Provenance From the Collection of the Artist, by descent Literature

Teuane Ann Tibbo was a Samoan-born New Zealand artist. She started painting when she was 71 years old and her work is held in the permanent collections of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the National Gallery of Australia. Born in 1895 in Pago Pago, Samoa, Tibbo later lived in Fiji as an adult before moving to Auckland, New Zealand in 1945 with her husband and eight children. She began painting in the 1960s, without any formal training, when one of her daughters became interested in art. Pat Hanly introduced Tibbo to Barry Lett, who became her dealer and showed her work at Barry Lett Galleries; her first solo exhibition was at Lett's Uptown Gallery in 1964. According to Lett, Tibbo's daughter aspired to be a painter and when Teuane saw her work, she said, Give me some brushes - I can do better than that. Away she went, without any training, this wonderful, intuitive, naive painter at the age of 71. We arranged an exhibition and she had her first show - it was quite an event. Within her practice, Tibbo drew on memories of her life in Samoa. The result was a body of work that was bright, vivid and full of life. The use of skewed perspectives, tilting the picture plane up towards the viewer is a distinctive hallmark of Tibbo's practice. Her bright colour palettes and representation of everyday life combine to create evocative compositions that speak of Tibbo's enduring legacy. In 2002 a retrospective of her work, Keep It in the Heart: The Paintings of Teuane Tibbo was held in Auckland at the Lopdell House Gallery. In 2009 Tibbo's daughter Audie Pennefather published a biography of Tibbo's life, A true & strange story : the life of Teuane Ann Tibbo, artist 1895 -1984. Tibbo's work was also featured in the 2021 exhibition Stars Start Falling, which was presented at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Te Uru. In 2002 International Art Centre was one of the first auction houses to offer Tibbo's work on the secondary market. Since that time both admiration and demand for her work has increased considerably. We are delighted to be presenting three works by the artist in our Important & Rare Art auction. Of note is Lot 7, School Festival, painted in 1975 which featured in Robin Morrison's photo of the artist in her studio. The painting remained in Tibbo's collection and is now on the market for the first time. Tibbo's bold use of colour is evident in all three compositions. This collection offers a rare insight into the artist's remarkable practice.