Prior Years Archive:
26-Dec-2017

Auction house Mossgreen goes into voluntary administration

The co-owner of high-profile art gallery and auction house Mossgreen says creditors will not be out of pocket after the shock news the company has gone into voluntary administration.

Paul Sumner, who is also chief executive and co-founder, said the move was due to debts following the company's rapid expansion and the withdrawal of its key investor.

The co-owner of high-profile art gallery and auction house Mossgreen says creditors will not be out of pocket after the shock news the company has gone into voluntary administration.

Paul Sumner, who is also chief executive and co-founder, said the move was due to debts following the company's rapid expansion and the withdrawal of its key investor.

Capping off a bumper year, Menzies’ 30 November Sydney auction of Australian and International Fine Art and Sculpture felt flat in comparison to recent record-breaking events - the 185-lot sale sold 65% by number. With several half million-dollar Australian works failing to find bids, the top lot went to Jacques Lipchitz’s Homme Assis à la Clarinette II, 1971 (conceived 1919-1920), which made its low-end estimate of $800,000.
By Jane Raffan on 04-Dec-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Menzies’ Australian and International Fine Art and Sculpture Sale Ends the Season without Fanfare

Capping off a bumper year, Menzies’ 30 November Sydney auction of Australian and International Fine Art and Sculpture felt flat in comparison to recent record-breaking events. The 185-lot sale sold 65% by number, totalling $4.234 million (hammer) against the pre-sale estimates of $6.3 to $8.5 million. With several half million-dollar Australian works failing to find bids, the top lot went to Jacques Lipchitz’s Homme Assis à la Clarinette II, 1971 (conceived 1919-1920), which made its low-end estimate of $800,000.

 

At Deutscher and Hackett’s final sale for the year, little-known Australian expatriate Iso Rae rocketed into the record books with 'Les Acheteuses' (the Buyers) c1913, a heavily-drawn oil loaded with character. It sold for more than $111 000 including buyer’s premium, eclipsing its previous market entry of $30,000 in 2005 by almost a multiple of four. Rae spent much of her life in Brittany and her composition shows seven women at a local fabric market stall—all outlined with strength and deft brushwork.
By Peter James Smith on 30-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Deutscher and Hackett's carefully curated offering yields results from all categories.

At Deutscher and Hackett’s final sale for the year in Melbourne on 29 November, little-known Australian expatriate Iso (Isobel) Rae rocketed into the record books with Les Acheteuses (the Buyers) c1913 (lot 16), a heavily-drawn oil loaded with character. It sold for more than $111 000 including buyer’s premium, eclipsing its previous market entry of $30,000 in 2005 by almost a multiple of four. Rae spent much of her life in Brittany and her composition shows seven women at a local fabric market stall—all outlined with strength and deft brushwork giving density to form.

Good old Charles Fredrick Goldie has done it again, this time smashing his records for drawing and photography in Auckland on 27 November 2017, with those in the room last night applauding at the end of a brace of good old-fashioned auction room bidding contests.
By John Perry in Auckland on 28-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

A new Goldie standard is set as records tumble at International Art Centre

Good old Charles Fredrick Goldie has done it again, this time smashing his records for drawing and photography in Auckland on 27 November 2017, with those in the room last night applauding at the end of a brace of good old-fashioned auction room bidding contests.

26-Nov-2017

A rare painting is stolen… then it appears for sale on the dark web

Police are hunting for a stolen Gottfried Lindauer painting that has apparently come up for sale on the dark web for nearly $1 million.  The painting was one of two valuable Gottfried Lindauer works stolen in a ram-raid from an Auckland gallery eight months ago. The seller claims the listing is for the original,133-year-old portrait of Chief Ngatai-RaureWired reported on Thursday.

Sotheby’s sale of Important Australian Art on 21 November in Sydney has cemented 2017 as the second highest recorded sales since the boom year of 2007, when $175.6 million dollars worth of art were sold. The auction houses reported a total of $10.666 million in sales on the night, with 65% of the 82 lots offered sold, and 113.5% sold by value. Charles Blackman’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party set the highest price of the night with $1.55 million hammer., one of the four million plus sales of the night.
By David Hulme & Brigitte Banziger on 22-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Australian records drop like flies at Sotheby’s final art auction for 2017

Sotheby’s sale of Important Australian Art on 21 November in Sydney has cemented 2017 as the second highest recorded sales since the boom year of 2007, when $175.6 million dollars worth of art were sold. The auction house reported a total of $10.666 million in sales on the night, with 65% sold of the 82 lots offered, and 113.5% sold by value.

