Bill Hammond painting expected to sell for up to $1.8m at auction

Tuesday, 28 July 2026

An iconic New Zealand painting by artist Bill Hammond is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million when it goes under the hammer tonight.

Zoomorphic Lounge III was painted by Lyttelton artist Bill Hammond in 1999, and features surreal humanoid creatures on an emerald green background.

An art historian said the bird-like creatures, which were common in the artists work, were symbols of New Zealanders and their place in the world.

Tyler, a professor in the Art History department at the University of Auckland, said a key moment in Hammond's career was his visit to the sub-antarctic Auckland islands in 1989.

'What struck him there was it was a bird-land. It was like New Zealand before human beings arrived and his art was very markedly changed after that moment. He became a little bit bird obssesed.'

That motif could clearly be seen in Zoomorphic Lounge III.

Bird-like and horse-like figures were depicted in human-like activities across the canvas - playing in a band, hula-hooping, smoking, drinking at a bar.

'He's not exactly reproducing birds. But he's using the bird as a symbol - as an iconic symbol to stand in for New Zealanders and who we are and where we are in the world.'

The painting's set on an emerald green background, with long lines dripping their way down the canvas, and some of the animals have barcodes tattoed on their bodies.

Auctioneer Webb's estimated the work will sell for between $1.4 million and $1.8 million.

The sheer size of the work and the fact the artist was dead made it valuable, Tyler said.

'If you create scarcity, which artists dying does, it limits the supply of artworks from them. Then it makes the commodity more valuable and because it's such a good example and in such great condition it's liable to get at the high end of their estimates.'

Lyttelton -based Poet and broadcaster Gary McCormick was a friend of Bill Hammond's and often spent time with him in the local bar The Civil & Naval.

'You didn't have to talk to Bill and Bill didn't have to talk to you. He was the sort of guy that, if he wanted to be silent for an hour and a half he would. And if he wanted to speak he'd speak… I guess you do tend to find that with creative people in the sense that they're busy creating in their own minds.'

The painting in question was 'spooky' to him, McCormick said, but captured something unique about New Zealand that few other artists had.

'Obviously the forest green type cover for the whole painting in which there are all these bird like creatures. That says New Zealand for me. And there is this slight lurking menace which I think is also part of New Zealand life.'

He hoped it would be bought by a New Zealand gallery, so that future generations could see it.

Webb's art department manager Megan Shaw said Hammond was one of New Zealand's most important artists.

'This work was in Bill's own collection for many years and when our collector came upon it, it was then loaned to a few public art galleries… so I think it's already been recognised that this painting is highly significant.'

Another of Hammond's paintings - called Melting Moments - sold for $1.7 million in 2023.

The most expensive New Zealand painting ever sold was Thoughts of a Tohunga by Charles Frederick Goldie which went for $3.75 million.

The auction will get underway at 6.30pm on Tuesday at Webb's auction house in Mt Eden in Auckland.