‘Frog Torana’, a gift from the artist, truly smashed its pre-sale estimate and delivered twice to the now previous owner. On an estimate of $30,000 – 40,000, the new owner will pay $81,000 including a 25% buyer’s premium.
This is an astonishing leap from a sale on 26th November 2008, when Deutscher + Hackett sold an arguably better picture of the same dimensions for $28,800 incl. bp. Not yet 40, Ben Quilty has enjoyed a rapid rise in the eyes of most as one of Australia’s most influential and talented artists.
There is no doubt that Quilty’s Torana series has always been regarded highly. But with buyers now prepared to pay ever higher prices, is the Torana series on the road to the heights of Blackman’s Alice in Wonderland series or Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly paintings? If this is the case, then $81,000 is still a very good buy.
Most works that sold on the night went to phone or book bidders, with around 60 people attending the auction in Kensington, amongst them a typically jolly Michael Nagy. His jolliness continued after he had managed to secure with little opposition the biggest sale of the night, John Brack’s ‘Double Nude’ from 1982-83. This is the fourth time since 1999 that Menzies have sold the work, initially for $486,000 incl. bp. Then five years later it sold for $494,250 incl. bp incurring a loss to the seller. The new owner in 2004 however was to capitalise extraordinarily when the work just three years later fetched $1.5 million – a threefold increase. This latest previous owner has made a loss, as Mr. Nagy purchased the painting for slightly less than its 2007 price at $1.442 million incl. bp. If the pattern holds, maybe the new owner can resell in four to five years’ time for $4.5 million.
Perhaps a little spooked by Deutscher + Hackett’s failure to sell good works with reasonable estimates, staff at Menzies took the unusual strategy in reducing estimates on a number of key lots from the printed catalogue figures. With no sales of art for quite some time, owners were obviously happy to oblige.
This appeared to have the desired effect on four of the six lots offered at lower estimates, with lot 33 Arthur Streeton, selling exactly at the reduced lower estimate with a $120,000 hammer price. Lot 35, Jeffrey Smart, sold for $10,000 below the revised low estimate at $230,000 hammer to a youthful male bidder. Lot 39, Arthur Boyd, after a reduction of $80,000 from its low estimate, found a solitary male buyer in the room, who after purchasing his Boyd exactly at the low estimate of $420,000 hammer, happily sat through the remainder of the auction.
The owners of lot 49, Arthur Streeton, Fossil Bay, Mentone, according to the auction catalogue, the property of an investment syndicate, took a big loss on this one. It was bought for $170,000 hammer price and $204,000 incl. bp., in March 2010, and sold last night on the new lower estimate of $110,000 hammer price. With costs of sale, a return of less than half of what was paid a little more than 18 months ago.
Tim Storrier had a good night, with four out of five works offered sold. The most appealing was lot 24, The Night Wind, which on estimates of $60,000 – 75,000 sold above the estimate at $85,000 hammer price.
Garry Shead’s work has been struggling in the auction room this year, with almost half of the 27 paintings up for sale failing to find buyers. Lots 32 and 52 also met this fate last night.
The auctioneer was keen to stress throughout the night that there were many motivated sellers. This could be plainly demonstrated with the sale of lot 12, Euan McLeod, Boat, Bed Boy, 2002, 102 x 202 cm. It proved to be an absolute steal at just $10,000 hammer price, on an already conservative estimate of $14,000 – 18,000.
The surprise bidding contest of the night was over a work by Fred Cress. Lot 110, Go Between, 2001, estimated at $30,000 – 40,000, sold at $68,727 incl. bp. Previously regarded as difficult sales, Menzies have achieved good results for his large and sometimes disturbing paintings.
No one can fail to be entranced by the wonderful linocuts of printmaker Ethel Spowers. We have been lucky to see more than the usual volume of her work come into the saleroom in 2011. Christies London started off in April with a print of ‘Wet Afternoon’, which sold for £51,650 (AU$79,815) incl. bp, and ‘The Rain Cloud’, which sold for £4,750 (AU$7,340) incl bp. Two more editions of ‘Wet Afternoon’ have since sold recently here in November, at Sotheby’s for $55,200 incl. bp. and at Deutscher + Hackett for $78,000 incl. bp. ‘Tug of War’ sold at Menzies earlier for $36,818 incl. bp., as did ‘Swings’ at Deutscher + Hackett for $31,200 incl. bp. The four delightful works on offer last night all found new homes: lot 7, Reflections of a China Fawn, fetching $8,591 incl. bp, lot 92, The Noisy Parrot, selling for $13,500 incl. bp, Lot 95, The Green Bridge, sold for $14,727 incl. bp and lot 108, The Boy and the Bee, fetching $13,500.
This reminds us not to forget that the auction room can also rekindle attention to artists who have perhaps been forgotten or misplaced. The massive interest this year from collectors in the work of Ethel Spowers clearly supports a remarkable talent.
It is also encouraging to see that the leading auctioneers have moved away from relying on large flat screen TVs to display works of art to the room. Auctioneering is all about showmanship, theatre and even circus – and flat screen TVs just make a painting look flat and uninspiring. There is nothing quite like the real thing, especially when you are just about to part with the larger part of $1.5 million, like Mr Nagy did.