After a substantial decrease in sales and major shake-ups of the auction houses post-GFC, it is mostly been steady as she goes with recorded art sales at auction since 2013, just eclipsing the $100 million dollar mark.

Swing into the 1960s collectors!  It is well past time to collect 1960s works from our senior artists who came to prominence in the 1960s.  An early Dick Watkins Landscape, Bonnard’s Hat, circa 1961-63, surged past its $7,000-$10,000 range to reach more than $34,000 (including buyer’s premium) at Mossgreen’s new-format sale of ‘Important Art’ on 20 November in Melbourne—the second-highest price for the artist.
By Peter James Smith on 21-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Mossgreen's new cataloguing format and curated selection of works pays dividends

Swing into the 1960s collectors!  It is well past time to collect 1960s works from our senior artists who came to prominence in the 1960s.  An early Dick Watkins Landscape, Bonnard’s Hat, circa 1961-63, (lot 39) surged past its $7,000-$10,000 range to reach more than $34,000 (including buyer’s premium) at Mossgreen’s new-format November sale ‘Important Art’—a second-highest price for the artist.

“It’s what an estate sale could and should be”, declared former Bonhams Chairman Mark Fraser from the podium, ready to steer the sale of Important Works of Art from the Estate of Lady Nolan in Sydney last night. Selected to showcase the diversity of Nolan’s oeuvre from the late 1940s through the late 1980s, the top ten featured examples from many iconic series, including rarities and a plethora of Ned Kelly works, one of which, an ominously dark oil (above), took the top spot at $150,000.
By Jane Raffan on 20-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Estate Sale of Works by Australian Modernist Master Sidney Nolan Rallies Bonhams’ End-of-Year Tally

“It’s what an estate sale could and should be”, declared former Bonhams Chairman Mark Fraser from the podium, ready to steer the sale of Important Works of Art from the Estate of Lady Nolan in Sydney last night. Selected to showcase the diversity of Nolan’s oeuvre from the late 1940s through the late 1980s, the top ten featured examples from many iconic series, including rarities and a plethora of Ned Kelly works, one of which, an ominously dark oil (Lot 167), took the top spot at $150,000.

Some auctioneers promise to move heaven and earth to guarantee consignments and secure sales. CooeeArt directors Adrian Newstead and Mirri Leven actually travelled through time and space to ensure the sale of Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s Earth’s Creation I at their inaugural MarketPlace auction, held last night in their Paddington pop-up gallery.
By Jane Raffan on 17-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s Earth’s Creation I resets the bar for Indigenous Art at Auction

Some auctioneers promise to move heaven and earth to guarantee consignments and secure sales. CooeeArt directors Adrian Newstead and Mirri Leven actually travelled through time and space to ensure the sale of Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s Earth’s Creation I at their inaugural MarketPlace auction, held last night in their Paddington pop-up gallery.

Collectors will have a rare chance to obtain a piece of Australian art history when 22 of iconic modern artist Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly paintings – the most ever to come to market – are auctioned on  November 19 by Bonhams in Sydney. Above, 'Kelly', 1982 spray enamel and enamel on paper estimated at $20,000-30,000.
By , on 09-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Bonhams entrusted with sale of 118 Sidney Nolan works from the estate of Lady Mary Nolan

Collectors will have a rare chance to obtain a piece of Australian art history when 22 of iconic modern artist Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly paintings – the most ever to come to market – are auctioned on  November 19 by Bonhams in Sydney.

The paintings are part of the 118-strong collection assigned from the estate of Nolan’s widow, Lady Mary Nolan, who died last year in the United Kingdom.

Elioth Gruner’s (1882-1939) The Vale, is an exceptional example of one of Australia’s most gifted artists ability to paint light and landscapes in their truest form.
By , on 08-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Mossgreen to sell contents of historic Blue Mountains property.

Historic Falls House at Wentworth Falls in New South Wales Blue Mountains began life in 1850 when Joseph Poll established the venue as a hotel.

Eighty years later, the building was almost destroyed by fire before being completely rebuilt and during the 1990s. Iconic Australian artist John Olsen and his girlfriend lived there where they set aside a room for his studio.

