Adorning the front cover is Ponds, Lysterfield 1966 by Fred Williams (Lot 9 ) fresh to the market and offered at a reasonable $240,000-300,000 for a smaller scaled work from this highly regarded period. Similarily unseen is Williams’ Yellow Gorse, Yan Yean 1972 (Lot 10 ), est. $180,000-240,000 from the late David Wynn OA , founder of Wynns Coonawarra Estate and the man who introduced the wine flask to Australian culture.
Complementing Fred Williams’ oils is a gouache, Waterpond in Landscape 1966 (Lot 20 ) which was sold 6 years ago by DM for $50,400 IBP and is offered with the same low estimate.
The intertwined paths of John Brack and Fred Williams, ensconced as blue-chip stalwarts of the art market had their beginnings long ago and in a different form when the two studied together at the National Gallery School and established their friendship. John Brack’s drawing, Portrait of Fred Williams 1979 (Lot 34 ), underscores this close relationship (and is echoed in Williams’s Portrait of John Brack 1978-79 recently exhibited in Fred Williams: Infinite Horizons at NGA). The study, quoted at $40,000-50,000 and sans Persian carpet, would make the perfect accompaniment to the AGNSW’s oil portrait of the same name.
Coincidentally Brack is represented by another portrait work providing one of the auction’s star turns. Portrait of Tam Purves 1958 (Lot 8 ), est. $400,000-600,000, prominently featured on the catalogue back cover could by the same token as Portrait of Fred Williams prompt institutional temptation; the NGV may consider vying for the oil to unite it with their Tam Purves portrait studies and "curatorially-speaking”, complete their collection.
Another early oil by John Brack, Three Women 1952 (Lot 7 ), estimated at $350,000 plus occupies the second top value position for D+H’s sale. Yet, the artist’s painting of the chattering classes is presented with a catalogue entry that serves more as window dressing; offering a few meagre sentences at essay end, it fails to elevate the artwork’s status beyond the descriptive or adequately communicate any special significance the painting might possess.
Happily, lot 4, Triumphal March 1981, is far better served by its accompanying catalogue essay. Belonging to one of Brack’s most acclaimed series, the watercolour more than tripled its estimate in 2007 at Sotheby’s to set a new record for a work on paper. This time it is being offered well below its record $175,000 hammer price for $140,000-180,000 in an effort to entice bidders keen to make a march on Brack’s market!
Considered times give rise to a more prominent space for the appreciation of considered, intellectual works such as Godfrey Miller’s Summer 1957-59 (Lot 3 ), est. $65,000-85,000. Opportunities to acquire such accomplished works by Miller are few and far between and the estimate on Summer judges the artwork value-wise, to be in the top 5% of the artist’s oeuvre.
Catering to the Colonial market is a fine example by Charles Henry Theodore Costantini, ‘Rosy Vanyan’, Forcett. Property of Mr Jas Rollings 1855 (Lot 28 ). The painting’s estimate of $120,000-180,000 eclipses Costantini’s highest auction price to date of $32,000 hammer, but that was set in 1988 and over time these works have undoubtedly become all the more rare.
At the other end of the spectrum aficionados of contemporary photography are spoiled for choice with a substantial array of photographs from the last decade by artists including Deborah Paauwe (Lot 123 ), Tracey Moffatt (lots 112) (Lot 113 ), Bill Henson (Lot 114 ), Jane Burton (lots 115) (Lot 116 ), David Rosetzky (lots 117) (Lot 118 ) and Ann Noble (Lot 119 ) and nearly all under the magic low thousand dollar threshold.
D+H’s final sale for 2011 continues their model of a higher volume and broad value auction in contrast to the lighter imprint of Sotheby’s and Bonhams’ boutique presentations of 45 - 65 lot sales. Will D+H’s sale with 50% more works than the other two combined (likewise Menzies) mean that they attract a bigger audience and will scoop up not just the milk but the cream? Or will collector interest and sale rates be diluted?
At season close, market observers should be in a position to judge the merits of each model on an equal basis between the big four. However in the end, whatever the auction houses’ individual views on strategy may be, ultimately it will be the ability to secure interesting and fresh stock, be it by volume or value, that will most likely determine the greatest success.
