A very animated Cameron Menzies enjoyed the most success, purchasing a total of nine lots for his nine different phone bidders. He managed to secure John Kelly’s Stacked Cows for $180,000 hammer price (Lot 37 ), Brett Whiteley’s Kurrajong for $750,000 (Lot 43 ), Jeffrey Smart’s Campbell Street 1963 for $220,000 (Lot 47 ) and Lloyd Rees’ A Song to Creation – Land 1969 for $400,000 (Lot 50 ). The Whiteley even had the same lucky lot number allocated as when it was offered in September 2011. All four lots were previously sold in 2011.
When Pablo Picasso’s Woman’s Head with Crown of Flowers 1964, a ceramic (Lot 7 ) sold for a $14,000 hammer price, auctioneer Martin Farrah quipped that it had sold ‘to the internet’. One can appreciate why such a graphic work would appeal to an internet bidder. No other successful web bids however emerged, with most lots selling to phone or commission bids.
Smaller international works found buyers, including Francis Bacon’s Figure at Basin 1978 (Lot 11 ), estimated at $14,000-18,000 and selling at the low estimate for $13,000, as did Lucian Freud’s Before the Fourth 2004 which also sold on the low estimate of $22,000 (Lot 12 ), and the previously mentioned Picasso (Lot 7 ).
The big international paintings, Andy Warhol’s Head After Picasso 1985 (Lot 42 ), estimate $900,000-1.2 million, failed to sell, as did Takashi Murakami’s Eye Love Superflat (Lot 44 ). Although with every sign of a continuing rise in the worldwide contemporary art market, I can’t help thinking that offering these pictures in New York would reap the desired results.
It was 14 lots before the auctioneer was to have his first pass-in, which was to befall a very contemporary work, Joanna Lamb’s High Rise #4 2009 (Lot 15 ).
The most excitement was created by three phone bidders in contention for the large 260 cm high sculpture Duet, Double Figure 1997 by Inge King (Lot 4 ). Tim Abdallah’s bidder won the day quickly, trouncing the $25,000-35,000 estimate, comfortably selling for $46,000.
Geoffrey Bartlett’s also large sculpture Architect’s Dream 1993 (lot 5) was not so successful, although it did sell for $2,800 hammer price, well short of its $7,000-9,000 estimate.
Edwin Tanner’s rare works continue to be sought after at auction: Deutscher + Hackett secured a record price last month with Man in Office c.1954 with a $65,000 hammer price ($78,000 incl. buyer’s premium). Equally, his Ship Yard (Lot 21 ), which Menzies had sold before in 2003 for $32,000, sold for an improved $45,000 this time.
Annette Bezor’s wonderfully titled Urban Turbans 2006, (Lot 22 ) sold for just $10,000, estimated at $18,000-24,000.
Some old favourites in the auction room had a couple of fails: Charles Blackman's Schoolgirl in the Lane c1953, a difficult image commercially with an estimate of $140,000-180,000 (Lot 34 ) and Two Figures (Lot 46 ), again an early painting from 1960, didn’t manage to get to its $120,000 low estimate.
John Perceval’s Bend in the Creek 1956 (Lot 48 ) from this very important period, abstract and dark, was perhaps just a bit too messy for most and could not attract a buyer at the $40,000 low estimate, as did Feeding the Gulls (Lot 80 ) a much jollier and just as messy work from 1990 with a low estimate of $25,000.
Meanwhile, John Olsen is keeping his followers on board. Four phone bidders fought it out for Sunbirds and Lily Pond (Lot 49 ). This watercolour with lots of Olsen signature frogs leaped to a $67,000 hammer price, $2,000 above the high estimate. Another less appealing, but same sized work Rydal – Grevilleas & Honeyeaters 1999 (Lot 68 ) sold for $40,000 to a book bid.
The cover lot of the sale, Charles Blackman’s Shrinking Alice 1956 (Lot 41 ) achieved a reasonable increase on its 2009 price of $340,000, when it also sold through Menzies. This time, it went up to $400,000, given by a rare and youthful looking room bidder who has been spotted previously at Menzies purchasing other big ticket paintings.
The collection of seven Max Dupain photographs (Lot 52 ) probably was only of interest to an institution, otherwise the $25,000-35,000 estimate seemed a little optimistic - and they were not forthcoming. Clearly, institutions are about as interested in photography as collectors. That said, the wonderful, more commercial images Nude on Dune (Lot 81 ), Birth of Venus (Lot 82 ), Silos (Lot 97 ) and Nude and Cityscape (Lot 98 ) were snapped up at bargain prices not seen for many years: $2,000 for lots 81 and 82, $2,500 for the silos and $2,900 for lot 98. One keen photography buyer in the room purchased Tracey Moffat’s superb Self Portrait 1999 (Lot 99 ) - a steal at $9,000 hammer.
Another excellent buy was Australian Landscape VI 1969 by Fred Williams (Lot 70 ). This large conté and spray paint on paper work, 58.5 x 78.5 cm, was purchased for just $7,500.
Lots 86 to 95 made for a very pleasant sojourn into 1930s Japan with ten delightful large woodblock prints by Torii Kotondo. Auctioneer Farrah had his commission bids on which he competed with Tim Abdallah’s phone bidder for all ten lots. The book bidder won six of the works and Tim’s bidders secured the other four, including Morning Hair 1931 (Lot 90 ), the highest priced one at $17,000 hammer. The ten prints were estimated at $16,000-22,000, and sold for $44,250 hammer – surely a nice surprise for the owners of these treasures which Martin Farrah discovered in their garage.
With 95 sold of the 123 lots offered on the night, the clearance rate was 77%.
One of the surprising results of 2012 (to date) is the overall clearance rate for art at auction in Australia, which at 63% has dipped to a level not seen since 1997, when the art auction market was worth just $33.5 million. 2011 saw a clearance rate of 69%, and 2010 70%.
Looking at the overall art auction room figures for the current year, it will struggle to get to $95 million. In 2011, the turn-over was $99.9 million, and we are now back on par with the $93.1 million achieved in 2005.
Perhaps some more sharpening of pencils will have to go on in 2013 as another 10% of stock sold means another $9 million in the kitty, the selling fees from which all should be happy to share around.