Well-known landscaper Paul Sorensen designed the garden and the property is once more in the news with Mossgreen auctioning the home’s contents on November 13 in Sydney.

A recent exhibition in Sydney has demonstrated that printmakers are no longer the poor cousins of the painters in oil, with a single print selling for $185,000, seemingly the highest price ever paid for a print in Australia.
By David Hulme & Brigitte Banziger on 06-Nov-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Australian printmakers pushing the boundaries of their craft

Modernist female printmakers such as Margaret Preston and Thea Proctor have enjoyed appreciation for many years from their Australian audience.

It is however the Australian artists with international exposure who have shone brightly in recent years, namely Eveline Syme, Dorrit Black and Ethel Spowers whose work is collected on a worldwide scale. Hence the very substantial prices achieved in the last five years.

In a packed auction room in Sydney on October 26, Bonhams sold a Chinese hanging scroll illustrated with a delightful and impressive landscape with waterfalls for $2.6 million hammer ($3.172 million IBP) or 400 times its mid-estimate of $6500.
By Terry Ingram on 27-Oct-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

China’s “Jackson Pollock”, Fu Baoshi makes a big $plash at Bonhams Sydney.

Modern technology seems to be making major finds very rare. In a packed auction room in Sydney on October 26, Bonhams sold a Chinese hanging scroll illustrated with a delightful and impressive landscape with waterfalls for $2.6 million hammer ($3.172 million IBP) or 400 times its mid-estimate of $6500. Even at this price, however, the buyer may have secured a bargain.

The work, simply titled Landscape, was only “attributed” to Fu Baoshi” a modern master of Chinese painting who worked in the traditional Chinese medium of ink and watercolour and was sourced from a renowned if still anonymous collection of modern Chinese paintings belonging to a Singaporean family who moved to Sydney.

Even before this year’s ram raid on a pair of oil portraits of Maori chiefs painted by the Czech-New Zealand artist Charles Gottfried Lindauer (1839-1926) at an Auckland auction house, New Zealand was a well-established source of skullduggery in the world’s global fake stakes and in other crimes involving art.
By Terry Ingram on 23-Oct-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Symposium and books address New Zealand’s hotbed of fakery, theft and other skullduggery

Even before this year’s ram raid on a pair of oil portraits of Maori chiefs painted by the Czech-New Zealand artist Charles Gottfried Lindauer (1839-1926) at an Auckland auction house, New Zealand was a well-established source of skullduggery in the world’s global fake stakes and in other crimes involving art.

Wittenoom’s modestly sized Sketch of the Town of Perth, WA, c1836-37 (lot 1) carried high hopes of $150,000-200,000 but was eclipsed by the $240,000 hammer price. This blistering start set the tone for the rest of the Deutscher + Hackett auction, with 83% of lots sold by volume and 108% sold by value, a total of $5.24 million incl. bp. This brings D+H’s total for the year to $30.73 million, indicating that Australian art auction sales for 2017 could achieve the second highest total on record.
By David Hulme & Brigitte Banziger on 21-Sep-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Deutscher + Hackett leading the way in art auction sales in 2017

As double acts go, it is getting harder to beat the team of Chris Deutscher and Damian Hackett. Celebrating 10 years with their own auction house, it’s a heady moment for this dynamic duo. Their sale of Important Australian & International Fine Art in Sydney on 20 September saw them eclipse perhaps even their own expectations for 2017, as they have now sold $30.7 million worth of fine art, with still one sale to go at the end of November. But more on this later.

Mossgreen’s 'Contemporary Vision' of international contemporary art on 17 September in Melbourne was big on promise but small on numbers, with Coming Soon at Your Neighbourhood, 2008, (lot 34) ironically bringing the top price.
By Peter James Smith on 18-Sep-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Mossgreen’s 'Contemporary Vision' big on promise but small on numbers

Australian Curators and Art Market Audiences need to get out more. Mossgreen’s ‘A Contemporary Vision’ sale brought the international artworld to their door—but the curators, institutions, buyers and art marketeers didn’t open that door. Few attended the sale. Few saw the spectacular pre-sale installation of international works from the 80-piece catalogue across Mossgreen’s Melbourne locations that would have made any art museum proud. At least, few were there when this writer attended the viewing.

