Among the 145 lots, 47 bore Rudy Komon Gallery provenance and 32 lots came from the estate of Mollie Gowing, the generous benefactor to the Art Gallery of NSW.
Nine Indonesian paintings from a private collection, Sydney, were listed with a proud combined estimate of $575,000 to $775,000. This included two works by Hendra Gunawan (1918 – 1983) – and expectations could have been justifiably high for them, as Sothebys in Hong Kong just last week set a record for the artist with US $1.2 million for Snake Dancer.
But were they to be the drawcard for the more than 50 attendees crammed into the intimate Shapiro showroom?
The auction was off to a solid start: strong interest for all three paintings by Euan McLeod, with Island 2 from 1994, (Lot 5 ), estimates $2,000 to $3,000 selling for $5,000 hammer price to paintings conservator David Stein.
Lots 13 and 14, chromogenic pigment prints by aboriginal artist Michael Riley, and with Stills Gallery provenance, sold well at $8,500 and $8,000 hammer.
Grace Cossington Smith’s delightful work View through the Harbour, 1952, (Lot 38 ) sold comfortably above its $12,000 low estimate at $17,000 excl. buyer’s premium to a gentleman and his wife who were the night’s most successful bidders purchasing a total of seven works, including works by other blue-chip Australian artists – Whiteley, Williams, Nolan and Olsen.
Shapiro’s have had good success with stoneware by Marea Gazzard before in 2003, 2006 and 2008, and they have continued the three year cycle with 2011’s offering which did similarly well: Vessel, 1969, (Lot 40 ) overtook the $4,000 to $6,000 estimate easily, selling for $13,000 hammer, equalling the 2003 result for Boulder, c. 1972.
The Indonesian paintings did not live up to the Hong Kong hopes: only four of the nine sold, for a total of $200,000 hammer price.
The most fiercely contested lots of the night were the five Frank Hinder drawings and lithographs. The best of them, lot 92, with Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane and Rudy Komon Art Gallery provenance sold for $2,200 on estimates of $1,000 to $1,500. Most Hinder lots sold to a phone bidder with Joseph Lebovic apparently missing out on any and having to content himself with a Sonia Delaunay lithograph Patchwork, 1975, (Lot 141) selling to him for $1,200 hammer price.
A good Fred Williams painting would set you back the price of a small house, so his prints are avery affordable alternative and therefore hotly contested. The very rare You Yangs Landscape No.1, 1963 – 64, (Lot 105 ) aquatint had an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000 and sold for $5,000 hammer price.
The Shapiro sale had been described as a bit dark with works in a darker and moody palette, and also as rather academic. I agree with both comments, but feel that a sale with such provenances and good works should have done better than the 52 % by lots sold on the night.
