An attractive 1920s Parnell home contains a special surprise: a mural painted by one of New Zealand’s most celebrated living artists, Michael Smither.
The three-level, super-colourful mural in the stairwell of the house depicts an underwater paradise, complete with coral, seaweed, and a myriad of other aquatic life.
The home’s previous owners, who were in the publishing business, were close friends with acclaimed painter Smither who would stay with them during regular visits from New Plymouth, and over a number of years, in the 1970s, the mural took shape.
Richard Thomson, director at International Art Centre, whose gallery sold Smither’s most expensive work, says that valuing the mural is a bit tricky.
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Michael Smither's Sea Wall and Kingfisher, 1967, sold for $340,000 in 2019. Photo / International Art Centre
“Michael Smither’s work is the most expensive, by a living artist, sold at auction in New Zealand. His Sea Wall and Kingfisher fetched $340,000 in 2019,” he says.
“If these panels were individual paintings, their value would exceed $1 million.”
Thomson explains that the mural is cleverly nuanced.
“At the bottom level, it’s dark – as is the ocean floor, but near the top, a skylight brings it alive, and the effect is really vivid.”
Smither now works from his beach house Otama, on the Coromandel Peninsula. Photo / File
“Michael was a keen scuba diver, and it was inspired by some of the reefs he’d seen and loved,” says the current owner Richard Giles, who is selling the house with his wife Sally Vogel.
He says there’s no chance of taking the artwork with them.
“It was painted directly onto plasterboard and removing the panels would be a major operation,” he says. The couple seriously toyed with the idea of gifting the mural to Auckland Museum, but the logistics involved proved to be too complicated.
Thomson, is a keen scuba diver himself so he loves the mural, but he agrees that removing it would be extremely difficult.
“It would be great if someone could, as it’s a fascinating piece of New Zealand history. A conservator could possibly mount the plasterboard on a more stable surface, I guess.”
Experts are unsure whether the artwork, seen here in the background, can be safely removed. Photo / Supplied
Thomson says his own fear is that a new buyer could conceivably simply paint over the mural, although he believes that’s highly unlikely.
Thomson says that the artist lives a very private life now but is still painting.
“He’ll never stop. He is just an amazing human being!”
Michael Smither was awarded Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the arts in 2004.
The real estate agent who is marketing the Parnell house, Linda Galbraith of Barfoot and Thompson, Parnell, says she loves the fact that the home has a real history.
The 1920s house was built by a WWI bomber pilot, and lived in for many years by close friends of Smithers in the 1970s. Photo / Supplied
“I think the Michael Smither mural is especially fascinating because it represents what was a very arty time in Parnell in the 1970s, when lots of creative people lived in, or passed through the suburb, and left little pieces of themselves behind.”
Owners Giles and Vogel have owned the (circa) 100-year-old Californian bungalow since 1999, and were completely taken aback by the three-level mural.
“It was quite extraordinary,” Giles says.
The house, down a long, tree-lined driveway was built by a WW1 bomber pilot for his American wife. It will be auctioned on May 19.
