Tom Roberts’ On the Beach, Port Macquarie, 1896 (Lot 1 ) was fresh to market and stirred plenty of interest, and after the bids reduced from $10,000 to $5,000 increments, the work found a buyer at $175,000 hammer price, a healthy $25,000 over the top estimate of $120,000-$150,000.
Studio Doorway, 1941, by Grace Cossington Smith (Lot 2 ) came as two pictures for the price of one with a still life of roses on the back, selling for $37,000, $5,000 above its low estimate.
Some dealers were more determined than others to secure lots, as was the purchaser of lots 4 and 15. A Large and Early Queensland Rain Forest Shield (Lot 4 ) estimated at $15,000-$20,000 was purchased for $19,000 hammer price, and An Early Rainforest Shield, North East Queensland (Lot 15 ), was bought by the same dealer for $12,000, the low estimate.
The number of Jeffrey Smart paintings being offered at auction not only this year, but in particular in this round of sales, is a sure test of the depth of the market in his work
The Sotheby’s sale on 25 November will be Smart’s biggest test, with 6 of his works appearing in the one sale.
Bonhams offering by Smart, The Breakwater, Fiumicino, 1986-87 (Lot 5 ) failed to sell on estimates of $600,000-$800,000. A big painting measuring 67 x 132 cm, it was a big ask at these estimates, and especially with more enticing estimates being offered on upcoming works before the end of the year.
According to the catalogue essay, Brett Whiteley’s The Eagle Glides Descending, 1982 (Lot 11 ) was a tribute to Neil Young’s famous album “Rust Never Sleeps”; the buyer appeared very happy to have secured the work for $190,000 hammer price, well below the estimates of $250,000-$350,000; he may well be a Neil Young fan who just had killed two birds with one stone.
Waiting, 1919 (Lot 17 ), a rare early figurative painting by James R. Jackson, deservedly sold above its high estimate of $12,000 for $13,500, whilst the small and modest Gruner Haystacks, 1927 (Lot 18 ) sold exactly at the low estimate of $10,000.
Amongst the selection of Aboriginal art offerings including works by Paddy Bedford and Freddie Timms were 11 works by fellow abstract painter Rammey Ramsey. Favourable estimates meant that 8 of the 11 sold. The highest price was achieved for the monochrome Untitled (My Country), 2007 (Lot 27 ), selling well for $11,000 h.p. on estimates of $5,000-$7,000.
One of the bigger ticket paintings, and a rather large and early painting from an artist who has seen somewhat of a decline in value in 2013 and 2014 in the auction room, Charles Blackman’s Two Figures with Flowers, 1959 (Lot 35 ) sold for $210,000 to a well-known dealer, just a smidgin above the low estimate of $200,000.
Claude Flight’s linocut Speed, 1922 (Lot 36 ), on attractive estimates of $10,000-$15,000, provided the bidding battle of the night, with numerous room and phone bidders fighting over the iconic work. In the end, the 3 phone bidders nudged the hammer price up to $42,000.
Condition is paramount with these almost transparent and fragile prints. The last sale of a similar numbered print of the same image was in April 2013, when #28/50 sold for £10,000, perhaps in less than mint condition, with Bonhams yearly Grosvenor School auction in London. Prior to this in April 2012 there was a sale of #43/50 achieving 4 times as much - £40,000.
Last night’s vendor clearly didn’t want to wait and send it to London, and was handsomely rewarded by their decision to sell the British artist’s work here in Australia.
The key lot of the night was saved till last: Arthur Boyd’s The Prodigal Son, 1946-47 (Lot 42 ) is an impressive work, and its scale at 101 x 121 cm offers so much from the then just 26 year old Boyd. Perhaps the very tale of the Prodigal Son and its warnings of extravagance were a deterrent to prospective buyers from what looked like a lesson in temptation with its $600,000-$800,000 estimates. It did sell but for what looked like the steal of the night at $470,000 hammer price.
