The internet has allowed knowledge of works such as this to be simultaneously broadcast worldwide, so that arbitrage is becoming a thing of the past. Right now, for bidding on the Angus, those holding New Zealand currency were hampered by a rapidly declining exchange rate. The internet has also allowed upscaled audience participation in such a sale, both as casual observers and bidders. The sale began at 7pm: by 7.15pm there were 322 participants online; by 8.20pm there were 486 online; nearer the end of the sale at 9:13pm, there were 531 online.
The sale began with an array of works by quiet female achievers from recent art history. Bidders for the diminutive linocut Skating, 1929, by Eveline Syme (Lot 1 ) faced fierce competition as it rallied to $38,000 on fair $20,000 - $30,000 estimates. Similarly, Margaret Preston’s utterly Australian Pink Jug (Anenome), 1925, (Lot 2 ) seemed to have a fluoro glow about it reaching $55,000 over a $35,000 upper estimate. She is dynamite.
The two Clarice Becketts, The Red Bus, (Lot 4 ) and The Solitary Bathing Box, c1932, (Lot 5 ), shock-horror, met with a wall of silence when offered. (When internet bids go quiet, it is very quiet.) Beckett has been the recent darling of the secondary market, but the reserves for Bus and Bathing Box were more suited to a final price than a starting one. The Red Bus was successfully sold at its lower estimate of $90,000 some 20 minutes later after negotiation with interested parties.
Two superbly strong mid-century paintings, this time by the men, Weaver Hawkins’ Gondolas, 1958 (Lot 7 ), and Tony Tuckson’s Family Group, 1952-4 (Lot 8 ), both achieved the top of their estimated range—the Hawkins selling for $40,000 and the Tuckson $45,000 on the hammer. Almost proving that paintings need to be viewed in person, the very arresting Hawkins was snared by a book bid left with the auctioneer. One suspects that the buyer had really fallen in love with it at the viewing, but we will never know how much they had left on the book. It is not often that undefended bids left with the auctioneer win out, because of the impact of competing bodies of bidders—book, room, internet and telephone.
John Brack is always one of the stars of the show, especially in Melbourne. The catalogue cover lot Knives and Forks, 1958 (Lot 9 ), is really an expression of spontaneous formalism. His solidly painted utensil grouping, scattered randomly on a neutral ground and bereft of any reflections in the polished surfaces, recalls his sombre 1950s commuter paintings of people on a mission. Yes, its all about people. Auctioneer Roger McIlroy coaxed a succession of some fifteen bids from the floor and the phones to knock the painting down to a room bidder for $610,000, again just above the top estimate.
Landscapist Tom Roberts also painted people. His formal pastel Portrait of Florence Greaves, 1898 (Lot 13 ) was a surprise. Drawn in delicate pastel medium, executed on paper on compressed card and hotly contested by a pair of determined room bidders, this elegant work sold for a hammer of $220, 000 over estimates of $60,000-$80,000. These estimates were in the correct ballpark because Roberts’ previous record of $110,000 for a pastel portrait was set by Sotheby’s way back in 1989. Clearly oils command a premium.
Landscape master Arthur Streeton’s Out of the Purple Mountains it gets its Waters, 1928, (Lot 17 ), a majestic piece of tonal control, opened with an internet bid of $150,000 right on the lower estimate, but fell to a room bidder for $450,000 after heated bidding. It was one of four Streeton offerings—the larger oil Northern View, Olinda, 1932 (Lot 19 ) failed to find a buyer at the fall of the hammer.
Yvonne Audette again led the charge in the contemporary section of the sale. Her Archimedes Notebook, 1968 (Lot 32 ) a dazzling oil on board that would put Cy Twombly’s graffiti to shame was previously owned by Robert Klippel. It brought $97,500 on the phone over an estimated range of $65,000-$85,000. Ben Quilty’s Rorschach – The Butterfly Effect No 2, 2008 (Lot 41 ) was snapped up by a single internet bid of $150,000 right on the low estimate. Bad boy Adam Cullen’s .410 Gun, c.2009 (Lot 42 ), really an iconic portrait of Ned Kelly, was almost a record canvas for the artist at $65,000. Cullen would have admired Kelly’s antics. A very determined and fortunate room bidder took home Albert Namatjira’s classical Ghost Gums, 1954 (Lot 47 ) for $60,000 on fairly light $25,000-$30,000 estimates, eclipsing two internet bidders in the process.
Deutscher and Hackett, normally auctioning at their Melbourne base, are to be congratulated on a tightly-curated sale at their Sydney premises, the first in this location since the pandemic onset. Alternating locations in the future will allow both Sydney and Melbourne viewers face-to-face meetings with the works being offered; internet aside—a work of art must be actually seen to be believed in, let alone bought.
The hammer total for the sale was just under $6 million, or $7.4 million including buyer's premium. The sale grossed 131% by value with 83% of the lots sold.
All prices quoted are hammer prices and do not include the buyer’s premium.
