Buck Nin Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Buck Nin Art Value Price Guide

Aug. 09, 2021
BUCK NIN untitled
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
Buck Nin untitled c1990 acrylic on canvas signed NIN in brushpoint lower right 1860 x 1400mm PROVENANCE Estate of Buck Nin, Auckland. Buck Nin – The Earth, the Sky, and the People Essay by JULIAN MCKINNON Dr Buck Nin was a highly significant twentieth century MÄori artist and educator. He was deeply involved in MÄori cultural rejuvenation, especially regarding the development of MÄori art and art education. Nin was instrumental in shaping Te WÄnanga o Aotearoa, and his advocacy for the organisation advanced its progress to becoming a national tertiary institution in the 1980s. Central to this was his educational philosophy, which sought to create a learning environment in which MÄori identity was central, and students developed skills and gained confidence to take their place in the world on their own terms. Nin was involved in MÄori land rights activism, including Dame Whina Cooper’s 1975 hikoi and the Bastion Point occupation in 1977-78. His paintings often revisit themes in keeping with this bigger picture. While Nin’s artwork was in many ways tethered to his broader community advocacy for MÄori culture, it is also exceptional on its own merits. This text addresses two excellent works that he produced around 1989 and 1990. One could discuss these works as hovering between figuration and abstraction, but those Western terminologies don’t entirely fit. Nin’s work is deeply entwined with te ao MÄori and as such it concerns whenua and whakapapa, the enmeshed relationship of people and the earth. Recurrent motifs in Nin’s work include symbolically significant depictions of land, sky, and people in between. This can be interpreted as representing Ranginui and PapatÅ«Änuku, and the separation between them instigated by their children.¹ This mythological perspective was frequently integrated into Nin’s work. Other recurring themes are a koru banner running through the picture plane – presenting a perspective of the land as seen from a waka – and a triangle, representing the gable of a marae wharenui.² As Nin was intent on presenting a vision of the world from a te ao MÄori perspective, his work continually explored the relationship between land, people, and culture. The figures in his paintings are frequently depicted symbolically returning to the marae and papakÄinga. Many MÄori were disconnected from whanau and whenua as a consequence of urban drift in the second half of the 20th Century. Nin grew up in a market gardening family in Kaikohe. Here, he personally witnessed the urban drift of MÄori leaving traditional land for city environments, both in Aotearoa and abroad. This along with his parentage – his MÄori mother grew up in ÅŒtaki, his Chinese father was from MÄngere – meant that a dichotomy between cultures, and a sense of disconnection from land was very much within his lived experience.³ Nin advocated for reconnection and restoration of these links, and this is represented in his paintings. To him, the land was a living being, deeply intertwined with ancestry. His paintings show steam rising from the living earth into the sky above, connecting people to their ancestral and mythological origins. The untitled work (Lot 86) from c1990 features motifs, colours and compositional approaches that recur throughout Nin’s work. Its distinctions arise from the figures painted in the centre; these are contemporary people, not outlined ancestors or mythological figures. In this work, Nin sought to portray the return of urban MÄori to the marae. Green, red and brown beams come together over the heads of the people, like the gable of a meeting house. The beams, however, do not meet. The recurrent theme of fractures brought about by urban drift is at play in this symbolic motif. Lot 85, an untitled work from c1989 has similar compositional elements – the dark earth with mottled colour, the detailed centre, and steam rising into the sky from the land. This work also features a red and white banner, a motif of Nin’s that references the view of the land from a waka. The figures here are engaged in an assembly. This, with the prominence of the land and earth tones in the painting, appear to indicate that this work examined land protest, possibly in TÄmaki Makaurau.â´ In the patterned centre, three hands, indicative of the ancestors, reach up, down, and across, seeking to make connection. This work ties in to Nin’s strong belief in reinvigorating MÄori connections to land and culture. These two exemplary works are in keeping with the broader trajectory of Nin’s artmaking. He was determined to present art that was confident, culturally assured, and of the moment. As early as the 1960s, Nin was curating and presenting exhibitions of contemporary MÄori art that was connected to a living, breathing culture and history. He made a point of demonstrating that contemporary MÄori were diverse, culturally attuned, and positively engaged in contemporary discourse. With other pioneers of modern MÄori art, such as Paratene Matchitt, Cliff Whiting, Robin Kahukiwa, Ralph Hotere, and Darcy Nicholas, Nin engaged in cross fertilisation of traditional forms, and modern ways of seeing. Nin found an artistic voice to express these matters and left a powerful legacy in painting. 1 Source: oral histories from Buck Nin’s whÄnau. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Aug. 09, 2021
BUCK NIN untitled
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
Buck Nin untitled c1989 acrylic on board signed NIN in brushpoint lower right 1195 x 1005mm PROVENANCE Estate of Buck Nin, Auckland. Buck Nin – The Earth, the Sky, and the People Essay by JULIAN MCKINNON Dr Buck Nin was a highly significant twentieth century MÄori artist and educator. He was deeply involved in MÄori cultural rejuvenation, especially regarding the development of MÄori art and art education. Nin was instrumental in shaping Te WÄnanga o Aotearoa, and his advocacy for the organisation advanced its progress to becoming a national tertiary institution in the 1980s. Central to this was his educational philosophy, which sought to create a learning environment in which MÄori identity was central, and students developed skills and gained confidence to take their place in the world on their own terms. Nin was involved in MÄori land rights activism, including Dame Whina Cooper’s 1975 hikoi and the Bastion Point occupation in 1977-78. His paintings often revisit themes in keeping with this bigger picture. While Nin’s artwork was in many ways tethered to his broader community advocacy for MÄori culture, it is also exceptional on its own merits. This text addresses two excellent works that he produced around 1989 and 1990. One could discuss these works as hovering between figuration and abstraction, but those Western terminologies don’t entirely fit. Nin’s work is deeply entwined with te ao MÄori and as such it concerns whenua and whakapapa, the enmeshed relationship of people and the earth. Recurrent motifs in Nin’s work include symbolically significant depictions of land, sky, and people in between. This can be interpreted as representing Ranginui and PapatÅ«Änuku, and the separation between them instigated by their children.