What I would buy with $1,000 at auction (Part 1)
Finding New Zealand landscape artists at an affordable price point
Great New Zealand art does not start at $5,000. There are still plenty of artists with real relevance to New Zealand art history whose works can be bought for around $1,000, and often less.
This week I’m sharing 24 of my favourite artists who regularly appear at auction at accessible prices. They span a wide range of generations, from artists born in the 1890s through to the 1960s with women making up half the list.
Today’s first 12 are mostly landscape painters. Later this week I’ll share 12 more artists working across other subjects, including domestic life, portraiture, and abstract art.
Also in the future I’ll cover what I would buy at the $5,000 and $10,000 price points. So don’t forget to subscribe to receive Part 2 later this week along with future updates.
Here is my list of 12 artists making landscape works at prices around $1,000 that are well worth considering:
William Henry Allen (1894 - 1988)
William Henry Allen was an early modern New Zealand artist and teacher who influenced younger painters, including Colin McCahon. His landscapes are bright and airy, sometimes almost pastel in colour. Some of his works have sold for close to $10,000, but good examples still turn up at much lower prices. I love this view of the New Zealand bush, which sold for under $1,000.
Kathleen Airini Vane (1891 - 1965)
Kathleen Airini Vane led an unusually varied life, serving as a nurse aide in France during the First World War before travelling extensively overseas. She had a particular love of trees, especially pōhutukawa, and became known as “The Pōhutukawa Lady”.
Ida Eise (1894 - 1978)
Ida Eise is often remembered as a long-serving Elam teacher, but she deserves more attention as a painter in her own right. She is best known for her New Zealand landscapes, which sit comfortably within the mainstream of mid-century painting and appear regularly at auction. Still life was another important part of her practice, and her flower paintings also turn up often. For the prices her work still achieves, she feels like a very solid buy.
Cedric Savage (1901 - 1969)
Cedric Savage sits within the broad mid-century tradition of New Zealand landscape painting. He brought bright colour, simplified shape, and a strong sense of structure to familiar subjects. He was not among the most radical modernists, but there is a lot to like in the clarity and confidence of his paintings.
Peggy Spicer (1908 - 1984)
Peggy Spicer worked largely in watercolour, and brought a neat, observant eye both to New Zealand suburban landscape. Her works now feel like a fly-on-the-wall record of New Zealand, especially Auckland, as suburbs spread and streetscapes evolved
Eric Lee Johnson (1908 - 1993)
Eric Lee Johnson is best known for the neo-romantic landscapes he painted in the 1940s and 1950s, making a distinctly New Zealand world out of back roads, weathered houses, scrubby hills and the worn edges of settlement. That gives his best works more atmosphere than a straightforward scenic painting.
William James Reed (1908 - 1996)
William James Reed studied alongside artists such as Rita Angus, Olivia Spencer Bower and Doris Lusk, and his paintings of places like St Bathans carry that same search for a local identity, though often with a starker, more desolate mood. His strongest works can sell for closer to $5,000, but you can still buy good examples for under $2,000, which makes him one of the more compelling artists on this list.
Annie Baird (1932 - 1999)
Annie Baird came to painting later in life and was influenced by Colin McCahon and Doris Lusk. She painted familiar places in a way that feels bright, clear and approachable, and became known for colourful views of urban and rural landscapes Otago, especially around Dunedin. I think her work is one of the more inviting entry points for collectors who want something recognisably New Zealand while steering away from the mid-century and regionalist works.
John Rundle (1933 - 2014)
John Rundle is best known for paintings of tramping huts and back-country landscapes. A self-taught artist and serious tramper, he captured a side of New Zealand that many trampers would instantly recognise. Many of his works feature the Tararuas and, as someone who grew up learning tramping in those hills, his work instantly resonates with me.
Marilynn Webb (1937 - 2021)
Marilynn Webb’s works edge closer to $2,000, but they still offer an accessible entry point to a significant contemporary artist. She is best known for her pastel landscapes of the South Island, but these are not just scenic views. They are shaped by deeper concerns about land, ownership, and the environment. That added weight gives her work a seriousness that goes beyond the purely picturesque.
Michael Smither (b. 1939)
This one is cheating a bit, because Smither’s paintings often sit far above this price level. But his prints remain one of the best affordable ways into a major New Zealand artist. Works such as Rocks, Tractor & Mountain and Alfred Road Bridge feature the hard-edged imagery he is known for, especially riverbed rocks and Mt Taranaki, and still sell around the $1,500 mark. For collectors wanting a recognisable name with lasting relevance, that is hard to ignore.
Tom Burnett (b. 1958)
Tom Burnett is another artist whose prints make him accessible to newer collectors. He is best known for images of Northland and coastal New Zealand, and the appeal is easy to understand. His works tap into a very local holiday sensibility: sun, beach, baches, and the easy rhythm of summer.
These are not trophy names, and that is partly the point. There is still plenty of satisfying, historically grounded New Zealand art available at prices that do not require deep pockets.
My own top three from this group are William Henry Allen, William James Reed, and Annie Baird. But all 12 are a reminder that you do not need a big budget to start buying art you genuinely like.
Stay tuned for Part 2 later this week.