Following two solid results in October 2009 and March 2010, Aboriginal art specialist Crispin Gutteridge has amassed artworks estimated at between $2.7 and $3.6 million for their Aboriginal and Oceanic Art Auction to be held in Melbourne on the 6th of October 2010.
In doing so he has significantly lifted the bar. The sale clearly signals his intention to seize the opportunity engendered by Sotheby’s vulnerability as market leader.
After building a solid client base with sales in which few works exceeded $50,000, the current sale includes no less than fifteen works estimated above this figure. Amongst these are paintings by Emily Kngwarreye ($150-200,000 and $260,000-$320,000), Queenie McKenzie ($120,000-$150,000), Rover Thomas ($420,000-$480,000), Paddy Bedford ($100,000-$140,000) and a collection Gurrir Gurrir dance boards by Hector Jandanay ($120,000-150,000). These six lots comprise 40% of the value of the sale.
Of the high value lots Rover Thomas’s Kununurra Bridge 1986 (lot 28) is the clear standout. This superb piece measuring 90 x 180 cm is the sister work to Thomas’s Bugaltji 1986 which set the artist’s second highest record when sold by Sotheby’s in 2006 for $660,000. Both were painted for Mary Macha. Illustrated on the cover of this superbly presented catalogue Kununurra Bridge carries a presale estimate of $420,000-$480,000.
Emily Kngwarreye’s 228 x 129 cm Awelye 1991 (lot 26) is one of a group of 8 on this scale created for Don and Janet Holt, early during the artist’s career. Though resident in Queensland the vendor reputedly refused to loan it for inclusion in the artist’s retrospective at the state art gallery in 1996. Nor did it appear in any of the artist’s major touring shows. As a consequence it lacks the provenance commensurate with its presale estimate of $260,000- $320,000.
Queenie McKenzie's Texas Downs 1998 (lot 27) is an epic triptych. Though its scale is impressive, and the artist is the 21st highest ranking artist of the movement*, her highest price at auction to date was set two weeks before the market crash in November 2007 at $102,000. That result makes the $120,000 - $150,000 presale estimate on this work appear highly ambitious.
Of the two works on offer by Paddy Bedford, I much prefer the smaller (lot 18) Jack Amble Bore, 2004. This textured work with the faintest pink tones merging through sections of the white ground, would seem well priced at $70,000-90,000, while the far less subtle Mondoowoorrji-Medicine Pocket, 2001 lacks similar appeal. Bedford only painted for a short period beginning in 1998 until his death in 2007. In my opinion his best works were all created from 2003 onward.
In a sale studded with quality there are many fine smaller pieces of exceptional quality. They include a wonderful small 1950’s ironwood carving of the Tiwi creation ancestor Purukapali by renowned carver Enraeld Djulabinyana Munkara (lot 4). Only 13 works have ever been offered for sale by this artist and every single work has sold. With his highest price being $60,000 and a career average of $16,176, this small sculpture deserves to be highly contested.
Three enticing small works on composition board by Emily Kngwarreye (lot 14) were exhibited in the artists Queensland Art Gallery retrospective as well as the National Museum of Australia’s blockbuster, which showed in Osaka, Tokyo and Canberra. They are on offer as a single lot for just $18,000 - $25,000.
Lot 38 is another painting by Kngwarreye that was included in all of these exhibitions. Created in 1995 this thickly textured gestural line work is remarkably handsome and well priced at just $40,000-$60,000 for a painting measuring 152 x 120 with such superb provenance.
Milliga Napaltjarri’s exquisite 1992 work simply entitled Artist’s Country (lot 36) is good buying at $20,000-$30,000. Though only two of her paintings have sold for more than $25,000 previously, this piece is every bit as good as the similarly sized stunning painting in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, illustrated in Judith Ryan’s book Images of Power (p99).
Yet another work that should instantly attract buyers is Walangkura Napanangka’s painting of the sandhills at Malparingya created for Papunya Tula in 2004 (lot 42). With the artist now no longer able to paint without assistance, this large piece is a steal at $30,000-40,000.
Other pieces that I personally find very appealing are Anatjari No. III Tjakamarra’s Untitled 1972 pigment painting on composition board (lot 19), Freddie Timms’ Sally Malay 2007 (lot 51), Rover Thomas’ lovely small 91.5 x 71 cm Moon and Comet (lot 90), Ken Thaiday Senior’s Beizam, Shark Dance Mask c1992 (lot 102), Jimmy Baker’s Kalaya Tjurkupa 2008 (lot 114) and Ginger Riley Mundawalawala’s Untitled 1992 (lot 137). All represent superb quality and value amongst a host of other lovely works.
Overall the offering is of a very high standard. In another clear signal that he intends to pull the rug from under the market leader on its own turf, Gutteridge has maintained his policy of accepting works with the same narrow range of provenance as Sotheby’s.
This would have been all but unthinkable as the market reached its peak during the period 2004-2007. That he is able to do so today is entirely due to the heat having gone out of the market. Secondary market dealers are being flooded with high quality material. The challenge is to replace their aging clients, with a new generation of collectors in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, just as their predecessors did 20-40 years ago,
