A painting by Arthur Boyd not seen since its debut exhibition in 1977 topped the sale’s highlights: Reflected Tree, 1976 (Lot 35 ) easily exceeded its low end estimate of £70,000 to secure a final price of £109,250; the best result for a work from the artist’s 1970s oeuvre since June 2008 and third best on record.
The other Arthur Boyd, Bush Landscape (Lot 34 ), quadrupled its low end estimate to reach £32,450. Both paintings were purchased by Sydney dealer, Denis Savill, who also snapped up Charles Blackman’s Child, 1961 (Lot 30 ) for £25,000.
This trend was also apparent with the more traditional works, although less consistently. The pre-sale fanfare surrounding the Blamire Young military pictures proved warranted: Australian Light Horse and Battery Royal (Lot 7 ) sold to an anonymous bidder for £49,250, setting a new record for the artist. Albert Namatjira’s central desert watercolour (Lot 24 ) doubled its low end, making the equivalent of $36,884; the best year-to-date price for the artist.
While the unsold works fell equally in both modern and traditional categories, the only significant work among the eight that failed to find buyers was the sale’s traditional major highlight, John Peter Russell’s Belle-Ile-en-mer (Lot 4 ), estimated at £150,000-250,000.
With regard to the remaining sales in the Australian calendar, repeating the statistics and keeping up the trend on show in London will chiefly depend on the ability of local houses to encourage appetite by negotiating conservative estimates and reserves with vendors.
Top Lots, including Buyer Premium
35 – Arthur Boyd, Reflected Tree, 1976, £109,250 (AUD $179,094), est. £70,000-100,000
7 – William Blamire Young, Australian Light Horse and Battery Royal, 1904, £49,250 (AUD $80,736), est. £20,000-30,000
32 – Leonard French, Man and Woman in the Garden, £34,850 (AUD $57,130), est. £25,000-35,000
34 – Arthur Boyd, Bush Landscape, £32,450 (AUD $53,195), est. £8,000-12,000
22 – Grace Cossington Smith, Flowers in a Jug, 1931, £30,000 (AUD $49.179), est. £18,000-22,000
30 – Charles Blackman, Child, 1961, £25,000 (AUD $40,983), est. £15,000-20,000
24 – Albert Namatjira, The Valley, Macdonnell Ranges, NT, £22,500 (AUD $36,884), est. £10,000-15,000
5 – Tudor St George Tucker, Portrait of a Young Lady in a White Dress, £20,000 (AUD $32,786), est. £7,000-10,000
29 – Robert Dickerson, Man and Boy, £20,000 (AUD $32,786), est. £7,000-10,000
