Introducing Whanganui's newest art auction house to the world

Managing Director of Heritage Art House Henry Newrick said over 400 paintings and pieces are available at the online auction. Photo / Bevan Conley

A newly established Whanganui art auction house will celebrate its opening with hundreds of paintings, prints and photographs all up for sale.

Henry Newrick has converted Heritage Art on St Hill St into Heritage Art Auctions.

"There seemed to be interest in having another art auction house as an alternative to the guys in Auckland and Wellington," he said.

"Whanganui is very much an artistic city, there is a lot of art around."

With almost 400 lots up for sale, Newrick said they've already garnered interest from people in the UK and Australia. The sale opens at 5pm on Friday.

Acknowledging Covid-19 had changed how auctions operate around the world, Newrick said by having an online auctions, it would widely increase the number of people who could purchase art.

Items include watercolours and paintings from the 19th & 20th Century, prints and engravings from the 16th Century, photographs from the 19th and 20th Century and high-end art books from the late 20th Century.

Some of the featured artists with paintings or prints include such well-known names as Barraud, Brees, Hoyte, Gully, Lindauer, Heaphy, Hall-Thorpe, Pickmere, Warr and hundreds of others. Early NZ photographers are also featured.

The sale will continue for nine days, until September 19, with most pieces valued between $50 and $300 each.

On October 9 they will be holding a live auction at Heritage House, where more expensive, historic pieces will be up for sale.

"Their is a very wide range of works going back 400 years."

Among those will be a framed and never before published poem by one of New Zealand's greatest poets, James K Baxter, and major oil painting by Charles Blomfield.

Never before seen in public, the painting has been in the same family for the last 141 years. This is expected to fetch somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000.

Heritage Art Auctions will be having an auction every three months.

To view the online catalogue, visit, www.HeritageArtNZ.com