By Terry Ingram on 08-Sep-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Vale Joan McClelland at the age of 104

With the death of Joan McClelland in respite in Melbourne on 4 September, Australia lost its most respected art dealer of many years and most dedicated saleroom habitue. For several decades almost into the 21st century Joan rarely missed an antique and art sale in Melbourne of any note, and many of lesser significance.

05-Sep-2017

Rejected Tom Roberts' painting declared genuine

When Australian couple Joe and Rosanna Natoli came across a painting bearing the signature of one of Australia's greatest artists, Tom Roberts, on the website of an English auction site, with a sale estimate of between £60 and £80,  it seemed too good to be true.

"We thought it worth a shot," Ms Natoli said, a journalist from Seven News in Queensland. Come auction day, bidding was furious but, believing it to be a genuine, the Natolis gambled "everything we had at the time in the bank" and made a winning bid of £7500. Shipped to Australia they found the painting, curiously titled Rejected, in need of repair. After undertaking some restoration work they put it up to auction in Brisbane with an estimate of $30,000.

The Australian art collected by fifth-generation newspaper man James Fairfax sold superbly, when offered by Deutscher and Hackett in Sydney on Wednesday August 30. The auction grossed $10.3 million, including the 22 percent buyers’ premium, off its $4.7m to $6.7m pre-auction estimate. The first lot, Roy de Maistre’s  seascape 'The Beach' set the tone for the sale when hammered for $190,000 more than twice the top estimate.
By Michaela Boland on 02-Sep-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Deutscher and Hackett achieve 100% sell through at auction of Fairfax Estate art collection

The Australian art collected by fifth-generation newspaper man James Fairfax sold superbly, as expected, when offered by Deutscher and Hackett under a sprinkling of fairy lights and chandeliers at the National Art School's Cell Block Theatre in Sydney on Wednesday August 30.

The auction grossed $10.3 million, including the 22 percent buyers’ premium, off its $4.7m to $6.7m pre-auction estimate. That total is a high watermark for a relatively small collection of pictures chosen by a wealthy connoisseur without input from an advisor.

Both Mossgreen and Leonard Joel have will hold their fine art auctions on successive days in Melbourne next week, Mossgreen on 4 September and Leonard Joel on the following day. One of the more intriguing and eye-catching works in Leonard Joel's sale is Tim Storrier’s Palette 1982, comprising mixed media with found objects.
By , on 01-Sep-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Two early spring specialist art auctions for Melbourne.

Both Mossgreen and Leonard Joel have specialist art auctions scheduled for the first week in September.

At Mossgreen, the photographic collection of distinguished Australian arts administrator Peter Burch is part of auction of Fine Australian & International Art on 4 Monday September in Melbourne.

The first professional administrator of Victorian Opera and state manager for more than three decades of Musica Viva Australia, his interest in the visual arts is most clearly demonstrated through the accumulation of important photographic images.

The Australian arts community this week lost one of its most indefatigable supporters. A towering figure, both physically and administratively, Claude Ullin AM held a panoply of positions through which he tirelessly promoted the arts in its various forms.
By Petrit Abazi on 25-Aug-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Vale, Claude George Ullin AM (1937-2017)

The Australian arts community this week lost one of its most indefatigable supporters. A towering figure, both physically and administratively, Claude Ullin AM held a panoply of positions through which he tirelessly promoted the arts in its various forms.

23-Aug-2017

Chinese art and antiques market shrinks as non-payment remains a “chronic problem”

Failure by buyers to pay for works of art they have successfully won at auction in China remains a major problem for the industry, according to the latest report.

The Global Chinese Art Auction Market Report, from artnet and the China Association of Auctioneers (CAA), revealed non-payment was “a chronic problem in mainland China”. In 2016 a larger percentage of the total sales came from high-end sales, where “payment in instalments and delayed payments are more common”, which led the overall payment rate to drop to 51% in 2016 – only just over half of the lots sold at auction were actually paid for. For high-value lots (¥10m [$Au1.9m] and above), less than half were paid for (47%) in 2016.

 

Pre-auction estimates for the James Fairfax Estate are set at a conservative $4.7 to $6.7 million for the 54 lots from his private collection to be sold by Deutscher and Hackett in Sydney on 30 August 2017.   The catalogue wrap around cover and the lot carrying the highest estimate in the sale at $800,000-1,200,000, is Eugene von Guerard's superb 'Mr John King's Station', 1861 (above).
By John Furphy on 22-Aug-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

A parting gift from media magnate and philanthropist, James Fairfax

When James Fairfax was asked, in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald in 1999, 'did he ever feel a pang about giving away so much' he characteristically replied 'there's far more pleasure than pang.'

