One of the least memorable works as a piece of art, Bathing Boxes (Lot 6 ) sold for $11,000 hammer ($13,420 IBP) against estimates of $7000 to $10,000.
Even at these supportive prices most potential bidders were probably not aware that a deal was about to go through with a public gallery for the sale of one of her works at $100,000 which would probably make a good deposit on one of the bathing boxes themselves. The artist had become a "blue chip" the work being included but not shown in Niagara Galleries annual Blue Chip exhibition.
In Niagara's Blue Chip XVI, the Collectors' Exhibition her Silent Approach, an oil on board 48 by 58 painted around 1924 surpasses in price all of the other 44 works except Peter Booth's Untitled of 1971 at $250,000.
Beckett was one of the great and legendary brusquely known in the trade as dug-ups of the second half of the 20th century. That is, she was an artist whose work had disappeared from public view but justly saved from the “culture bin” by a group of admirers centred on gallerist Rosalind Hollinrake. Unlike most of the dug-ups of the 1980s and despite her soft focus, traditionally inclined Meldrum related work, she was both misty and modern. She even became the star of a show called Misty Moderns- Australian Tonalists 1915-1950 on the public gallery circuit.
The story of how only one third of 2000 paintings from a relatively small oeuvre (she died at only 53) was destroyed as a result of its storage in a damp shed which was sometimes home to destructive possums, added to the sad story of neglect of this plein air artist (who died at the early age of 58 from pneumonia) and her battles with critics and the art establishment.
She was also modern minded, a little ashamed of the flower piece which women were expected to paint and which she tended to sidetrack.
Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, is about to have an exhibition of her work drawn from the estate of Ruth Prowse who was one of her Beckett's posthumous supporters (died 2005) along with Rosalind Hollinrake.
If the six figure price being paid for an admittedly large and very special work is any guide, the Becketts sold at the Powell-King auction could look historic although Beckett touched $102,225 in the sunset and foggy painter's most resplendent saleroom appearance in 2001.
Five of the nine sold to Melbourne dealer Lauraine Diggins whose bidding showed that there was still life in the old troopers of the 1980s yet. This was confirmed the following night when Menzies Art Brands held a mixed vendor sale at its rooms in South Yarra and the key lot, Whiteley's Arkie under the Shower was knocked down to Kathie Sutherland.
Women artists and buyers seemed to be in the ascendant with other works being knocked down to “Madam” (not the unfeminist Madame) on the aisle giving the distaff a bit of a lead at Mossgreen's first art auction in its newly revamped rooms, which had for several decades earlier produced spectacular falls of Sotheby's gavel.
Beckett also did well for an old girl, securing a better following than in her lifetime when she failed to sell a single work to a public art gallery.
Diggins was the buyer of The Red Bus with keen competition from Adelaide dealer Mr Peter Walker, but she did not buy The Bathing Boxes which may well have been sought principally for its subject by owners of real bathing boxes on some of Melbourne's more distant beaches,
She paid $15,000 hammer ($18,300 with premium) for Morning Ride, (Lot 3 ) a modern subject being a string of telegraph poles.
The work was estimated at $25,000 to $35,000. Moonrise (Lot 5 ) bought for $18,400 at auction in 1999 and now sold for $15,000 hammer or $18,300 with buyers premium. This was right within estimates of $12,000 to $18,000.
Diggins also secured Evening Return (Lot 9 ) for $10,000 hammer ($12,000 to $18,000 estimates), being unsold when last offered at auction in 1998 at estimates of $25,000 to $35,000.
Mossgreen enjoyed a full room for the sale which was far from disappointing given the current reluctance of discretionary buyers to spend and vendors to sell.
The sale benefitted from being a one-owner collection which was well publicised as an exercise in changing tastes and saleroom habitues' familiarity with Mr Powell through his curled moustache which helped to give auctions a bit of their long lost colour.
Messrs Powell and King are going into street art. Mossgreen specialises in his type of sale although nowadays even “boutique” sale stretches what is on offer. Collections have grown smaller and more inclusive with auctioneers having to edit out some of the collectors' inclusions such as pub paintings.
This sale grossed $930,677 or 71 per cent by volume and over 78 per cent by value for its 90 lots.
Ms Diggins also bought one of the three Joy Hesters which sold out of five offered. But she did not give the highest price, which was $28,000 hammer ($34,160 IBP) for Heart Face (Lot 15 ) just $2000 short of its top estimate.
The artist has yet to benefit from her cover illustration on Sasha Griffin's new history of Australian Art along with Emily Kngwarrye.
Although not always obvious because of artists' lack of imagination with titling which is repetitive, the sale provided a few obvious shows of artists going in and out of fashion. Brett Whiteley's early abstract work is enjoying a renaissance with a 1958 abstract (Lot 23 ) selling for $64,660 against $25,300 in 1997. Only two of five John Kellys sold, with his Roo paintings again struggling.
One out of three Chris Langlois' works sold, yet they had once been particularly hot property on the primary market. Auctions can be hard on emerging artists. “Poor Devil,” part of the typography in the work, best summed up Imants Tillers after his Blossoming 8 (Lot 34 ) of 2006 failed to sell at $24,000.
John Young's chef d'oeuvre Castiglioni's Dream, (Lot 35 ) however, was appreciated at a hammer price of $5000 ahead of the lower estimate of $60,000 and $79,300 all up. It was the artist's favourite painting with an impressive exhibition history.
Outside his estate sales, Nolans can sometimes be less than a shoe-in. His Horse Rolling on a Beach (Lot 12 ) was passed in at $32,000 against $40,000 to $60,000 estimates and $51,450 paid in 2001.
The vendors were left with 27 works before after sales – enough for another boutique sale if the present trend towards diminution in collections continues.
