Tim Storrier’s early and vast Altitude Landscape (Lot 1 ) from 1977 led an encouraging start to the offer of 133 lots. Had this 2 x 2 metre work been dated 1997, we might have expected a tenfold the $16,000-24,000 estimate. Subject matter aside, it obviously appeared a real bargain and easily sailed past its high estimate, selling at a $32,000 hammer price.
Rare works by Ben Quilty always find a new home, and Boy 2008 (Lot 2 ), will be in good company as part of a private Melbourne collection. It sold mid-range at the still bargain price of $6,500 hammer price.
Will Ashton’s European pictures always shine, and Paris (Lot 5 ) was no exception, selling very comfortably over its meagre $3,000-4,000 estimate for $6,000 hammer to the phone.
Internet bidders once confined to the fringes of art sales purchasing prints or lesser works are becoming bolder and perhaps more sophisticated in their purchasing habits, and also one might say savvier. The $12,000 hammer price paid for Donald Friend’s The Artist’s Chair (Lot 9 ) was certainly good buying based on the $14,000-18,000 estimate. The other Friend, an oil painting, The Prodigal Son – Acropolis Café c1949, (Lot 10 ) was always going to be a difficult sale and passed in.
The buyer of the deliciously good enough to eat triptych Summer Fruits 2000 (Lot 11 ) by Lucy Culliton sold well at mid-range estimate for $13,000, measuring a massive 140 x 240 cm. The same buyer seems to have some big walls to fill, as he won out on two more big lots: he purchased John Perceval’s Goat in a Bayswater Garden, 1956 (Lot 29 ), 91.5 x 91.5 cm for $48,000 hammer just under the low estimate on its 5th auction appearance since it was sold with Christies in Melbourne 2002. His third purchase of the night was by an artist who is finally achieving some auction traction: Fred Cress, A Shadow Falls, 1997 (Lot 49 ), measuring 168 x 198 cm, again purchased under the low estimate for $18,000 h.p.
Howard Arkley was the night’s favourite with all five works on offer selling comfortably, all of which came from the Meares Collection, Queensland. The highest priced was The Yellow Green House, 1998 (Lot 27 ), selling for $57,500 hammer, just a smidgen under its estimate of $60,000-80,000.
The doyen of abstraction John Coburn also enjoyed success with all three of his works finding new homes, and just below their low estimates, continuing the trend that big is beautiful. Warana (Sydney), 1981 (Lot 50 ), measuring 167 x 213 cm, sold for $50,000 hammer.
Another abstract work, George Baldessin’s Trapeze 1965, (Lot 20 ), an intriguing, rough hewn and provoking sculpture, perhaps would have deserved a catalogue essay, nonetheless. It sold at $34,000 hammer on estimates of $38,000-48,000.
Tim Storrier enjoyed mixed fortunes on the night with two sales and two passes. The Drift 1996 (Lot 22 ) failed at its $30,000-40,000 estimate, as did Evening Wind 1996 (Lot 35 ) estimated at $160,000-220,000. This monumentally sized painting at 1.9 x 3.7 metres was perhaps just on a scale beyond most suburban homes.
The once heady prices for paintings by Garry Shead seem to have all but evaporated – no sales on the night for either Le Petit Déjeuner (Lot 28 ), estimated at $50,000-65,000 nor Transfiguration of Ern Malley c.2005, with an estimate of $45,000-55,000. Keen estimates did little to help his cause.
Rosalie Gascoigne’s Africa 1995 (Lot 30 ) failed to sell under the hammer, however some pacey negotiations with a motivated vendor and staff at Menzies had it sold for a $85,000 hammer price, $15,000 less than the low estimate, just before auctioneer Martin Farrah took on lot 34.
Another motivated vendor was also clearly happy to sell Arthur Boyd’s Figures with a Dog (Lot 33 ) for $25,000 under the estimate of $90,000-120,000, accepting a $65,000 hammer price.
The cover lot, John Brack’s Backs and Fronts 1969 (Lot 38 ), had its fifth outing in the auction room since it appeared at Christies in 1997 and the last four occasions with Menzies. The result was a no sale, but this time it perhaps emerged with the prospect of a later sale, as it was referred to one of the phone bidders for $1.35 million on estimates of $1.4-1.8 million.
The monumental and no doubt extremely heavy Homme assis a la clarinette II, a Jacques Lipchitz sculpture from 1971 (Lot 39 ) was sold for $550,000 hammer price to a smart suited gentleman sat almost under the nose of the auctioneer.
Pass-ins were recorded for a number of the higher prices offerings: Rupert Bunny’s Jeanne with her Terrier c. 1902 (Lot 41 ), est. $300,000-400,000, Aristide Maillol’s La Montagne, 1er état (Lot 42 ) on estimates of $180,000-240,000 and Sydney Nolan’s Landscape – Man and Camel 1966, estimate $220,000-280,000.
Not surprisingly, there was good interest for auction stalwart Arthur Streeton with an iconic image of Sydney harbour Calm Morning, Sirius Cove 1907 (Lot 45 ). This charming picture happily sold to a bidder in the room for the top estimate of $140,000 hammer price.
Perfectly demonstrating how far Aboriginal art has fallen was Rover Thomas’ (Julama) Bedford Dreams c. 1986 (Lot 59 ) which sold for a hammer price of $16,000. The same work had sold with Lawson-Menzies in 2004 for more than double with a $40,000 hammer price.
There was more keen interest for two delightful oils, both titled Sydney Harbour. W.B. McInnes’ (Lot 70 ) sold for $7,500 hammer, and Sydney Long (Lot 71 ) sold for a little more at $8,000. The fate of a similarly toned late Interior, Olinda (Lot 72 ) by Arthur Streeton was a failed sale, even though its previous hammer price of $50,000 in 2004 would have suggested the $40,000-60,000 expectations not excessive.
There was much joie de vivre amongst auction room staff at the prospect of a minor work by Rupert Bunny returning to its native land. Low Tide, Etaples c.1902 (Lot 75 ) had a keen bidder from France on the line who was for all their efforts unable to secure the painting – it finally went to a bidder in the room for the mid-range estimate of $ 16,000 hammer price.
Dale Frank has been enjoying great success in the auction room of late. Seven of Frank’s top ten prices at auction were achieved in 2012, with the highest price being secured by Art + Object, New Zealand in March 2012 for Ultimogeniture Brachylogy Brain Fever Dead Set which sold for NZD 81,650 (AUD 63,689) – surely worth it just for the title. Whether it was the auctioneers insistence on referring to the artist as Frank Dale or perhaps the more likely reason that this was perhaps a less attractive work than most, the painting failed to sell on its $32,000-40,000 estimate.
The sale achieved a total hammer price of $3,704,850 or $4,546,861 including buyer’s premium, and a clearance rate of 73 %.