And he gave away an incredible amount.  A "steady stream of carefully targeted gifts to Australian public galleries"[i] meant that the country's most important state galleries as well as the NGA in Canberra have greatly benefitted from his generosity over the years.

But there were also a (relatively) small number of works that Fairfax chose to hold on to, hanging in his various homes in Australia and the UK, that included some of the best examples of Australian Colonial, Impressionist, Modern and Abstract artists money and connections can buy.

This private collection, Important Australian Works of Art from the Estate of the Late James O. Fairfax AC will be sold by Deutscher and Hackett in Sydney on 30 August 2017.

 

[i] Sebastian Smee, The Spectator, London, 2 August 2003.

19-Aug-2017

Well-known New Zealand auctioneer Dunbar Russell Sloane dies

Well-known Wellington and Auckland art and antiques auctioneer Dunbar Russell Sloane has died after a battle with cancer. His eldest son, Dunbar Michael Sloane, said his father died in Auckland Hospital about 10pm yesterday, aged 75. He leaves behind wife Susan Wallace, two sons and two daughters and eight grandchildren.

When Emanuel Phillips Fox's Monastery, San Lazzaro, lot 17, sold for $1.061 million at Sotheby’s Australia 'Important Australian Art' sale in Sydney on 16 August 2017, the artist joined the group of 18 other Australian artists who have had one or more works sold above this magic threshold at auction.
By David Hulme & Brigitte Banziger on 18-Aug-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Auction Records at Sotheby’s, and Elioth Gruner’s Beach Paintings Reunited Again

Sotheby’s fine art sale in Sydney on Wednesday night set four artists’ auction records, including three paintings selling above the million dollar mark, resulting in a total turnover of $11.3 million incl. buyer’s premium, with 103% sold by value and 70% sold by volume.  

'July Flowers and Wood Warblers' exploded like fireworks in the evening sky at Menzies winter auction in Melbourne on 10 August, as the 1929 flower and bird painting (lot 12) by British artist Cedric Morris netted more than $280,000 (including buyer’s premium) on a high estimate of only $12,000. That is more than 20 times the estimate!  The Menzies’ sale brought solid and accomplished results, with a 75% clearance rate on the night.
By Peter James Smith on 11-Aug-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Recently conferred 'sleeper' status on work by British artist confirmed by sale price at Menzies Melbourne auction

July Flowers and Wood Warblers exploded like fireworks in the evening sky at Menzies winter auction in Melbourne on 10 August, as the 1929 flower and bird painting (lot 12) by British artist Cedric Morris netted more than $280,000 (including buyer’s premium) on a high estimate of only $12,000. That is more than 20 times the estimate! 

Morris dwelt on the artworld periphery in rural Suffolk in the 1920s, where he gardened, entertained the likes of Lucien Freud and New Zealand’s Frances Hodgkins and painted richly decorative flower studies. His works exude the fabric of the 1920s, with a naiveté and a sensual playfulness that Menzies buyers clearly found refreshing.

Ten telephone lines from all over the world battled over this modest little painting to register a new world record for Morris, establishing his credentials as ‘substance’ over ‘fashion’.

Ben Quilty’s “2017” sold for Euro 50,000 at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Charity auction, making it the artist’s third highest price at auction.
By David Hulme & Brigitte Banziger on 07-Aug-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Ben Quilty in the World of Celebrity Auctions

Celebrity charity auctions can be quite a heady experience. Imagine one where the founder is Leonardo DiCaprio and the entertainment includes Madonna and Lenny Kravitz. Put that together with the world’s leading celebrity auctioneer Simon de Pury, and you can be sure that you are going to raise a very considerable sum of money in one evening. Not perhaps as much as a contemporary art sale from one of the international fine art auction houses, but the Leonardo DiCaprio foundation was able to raise in excess of US$30 million just a few days ago in the South of France, by selling a large number of contemporary artworks from leading artists, plus a number of what were termed “unique items and experiences”.

