Menzies’ sales result last night of $5.822 million hammer / $6.986 IBP was half its March result and its lowest for the year. The auction achieved an enviable 86% clearance rate, however almost 50% of the sale was underpinned by works under $20,000 , the most easily traded category. Once works exceed this threshold, price sensitivities increase and buyer enthusiasm waxes and wanes.
Most seats were occupied at the start of the sale and although some new faces peppered the crowd there was a noticeable lack of trade physically present, and well-known collectors were hard to spot. This may have signaled a desire for discretion, or the effect of school holidays. Menzies may have also wondered whether they suffered a loss of momentum or familiarity by staying out of the Melbourne market for so long.
The bidding activity was heavily focused on the phones in contrast to the room, which for much of the sale could be described, at best, as sonorous and at worst, disengaged. The phones fired up early for Grace Cossington-Smith’s Piano and Chair 1964 (Lot 12 ) achieving $36,000 hammer, one of the few lots to exceed upper estimate. A mere 9% of lots hit high estimate or surpassed it and tellingly, only two works in this league, including the aforementioned, sold above $15,000.
Menzies were wise to adjust vendor expectations and reserve,s as an overwhelming 67% of lots sold at or below low estimate, and only 6% at mid estimate. In an uncanny and fascinating twist, these auction trends found a direct correlation in the results for Charles Blackman and Garry Shead. Perhaps we have discovered a new market measure, the “Blackman-Shead Index” as with 6 works a piece they set the following sales results : 66.6% at or below low estimate, 16.6% at or above high estimate and 16.6% unsold.
The consolidated power shift from vendors to buyers was evident in bidding behaviour: lot 24 , Garry Shead’s The Intrusion was hotly contested but ”in defiance” of the usual $5,000 increments, bidders answered one another in $1,000 bids, to settle at $71,000 hammer, outstripping the $58,000 upper estimate. This tactic was repeated variously throughout the night, indicating buyers’ capitalisation on the market’s vulnerability. Auctioneers may find it disruptive to the sale’s momentum and pace but in these conditions it must be accommodated and auctioneer Martin Farrah handled it with good grace.
In the long shadow of the boom, blue chip paintings proved to still be on delicate ground. The hammer did not fall above the low estimate for any of the 13 top tier lots and in 11 cases the hammer hit the rostrum well below.
Tim Storrier’s An Economy of Dust and Ashes (Lot 41 ) was one of the few that managed to sell on the button, matching its low end of $120,000. Storrier could possibly be credited as the strongest performer as Evening (Lot 33 ) came within a whisper of its quoted range and even set an auction record of $195,000 hammer.
Jeffrey Smart’s Taxi Stand, Brisbane Art Gallery (Lot 35 ) was the only other lot to reach low estimate selling at $360,000, whilst the companion lot, relayed as “a little gem” by the auctioneer underwhelmed with its result of $135,000 and represents a loss against its 2008 auction purchase price of $132,000 IBP.
Also falling well short and representing losses on recent recorded auction prices were lots from modern masters Brett Whiteley, Fred Williams and Russell Drysdale. Arkie under the Shower (lot 37) may have disappointed the vendor when it sold for $1.1 million hammer compared with its peak price of $1.4 million hammer in 2007. Bacchus Marsh Landscape (Lot 36 ) was a steal at $600,000 hammer and Landscape in the Kimberleys (Lot 39 ) was a terrific buy at $760,000 hammer, a $90,000 reduction on its hammer price two years earlier.
While it may have occupied a more affordable blue chip price bracket, the top notch provenance for Sidney Nolan’s Kate Kelly Pursued by Constable Fitzpatrick c1945 (Lot 34 ) failed to set the room alight and a sole bidder secured it well shy of its low estimate of $160,000 for $135,000 hammer.
Testament to the enduring and steadfast appeal of Nolan’s Ned Kelly figure in any circumstance was illustrated by lot 29, (Kelly, Blue Sky and Moon) 1960. In spite of media reports airing the ongoing claims of dealer Denis Savill’s questioning of the authenticity of Nolan’s sourced from the late Gordon House, which is vigorously defended by auctioneer Chris Deutscher and other industry professionals, the painting sold. Kelly’s siren-like call propelled it into an elite league, selling well above low estimate at $70,000 hammer and providing an intriguing highlight.
As the year inches to a close, the art market fervour that reached a zenith in 2007 has become a distant memory. In its place exists a conservative and cautious state of mind leading to fewer people claiming serious pictures…and those that do, commit at reduced and competitive price levels.
Not that long ago collectors battled fiercely and works that once reached $1.5 million plus, now limp over the line under a million. This looks to be the new reality; vendor expectations are being reset as buyer’s enjoy lower (and possibly more sound and steady) benchmarks.
Traditionally art markets tend to follow the patterns of property markets, however property has not suffered the same falls…so has art has taken the lead and corrected its market first, or is this solely a situation relevant to a discretionary market? Quieter times have witnessed the closure of some dealerships and galleries and one wonders where the associated collectors have gone...one hopes this is just a hiatus and not a chronic malaise.
Either way, Menzies’ sales result which aligned with the low end of its projected sales target suggests that their approach to pricing was on the money.
