Bonhams Important Australian Art in Sydney on 10 September confirmed that Cressida Campbell’s archival giclée prints of her sought-after woodblock works, having now reached the secondary market, are achieving high prices that reveal a depth of collectors for these affordable alternatives. Above, Cressida Campbell, Bedroom Nocturne, 2022 estimated at $6,000-9,000 sold for $20,000
A stunning hammer price of $20,000 - way above a pre-sale estimate of $6,000-9,000 - was achieved for Cressida Campbell’s tondo, Bedroom Nocturne, 2022 (Lot 18 ). A giclée print, signed and numbered in a limited edition of 75, this print was produced for and distributed by the National Gallery of Australia Art Store during their wildly popular retrospective exhibition only two years ago. At $5,000 a pop, they sold out quickly. The NGA purchased the original woodblock of Bedroom Nocturne for their own collection that same year. Hanging behind the auctioneer throughout Bonhams’ sale, this lot is the first of those archival prints to reach the secondary market and sets a clear benchmark for their desirability. As an affordable print suite, the giclées service a seemingly insatiable appetite for Campbell’s works, one which isn’t satiated fast enough by the artist’s meticulous woodblock works. This phenomenon isn’t entirely without parallel. It brings to mind Brett Whiteley’s 1980 offset lithograph The Cat, printed in an edition of 100 and today trading healthily on the secondary market, with prices up to $60,000, depending on condition. One can imagine Campbell’s Bedroom Nocturne following in those footsteps, although already with a steeper price gradient!
Arthur Streeton’s sparkling scene of Mosman Bay, an oil on board painting c.1907 (Lot 30 ) was the object of a dogged tussle between a phone bidder and a buyer in the room, settling for a handsome $420,000 hammer price - accounting for 45% of the total hammer amount for the sale. The next highest value lot was a Rubert Bunny painting, with a low-end estimate of $200,000, which failed to attract a bidder on the night, the Belle Époque artist having recently declined in appeal for top-end buyers. Other noteworthy sales were a couple of early Papunya works fresh to auction: a rare and untitled board attributed to David Corby Tjapaltjarri (Lot 12 ) featuring a design reminiscent of his most accomplished Fire Dreaming stories, selling well at $35,000 hammer, and a large work by Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Kangaroo (Malu) Dreaming (Lot 13 ), which sold for $50,000 hammer to one bidder.
The sale realised $937,000 hammer and $1.152 million including buyer’s premium with 71% of the lots sold by value and 55% by value.