As reported in The Australian, auction house veteran Tim Goodman is relaunching Fine Art Bourse (F.A.B.) an online auction house, with the attractions of a 5% buyer's premium and no Artist Resale Royalty or copyright fees, as the auctions will take place in Hong Kong. Headlining the first 60 to 80 lot Australian Aboriginal sale in November, will be Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s Earth’s Creation I, last sold by Lawson~Menzies in 2007.
By John Furphy on 02-Aug-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Scaled back version of Tim Goodman's Fine Art Bourse launched, and first sales announced

As reported in The Australian, (subscription required) auction house veteran Tim Goodman is relaunching Fine Art Bourse (F.A.B.) an online auction house, with the attractions of a 5% buyer's premium and no Artist Resale Royalty or copyright fees, as the auctions will take place in Hong Kong.

The first sale will be Erotic, Fetish & Queer Art and Objects (including two private collections from the Far East and Latin America) to be held on Tuesday 12th of September 2017.

The inaugural Australian sales will be held in Sydney on November 13 - 14th, the latter, an important sale of Aboriginal Art, in conjunction with Cooee Art, owner of Australia’s oldest Aboriginal Art Gallery, through its newly established secondary art market platform, CooeeArt Marketplace.

07-Jul-2017

Art thief steals painting worth more than $200,000 from Balmain home

In a brazen suburban art heist, a thief has stolen an expensive painting from a Balmain home in broad daylight. Estimated to worth $200,000, the painting Comet by renowned New Zealand artist Colin John McCahon was stolen as the owner was moving house on Sunday. The opportunistic thief is believed to have stolen the artwork from inside the home on Beattie Street, Balmain.

05-Jul-2017

‘World’s Most Expensive Painting’ Actually Sold for $90M Less Than Reported: Suit

It was rumoured to be the world’s most expensive painting, a Gauguin masterpiece bought by the Qatari royal family in a deal that had the art world agog. Now a High Court battle has revealed the secret dealings behind the sale, as a broker known as “the Mick Jagger of art auctions” sues for the £$10 million commission he says is rightfully his. Simon de Pury claims there was a “gentleman’s agreement” to pay him handsomely if he secured the sale of Nafea faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry), a study of two Tahitian girls painted by Paul Gauguin in 1892.

03-Jul-2017

Sir Logan Campbell portrait for sale after 100 year absence

A treasured piece of New Zealand art, recently re-discovered after being lost to the art world for 100 years, will go under the hammer next month.

The existence of a portrait of former Auckland mayor Sir John Logan Campbell was only known about as its painter - Louis John Steele - was pictured in his studio in 1903 sitting in front of it.

Since then, it's been privately owned for more than 100 years, and never pubicly exhibited.

By , on 27-Jun-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

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

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.

Russell Drysdale’s masterpiece Grandma’s Sunday Walk is the major drawcard at Mossgreen’s forthcoming auction of the Alan & Margaret Hickinbotham Collection in Adelaide. The work carries a catalogue estimate of $1.8 million to $2.2 million and, if sold it will be the sixth work sold for more than $1 million by Mossgreen.
By , on 22-Jun-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Mossgreen hoping Grandma's Walk will set a new record for a Drysdale.

Russell Drysdale’s masterpiece Grandma’s Sunday Walk is the major drawcard at Mossgreen’s forthcoming auction of the Alan & Margaret Hickinbotham Collection in Adelaide.

According to the catalogue preview, the painting exhibits the essential characteristics of a classic Drysdale – a set of recognisable outback characters in a landscape pared back to a few generic forms that might be found anywhere on the Australian continent. 

The work carries a catalogue estimate of $1.8 million to $2.2 million and, if the painting sells (with expectations of an artist’s auction record), it will be the sixth more than $1 million estimated work Mossgreen has successfully auctioned – giving the company a 100 per cent strike rate in paintings of this value.

The current record price for a work by Drysdale sold at auction, is $1.89 million (IBP) for Rocky McCormack, which was sold by Sotheby's in Melbourne in 2008.

Bonhams 'Important Australian and Aboriginal Art' auction (Sydney, 6 June) was carried by four works that racked up a hammer total of $1.8 million against their cumulative low-end tally one third that value, and which built a sale total of $3.5 million dollars (incl. BP), well above its $1.2 to $2.2 million dollar expectations. The sale benefited from fresh and first-time-on-the-market works, as every firm hopes for, and a Nolan 'Kelly' (above), every firm’s dream come true, which sold for $430K.
By Jane Raffan on 07-Jun-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Bonhams’ 'Important Australian and Aboriginal Art' auction carried by eclectic fresh works … and every auctioneer’s dream sale highlight, a Sidney Nolan 'Kelly'.

