In a change of direction, after 36 years in the business of selling the classic Modern Australian masters, Gould will soon be opening a new space in Collingwood representing Contemporary artists in the primary market.
With the change in focus to Contemporary artists, 74 lots of mostly post-war figurative and Antipodean artists will be offered for auction.
Sidney Nolan is particularly well-represented as the creator of 16 of the 74 works, including the work with the highest expectations in the sale, Ned Kelly – Outlaw 1955 (Lot 9 ) – an outstanding piece from the second Kelly Series and one that has the potential to set a record as the second highest price for a work by Nolan. With an estimate of $1,200,000-1,800,000, it will need to exceed the $1,647,000 (IBP) paid for River-Bank 1964 at Sotheby's sale of the Denis Savill Collection in Sydney in May 2015.
Once in the collection of Kym Bonython, Ned Kelly – Outlaw spent many of its earlier years beyond the reach of the Australian audience - at some point finding its way to the US where Gould eventually discovered it in New York in the private collection of actress Peggy Cass in 1999. The painting was also one of the key works of the 2006 exhibition, Unmasked: Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly 1950-1990 at Heide and must have delighted many Melbourne commuters when it was hung, in banner form, on the façade of Flinders Street Station to promote that exhibition.
Another highlight, Albert Tucker’s Intruder and Parrots 1964-1968 (Lot 24 ) is fresh to the market, bought by Gould in 1982 and remaining in his private collection ever since. This is an imposing work – a larger work than we are used to seeing from Tucker and with a brilliant yellow and orange glowing sunset behind the horned and fearsome intruder. Comparative works (though not nearly as large) sold in 2005 at Sotheby's for $329,500 and in 2008 also at Sotheby's for $456,000 IBP. If this one reaches anywhere close to its high estimate of $800,000 it will break the record set for a Tucker painting at auction, currently held by Flirtation (1954) which sold for $840,000 IBP at Bonhams & Goodman in 2007.
Three significant works by John Perceval include two from his prized early Williamstown series, painted in the mid-1950s. Many of the Williamstown paintings from his 1956 exhibition at Australian Galleries are now in state collections and those that are not, tend to be tightly held. The first work in the sale is the exquisite, glazed earthenware Acrobat Angel, (Lot 1 ) circa 1958, estimated at $40,000-60,000. The Williamstown lots, The Hull, Williamstown 1956 (Lot 5 ) and Fisherman’s Sights, Williamstown 1956 (Lot 6 ) with estimates of $220,000-260,000 and $400,000-600,000 respectively should be keenly contested for works considered such a rarity.
A further group of desirables includes works by Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, John Olsen, Brett Whiteley and Rosalie Gascoigne as well as several edgier pieces by the likes of Jake & Dinos Chapman and Linde Ivimey.
