Arthur Boyd’s front cover catalogue image reminds us that Sotheby’s are on the cusp of cementing their reputation for achieving the highest results for the artist and if sold will.
Estimated at $1.4-1.6 million, Bride Running Away 1957 (Lot 19 ), is destined to set a new auction record, even if it nudges just over a million, - a conceivable outcome for such an early, seminal painting within Boyd’s oeuvre. If all goes to plan Sotheby’s will score the Olympic trifecta of Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Providing further strong support for Team Modern (TM) is a late period work, Journey 1980 (Lot 14 ) by John Brack bearing a $700,000-800,000 estimate which if realised will march into second position for the artist’s pencil series works.
An exciting addition to TM carrying impeccable provenance and form is Sidney Nolan’s Kelly and Lonigan 1945 (Lot 9 ), estimated at $400,000-600,000 which hits the auction circuit for the first time.
Previously unpublished, yet exhibited in the landmark exhibition Rebels and Precursors: Aspects of Painting in Melbourne 1937-1947 NGV and AGNSW in 1962, the painting belongs to the first group, sometimes referred to as the ‘original group’ of Kelly images that precede the NGA’s famous collection by a year. David Hansen’s insightful essay unlocks the imagery and serves to contextualise the painting well.
In TM’s gymnastic corner is Fred Williams’ Acrobats 1955 (Lot 51 ), estimated at $180,000-220,000, currently touring in his retrospective at the NGV. The auction market for Williams’ painting is utterly devoted to his landscape works, so the uncommon event of Acrobats appearing on the block will set the bar for his figuration work.
Harder to predict, perhaps, will be the performance of an elite segment of Team Modern who undertook some early training in Spain. After half a century a collection has surfaced of late 50s/ early 60s abstract European period works by Brett Whiteley, John Olsen and Frank Hodgkinson. They belonged to Spanish based ex-pat American artist, George Sheridan and bear witness to his artistic friendship and respect for these Australian artists.
Sotheby’s have wisely decided to offer Whiteley’s sensuous abstracted landscape works, Untitled Cream Painting 1962 (lot 230) and Untitled Landscape Painting 1962 (Lot 24 ) at a modest $80,000-100,000 a piece, because in spite of four comparable works selling for between $126,500 - 180,000 hammer from 2000-2003, the experience in recent years has been different. (Bonhams & Goodman offered Untitled Painting 3 for a low estimate of $200,000 in 2008 and then reoffered it through London two year later at a reduced £70,000 and it still failed to sell.) Whiteley’s market-friendly estimates may see lot 23 and 24 vie for a photo finish.
John Olsen’s Spanish Landscape 1959 (Lot 25 ), estimated at $15,000-20,000 is a departure from the artist’s signature explosive colour and gesture. Instead it is notable for its subdued palette redolent with the sensibility and evoking close associations with Spanish masters including Francisco Goya and Antoni Tàpies.
While it is hoped that Olsen’s painting gets across the line, the odds are long on this work scoring a medal position. The same may hold true for Frances Hodgkinson’s similarly Latin infused work Abstraction 1960 (Lot 26 ) estimated at $8,000-12,000.
Not to be overlooked, Team Colonial has some compelling medal contenders amongst its ranks.
First out of the blocks is the Sydney Bird Painter’s Hook Billed Shrike c1792 (Lot 1 ) estimated at $50,000–70,000, one of the earliest known images of the Australian Butcher bird.
This is only the third time a work by this unidentified artist has appeared and it maintains the same Canadian provenance of works now in three core institutions including the National Gallery of Australia.
The number three is invoked again when for only the third time in as many decades a substantial work by Alexander Schramm will be tendered. Australian Landscape c1859 (Lot 4 ) estimated at $180,000-220,000 is less compositionally striking as and of lesser historical significance than Adelaide, A Tribe of Natives on the River Torrens formerly in the Foster Collection (sold in 2005 for $650,000 hammer) and Native Encampment in South Australia c1859 (sold in May by Sotheby’s for $450,000).
However, Shramm’s recent re-appraisal and recognition bestows greater weight and import to his early and rare views of European influence upon indigenous life and should provoke bidder competition…achieving at least a Bronze position within the artist’s auction records.
S.T. Gill’s Cobb & Co Booking Office with Beechworth Coach and the Albion Hotel 1865 (Lot 2 ), estimated at $70,000-90,000, also strikes an historical chord revealing both the architectural features of early Melbourne and imparting a charming vignette of the bustling city and its inhabitants. Bearing an estimate of $70,000-90,000 suggests Sotheby’s are striving for a Top Ten finish.
Medal hopes are held for Team Impressionist’s Frederick McCubbin’s later period work Spring Morning Hill 1914 (Lot 57 ), estimated at $450,000-550,000 but with sixteen higher records on the books already, it is a long shot.
Eyes will also be focused on the performance of the middle market represented in part by Team Modern and Team Contemporary artists including Brent Harris’s Appalling Moment (W6) 1995 (Lot 28 ), estimated at $15,000-20,000, to Stephen Bush’s The Lure of Paris #24 2004 (Lot 29 ), estimated at $35,000-45,000; New Zealand’s Bill Hammond Limbo Ledge 2002, (Lot 30 ), estimated at $45,000-65,000 and a striking tapestry, Performance 1973 by John Coburn (Lot 48 ), estimated at $18,000-25,000.
Also indicative of the market’s current and future health will be the response to editioned sculptures by Clement Meadmore Upended 1969 (Lot 27 ), estimated at $40,000-60,000 and at opposite ends of the bracket; Joel Elenberg’s Anna 1979 (Lot 32 ), estimated at $60,000-80,000 and Robert Klippel’s No 434, 1983 (Lot 45 ), estimated at $8,000-12,000.
Taking a last look at the field is an esteemed competitor from the British camp, Sybil Andrews and rival to Australian printmaker star, Ethel Spowers. Andrews is represented by Skaters 1953 (Lot 65 ), estimated at $25,000-30,000 and Grader 1959 (Lot 66 ), estimated at $12,000-15,000 which embody the style of her earlier 1920s works, when, like Spowers, she trained under Claude Flight at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art.
It is highly unlikely she will outpace Spowers. However she came closer to challenging her mantle when in April Speedway 1934 set an all time record of US$107,786 for Andrews (against US$148,999 for Spowers’ The Gust of Wind). In May another edition of Skaters sold for EUR$21,417, so at the very least Sybil Andrews looks set to strike silver, if not gold, for this particular edition leaving Spowers in a comfortable overall lead.
We’ll see you at the track…
