intention that it would be a treasure specifically for that community” and she suggested that, if it were sold, it could be gifted back to the council by the purchaser, or that the proceeds could be used in the district’s recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Little said a council member learned by chance of the intended auction and the council asked the auction house to withdraw it. The request included correspondence from a lawyer.
He said he was surprised Art+Object went ahead with the auction. The council still wanted to resolve the situation, believing it was the rightful owner.
“Just because it has been sold, it doesn’t end there. We’ve got to look at it now. First of all, we’ve got to verify the ownership.”
As well as the absence of any records to show the council had relinquished ownership, he said no longer-serving staff, former mayors or councillors were aware of any disposal, and it was not a situation in which anyone would have had an individual right to dispose of the mural.
“I can’t give anything away that belongs to the council.”
Art+Object said it was unable to disclose the identity of the vendor or buyer in Tuesday’s auction.
Managing director Leigh Melville said disputes over ownership of artworks were “very rare”, and every effort was made before consigning artworks for sale “to determine that the ownership is clear”.
“In the act of consigning property to us for sale, the vendor declares that they have full legal title to sell.
“On Monday, we did make our vendor aware of the council’s request, whereby they re-asserted their ownership, requesting us to proceed with the auction on their behalf.
“In the case of the Wairoa mural, we were fully satisfied as to ownership and we are pleased to have found a suitable buyer who will ensure good care of the artwork in the years to come.”
Holloway-Smith said the issue posed interesting questions and she would be interested in the outcome.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.