Hesitancy also greeted the Brett Whitely masterwork Gaugin, 1968, (Lot 37 ), painted from the hippy confines of the Chelsea Hotel in New York when the artist was at his prime, a mere 29 years of age. An innovative canvas such as this puts the reputation of Australian Art on the world map. This extraordinary painting—golden, explicit, bold and adventurous—elicited a top bid $1,350,000 plus BP that was referred on the night.
On the other hand, the hammer fell on Jeffrey Smart’s Conversation Piece, 1998, successfully clinching its sale for $800,000 plus BP. John Brack’s diagonally composed and richly painted Reclining Nude, 1980 was similarly successful, achieving $460,000 plus BP at a pricepoint just below its estimated range.
But where to now for the Australian secondary art market after a summer of bushfires, floods, and escalating virus fears have combined in a perfect storm to soften stock market confidence?
The Whiteley and the Brack are vitally important works in Australia’s 1970s art history so there will always be market support for them. But, in the middle order, the secondary market seemed to be tiring of its previously held faves such as John Kelly, Garry Shead, Roger Kemp and Charles Blackman perhaps in favour of fresher kids on the block such as Philip Hunter.
It is worth taking a closer look at these in turn. John Kelly’s smallish Dobell’s Cow, 1992 (Lot 5 ) with a modest estimate of $20,000 to $30,000 failed to attract a bid, even though it wheeled out all the intellectual components of this famous series: the fake cow, camouflage, Dobell himself and a wartime spotter plane. This would normally be snapped up.
Garry Shead’s lyrical Australian Coronation, 1997 (Lot 25 ) also remained bidless in spite of the humble estimated range $35,000 to $45,000. One can only assume that its size was not trophy enough. Even a larger Shead from the D. H. Lawrence series with Thirroul as a backdrop, Untitled, 1992-3 (Lot 30 ) failed to garner a bid.
The over-sized Charles Blackman family portrait, A Choir for Christabel, 1972 (Lot 38 ) realised a similar fate. This painting has innovative design elements combining charcoal drawing, brushmark, blur and hard edge, but in the end its scale seemed to create areas of dead paint.
But how could the buyers have passed on Roger Kemp’s Untitled, 1982 (Lot 43 )? This deeply spiritual large-scale painted stained-glass window in cascading violet has a paint surface that is totally alive and seemed humbly priced with a low estimate of $70,000. Kemp’s work seems to fit well with zeitgeist international tastes that favour loose brushwork. His current retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria in Federation Square is a beautiful revelation that shows his early work from the 1930s looks fresh and very alive—like it was painted by a millennial just yesterday.
That proverbial glass is still half full however, especially at the lower price levels of the market. The late Philip Hunter’s Day Plains IV, 2002 (Lot 62 ), a fine example of the mark-filled Wimmera landscapes for which he is famous sold for $22,000 plus BP, well above the estimated $6,000 to $9,000 range and just shy of his record price from 2016 which sits at some $26,000 plus BP. Other records tumbled however.
I noticed three records—there may have been more. Adam Cullen’s rock-solid Untitled (Ned Kelly) (Lot 23 ) tipped the record scales at $40,000 plus BP, on a $30,000 top estimate. A record was also set for Robert Malherbe’s superbly painted Large View of the Domain, 2015 (Lot 10 ) at $8,500 plus BP. Similarly, Reko Rennie’s Bora (Big Red Fuschia), 2009 (Lot 20 ) and Bora (Big Red Blue), 2009 (Lot 21 ) were snapped up by the same buyer for more than $13,000 plus BP each, again setting a record for this artist. The Rennies depict full frontal red kangaroos as proud Australians filling 2.44 metre canvasses that would appear to simultaneously scrape the floor and ceiling of any upmarket Sydney apartment. Rennie is a contemporary aboriginal painter utilising vivid colour and bold designs and is doing well internationally, so the secondary market will not have seen the last of his work. At the viewing, the Rennie’s sat next to the equally vivid Sally Gabori: Dibirdibi Country, 2008 (Lot 90 ). This exquisite work sailed above its $7,000 to $10,000 estimate to realise $13,500 plus BP.
Menzies is to be congratulated on their curation of aboriginal work in the sale; it was all of enticing quality. Anyone standing before the large-scale Emily Kame Kngwarreye Bush Yam Dreaming, 1994 (Lot 42 ) would be hypnotised by the floating white trails, the recorded arcs of her guiding hand. This sensory work sold mid estimated range for a cool $80,000 plus BP. With brilliant offerings such as this, the aboriginal market should continue to strengthen.
There were some intriguing offerings of more ‘classical’ works. A small but delightful Frederick McCubbin, Cottage, Trees and Children, 1907 (Lot 7 ) enlivened the early part of the sale with a bidding war of two telephones against the room, falling finally to a room bidder for $48,000 plus BP, well above its top estimate of $35,000. Not all ‘classical’ works were painted long ago. The 1963 Felix Kelly, The Earl of Arran, St Agnes, Scilly Isles (Lot 103 ) was one of the bargains of the night, being bought by the book for a mere $11,000 plus BP, where similar works in the international market have exceeded hammer prices of $30,000. Kelly had a penchant for careful realist depictions of Victorian marine infrastructure in action.
For my money, the bargain of the night was the alluring Bridget Riley Going Across, 2001 (Lot 148 ), a coloured screenprint in an edition of 90—a steal at $7,000 plus BP. This is the British artist who galvanised the Op Art movement, and has just completed a survey retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London. The Brits love her and pay a lot more than that.