In a small eclectic sale comprising 68 lots of mixed quality, Bonhams Important Australian and Aboriginal Art auction (Sydney, 6 June) was carried by the performance of four works that racked up a hammer total of $1.8 million against their cumulative low-end tally one third that value, and which built a sale total of $3.5 million dollars (incl. BP), well above its $1.2 to $2.2 million dollar expectations.

The top ten tranche was filled with best-performing works by modern and contemporary master painters: Blackman (3), Boyd (1), de Maistre (1), Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1), Nolan (2), Brett Whiteley (1), and lone ex-pat Impressionist John Peter Russell.

The first sale in a new series of curated contemporary art auctions by Mossgreen will be held on Sunday May 28 at its Sydney premises. Works offered are by Australian and New Zealand contemporary artists and have been created after 1970 and on or before 2012. The catalogue front cover features 'Kill….2007', (above) by Richard Bell, a colourful work that proposes vengeance for the massacre of Australia’s indigenous people.
By , on 25-May-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Mossgreen moves into curated contemporary art auctions

A new series of curated contemporary art auctions – the only one of its kind in Australia – has been introduced by Mossgreen.

The first in the series will be held from 6.30pm Sunday May 28 at its Sydney premises 36-40 Queen Street, Woollahra.

Mossgreen has teamed up with contemporary art auction consultant Melissa Loughnan to help with the sale, which includes key works created after 1970 by Australian and New Zealand contemporary artists.

The quality and integrity of the auction is ensured through a set of criteria that includes a five-year cut-off period for consignments – that is, all works are dated on or before 2012.

The top lot in Mossgreen’s Fine Australian Indigenous Art sale held in Sydney on 16 May was Paddy Bedford’s Untitled (2004) (above), but was one of only a handful of contemporary works that managed to lure buyers over the low-end estimate, selling for hammer of $48,000 (est. $40-60K). With a single owner core of 96 works and the balance from mixed vendors, the 193 lot sale achieved 49% clearance clearance by both number and value, with the top ten lots all settling in the $20-50,000 bracket.
By Jane Raffan on 17-May-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Mossgreen’s Fine Indigenous Art sale fails to fire from lack of focus

By all accounts so far this year, the non-Indigenous art market looks to be finally breaking out of its “decade of torpor”[i]. The results of Mossgreen’s Fine Australian Indigenous Art sale last night, however, would suggest that this sector, while not moribund, is still mired in a morass of its own making.

With a single owner core of 96 works, several of which sold at large discounts to their purchase prices, along with a few contemporary highlights from mixed vendors, and a dose of desperate dealer stock, the 193 lot sale was never going to be a Laverty or Vroom affair. And the market responded accordingly, with only 49% clearance by both number and value, and with the top ten lots all settling in the $20-50,000 bracket.

 

 

Menzies auction of Australian and International Fine Art and Sculpture in Sydney on May 11 proved few surprises but was still in many respects a curtain lifter. Small to medium sized paintings which were well provenanced, require less space and make a critical statement such as Margaret Preston's 'The Green Curtains' (above) look like holding their own in the down-sizing for which the auction provided a green light as the population ages and moves on from the large family home.
By Terry Ingram on 12-May-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Menzies sale gives green light for down-sizing seniors

The art trade has little to fear from the increasing torrent of consignments from seniors down-sizing, if the response to the to the auction of Australian and International Fine Art and Sculpture at the Menzies Gallery in Sydney on May 11 is any guide.

Downsizing has added a new D to the lexicon of Ds driving the art market (death, debt and divorce). The sale grossed $7,099,282 IBP which was a respectable 84 per cent sold by value and 87 per cent by volume.

The response to the 136 lot offering of wall-demanding large paintings and space clogging sculpture resulted in a more than satisfactory return, if a wee bit short of what was hoped for.

