Mossgreen establishes a record auction price for a work by Russell Drysdale.

By , on 27-Jun-2017

Russell Drysdale’s masterpiece Grandma’s Sunday Walk 1972 sold this week at auction in Adelaide through Mossgreen for a new artist’s record of $2.97 million against the pre-auction estimate of $1.8 to $2.2 million.

The Australian painter, who died in June 1981, achieved new fame with the sale, as the painting realised the sixth highest price at auction for an Australian artwork.  It is also the highest price recorded at auction since the sale of Brett Whiteley's My Armchair, 1976 was sold by Menzies in October 2013.

Grandma’s Sunday Walk 1972 (Lot 6 ) was consigned Mossgreen by members of the Hickinbotham family who entrusted the auction house with the parents’ collection – a significant assembly of Australian art and international decorative arts formed over a lifetime.

The Hickinbotham collection created considerable excitement among art collectors, often starved of works truly fresh to the auction market. 

The sale included several other gems including the rare Hermannsburg Mission work (Lot 1 ) by Albert Namatjira that sold for $99,200 against a $25,000-$35,000 estimate and Springtime, Arques-la-Bataille (Lot 7 ) by Charles Conder that realised $105,400 (estimate $50,000-$70,000).

The historical Conrad Martens work depicting the prestigious Sydney Ascham at Darling Point in 1855 (Lot 8 ) sold for $39,680, well within its estimated range, and Arthur Streeton’s Portrait of a Young Girl (Lot 5 ) changed hands for $124,000 against its $40,000-$60,000 estimate.

The works of art comprised the first 67 lots of the sale, with the higher yielding works all within the first 10 lots, raised $4.0 million (IBP) while the remining 180 lots of antiques and decorative arts sold for $313,000 (IBP).

Sale Referenced:

.