¹ This mythological perspective was frequently integrated into Nin’s work. Other recurring themes are a koru banner running through the picture plane – presenting a perspective of the land as seen from a waka – and a triangle, representing the gable of a marae wharenui.² As Nin was intent on presenting a vision of the world from a te ao MÄori perspective, his work continually explored the relationship between land, people, and culture. The figures in his paintings are frequently depicted symbolically returning to the marae and papakÄinga. Many MÄori were disconnected from whanau and whenua as a consequence of urban drift in the second half of the 20th Century. Nin grew up in a market gardening family in Kaikohe. Here, he personally witnessed the urban drift of MÄori leaving traditional land for city environments, both in Aotearoa and abroad. This along with his parentage – his MÄori mother grew up in ÅŒtaki, his Chinese father was from MÄngere – meant that a dichotomy between cultures, and a sense of disconnection from land was very much within his lived experience.³ Nin advocated for reconnection and restoration of these links, and this is represented in his paintings. To him, the land was a living being, deeply intertwined with ancestry. His paintings show steam rising from the living earth into the sky above, connecting people to their ancestral and mythological origins. The untitled work (Lot 86) from c1990 features motifs, colours and compositional approaches that recur throughout Nin’s work. Its distinctions arise from the figures painted in the centre; these are contemporary people, not outlined ancestors or mythological figures. In this work, Nin sought to portray the return of urban MÄori to the marae. Green, red and brown beams come together over the heads of the people, like the gable of a meeting house. The beams, however, do not meet. The recurrent theme of fractures brought about by urban drift is at play in this symbolic motif. Lot 85, an untitled work from c1989 has similar compositional elements – the dark earth with mottled colour, the detailed centre, and steam rising into the sky from the land. This work also features a red and white banner, a motif of Nin’s that references the view of the land from a waka. The figures here are engaged in an assembly. This, with the prominence of the land and earth tones in the painting, appear to indicate that this work examined land protest, possibly in TÄmaki Makaurau.â´ In the patterned centre, three hands, indicative of the ancestors, reach up, down, and across, seeking to make connection. This work ties in to Nin’s strong belief in reinvigorating MÄori connections to land and culture. These two exemplary works are in keeping with the broader trajectory of Nin’s artmaking. He was determined to present art that was confident, culturally assured, and of the moment. As early as the 1960s, Nin was curating and presenting exhibitions of contemporary MÄori art that was connected to a living, breathing culture and history. He made a point of demonstrating that contemporary MÄori were diverse, culturally attuned, and positively engaged in contemporary discourse. With other pioneers of modern MÄori art, such as Paratene Matchitt, Cliff Whiting, Robin Kahukiwa, Ralph Hotere, and Darcy Nicholas, Nin engaged in cross fertilisation of traditional forms, and modern ways of seeing. Nin found an artistic voice to express these matters and left a powerful legacy in painting. 1 Source: oral histories from Buck Nin’s whÄnau. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
May. 05, 2011
Art Work by Buck Nin
Est: -
Buck Nin " Banner Drawing - Mourea "
International Art Centre
Mar. 30, 2011
Tuatara Landscape - The Fighting Tuataras of
Est: -
Tuatara Landscape - The Fighting Tuataras of Putararu Over the Marae Buck Nin
International Art Centre
Aug. 26, 2010
The Pure of the Land; artwork by Buck Nin
Est: -
The Pure of the Land; artwork by Buck Nin
International Art Centre
Apr. 28, 2010
Buck Nin - Maori Totem
Est: -
Buck Nin - Maori Totem
International Art Centre
Nov. 26, 2009
Art Work by: Buck Nin : White Island
Est: -
Art Work by: Buck Nin : White Island
International Art Centre
Jul. 28, 2009
Buck Nin - Return to the Marae Synthetic polymer
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Buck Nin - Return to the Marae Synthetic polymer paint on composition board 134.2 x 147.5 Signed & dated 1974. Inscribed verso Born in Auckland in 1942, Buck Nin Ngati Ruakawa, Ngati Toa taught art at Hamilton College for more than twenty years. He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1965, later gaining a Masters in Education from the University of Hawaii, then a Doctorate in Fine Arts from Texas Technical University. In the 1970s he tirelessly campaigned to raise the profile of Maori Art. Dr Buck Nin's work was inspired by both his Maori and Chinese ancestry. His work is in the collections of University of Hawaii, Te Papa, The New Dowse, Manawatu Art Gallery, COCA, Aigantighe Art Museum, Rotorua Museum of Art and History and Waikato Museum of Art and History. "Buck Nin became a major force in the contemporary Maori art movement with his strongly individual style of painting, his teaching, and his willingness to work with people from all walks of life. Buck was a larger than life person not only because of his physical size but also because of his considerable intellect, his energy, his powerful and often large paintings, and his commitment to the development of art and its people. The imagery in the work of Buck Nin is drawn from Maori carving, weaving and rafter patterns, spread across a minimalist landscape, like a sacred cloak, warming , embracing and caressing the earth. This is his Maori earth Papatuanuku. History will show him as one of Maoridom's and subsequently New Zealand's great contemporary artists..." Friend and fellow artist, Darcy Nicholas
International Art Centre
Jul. 25, 2006
Through The Mists of Time Buck Nin
Est: -
Through The Mists of Time Buck Nin
International Art Centre