Indeed, very few artists transcend their home markets and go on to achieve recognition the world over. For example, South Africa has a well establish art market, but just two artists are renowned worldwide today: Irma Stern and William Kentridge. Meanwhile in Austria, Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele may come to mind, from Switzerland Alberto Giacometti and Norway Edward Munch.
Australia, we would argue, to date has not produced an artist with truly international recognition. But perhaps that is about to change, through Aboriginal art. The transfer of 50,000 years of Aboriginal culture onto canvas may have assisted its entry into mainstream contemporary art collecting at just the right time.
The biggest international art collectors today are in the main interested in contemporary art. This is shown in the dominance of this market at the world’s dominant fine art auctioneers Sotheby’s and Christies, and also through leading commercial galleries like Gagosian, established 40 years ago in 1980 by Larry Gagosian. Today, the uber-gallery employs over 300 people at 18 locations across the US, Europe and Asia. In 2017, Forbes Magazine named Larry Gagosian one of the 100 greatest living business minds.
It is hard therefore to underestimate the importance when major forces internationally pursue high level sales of the best examples of Aboriginal art. Sotheby’s London and now New York with the guidance of Aboriginal art gallerist Tim Klingender clearly see potential and enjoy great success with their regular Aboriginal art sales. Larry Gagosian meanwhile works with Aboriginal art expert and dealer D’Lan Davidson, putting them in pole position with Sotheby’s to market Aboriginal art internationally.
There was great excitement in 2019 when Gagosian exhibited the collection of comedian Steve Martin in his New York Gallery. Then the first auction of Aboriginal art outside of Australia and Europe added to the momentum, when Sotheby’s US$2.8 million worth of art sold in their December 2019 sale.
Sotheby’s will hold their next Aboriginal art sale in New York at the end of November, whilst Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong have just opened “Desert Painters of Australia: Two Generations”. This is the third show in a series of exhibitions presented by Gagosian following New York and Los Angeles in 2019 and is taking Aboriginal art to the world in way that has not been done before and includes some of Australia’s best known Aboriginal artists, including Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri, George Tjungurrayi and Emily Kame Kngwarreye.
In Australia, stand-alone sales of Aboriginal art had been abandonded, until Adrian Newstead started his Coo-ee Marketplace auctions two years ago. They reported their most successful auction to date in June this year, selling $1.14 million of Aboriginal art with an impressive 95% clearance rate.
Deutscher + Hackett did very well in March 2020 under very difficult circumstances, selling $2.36 million with an 83% clearance rate, whilst Bonhams sold 81% of the Serra collection of Aboriginal art (including property from other vendors) for $475,000 in July.
While the non-indigenous Australian art auction market to date is at about half of its 2019 turn-over due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Aboriginal art sales for 2020 is at $8.4 million, more than 25% above the $6.2 million of 2019. Perhaps a sign of things to come?
Is it possible that Emily Kngwarreye, our best known and most beloved Aboriginal artist, makes the leap to become an artist of worldwide renown, to be mentioned alongside Alberto Giacometti, Gustav Klimt or Pablo Picasso? Many certainly feel her art is worthy.
10 years ago in May 2010, we reported in Australian Art Sales Digest on our conversation in New York with Tobias Meyer, then lead auctioneer and head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, asking him about the potential of Aboriginal art in New York contemporary auctions.
He said: “We are not in the business of building markets or making artists reputations here. For that, you need a game changer. Let’s think big here and let’s say a big player like Larry Gagosian was to represent Aboriginal artists. That would of course change everything”.
The very next evening we spotted Larry Gagosian at the Phillips contemporary evening auction, and unable to resist, asked him the same question. His answer was short: “I know absolutely nothing about Aboriginal art.”
We should all be pleased that this seemingly has changed and that the game changer for Aboriginal art may finally have arrived.