The Deutscher & Hackett mixed vendor Important Australian and International Fine Art Sale on 10 May added another solid $4.8 million-dollar tranche to the company’s turnover and included some excellent results in what was a rather underwhelming affair, ambience-wise. The 132 lot sale cleared well at 80% by volume and 90% by value. As expected, the top lot on the night was Lin Onus’ Riddle of the Koi, 1994, which sold just over its low-end estimate, making $460,000; a new high price for the artist’s work.
By Jane Raffan on 11-May-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Deutscher & Hackett adds two new substantial artist records to the autumn sales round in an otherwise steady-as-she-goes event

The recent Laverty sale was a clear highlight for Deutscher & Hackett’s autumnal calendar, but their 10 May mixed vendor Important Australian and International Fine Art Sale added another solid $4.8 million-dollar tranche to the company’s bottom line and included some excellent results in what was a rather underwhelming affair, ambience-wise.

The 132 lot sale cleared well at 80% by volume and 90% by value, and a breakdown of these stats account for the sale’s tenor: works that sold at or below their low-end comprised 34% of the total; those selling within estimate at 26%; and those that performed over-estimate equalling the tally of unsold works around 20% each.

Old timers attending a recent Sydney suburban art auction report feeling momentarily trapped in a time warp. At an auction held by Theodore Bruce in its rooms in Alexandria on April 9 prices of what appeared to be scrappy pieces of early colonial art soared in frenzied bidding to many times their estimates.
By Terry Ingram on 10-May-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Eyre becomes rarified in Alexandria.

Old timers attending a recent Sydney suburban art auction report feeling momentarily trapped in a time warp. At an auction held by Theodore Bruce in its rooms in Alexandria on April 9 prices of what appeared to be scrappy pieces of early colonial art soared in frenzied bidding to many times their estimates.

A pair of engravings by John Eyre (1771-?) sold for $50,000 (lot 10) hammer against estimates of $800 to $1200. With the BP and GST the total was $61,000.

Several other lots sold for much more than their estimates.

Included amongst the best selection of Australian Impressionist paintings to appear for some time at a Menzies sale is Charles Conder’s The Fortune of War 1888 (above). The Conder is among 136 works of art to be auctioned by Menzies on  May 11 at Menzies Gallery, 12 Todman Avenue at Kensington in Sydney. The estimates indicate a total sale value of $6.2 to $8.4 million.
By , on 08-May-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Fine selection of Australian Impressionist paintings up for grabs at Menzies

Included amongst the best selection of Australian Impressionist paintings to appear for some time at a Menzies sale is Charles Conder’s The Fortune of War 1888 (lot 45).

Painted in 1888, the year of the historic and career-defining meeting between Conder and fellow Australian artist Tom Roberts, The Fortune of War belongs in the exalted company of some of Australia’s best known works of art – The Departure of the SS Orient from Circular Quay, Herrick’s Blossoms and Holiday at Mentone, all on permanent public display in Australia’s most important public galleries, and all painted by Conder in the same year as the work up for auction.

The Sotheby's Australia sale in Sydney on 3 May was in two parts: The David Newby Collection (lots 1 to 30), and the mixed vendor catalogue, (lots 31 to 108). The highest price of the night was paid for Eugene von Guerard’s Breakneck Gorge, Hepburn Springs, in the second section of the sale, which sold for $1.6 million hammer, now the second highest price for a painting by the artist at auction. Auction records were set for four artists: Elioth Gruner, Ray Crooke, Harold Septimus Power and J.S. Watkins.
By David Hulme & Brigitte Banziger on 04-May-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Does Sotheby’s sale herald a paradigm shift in the Australian art market?

After the remarkable $14.26 million dollars achieved at Sotheby’s sale of important Australian art in Sydney yesterday, one might well ask whether we have just seen a paradigm shift in the Australian art market.

By any definition, exceeding the high end of the estimates for any fine art sale by close to $2 million is a big ask, especially when 25% of the lots remain unsold on the evening.

Specialists at Deutscher and Hackett are expecting a new auction record for Lin Onus when a monumental work by the artist comes up for sale in Sydney on 10 May. 'Riddle of the Koi', 1994 was released from the artist's estate in 2016 for a touring exhibition when it was bought by a private collector in Sydney. Its return to the market also marks its auction debut.
By John Furphy on 27-Apr-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Lin Onus work likely to set a new auction record for the artist

Specialists at Deutscher and Hackett are expecting a new auction record for Lin Onus when a monumental work by the artist comes up for sale in Sydney on 10 May.

Riddle of the Koi, 1994 (lot 10) was released from the artist's estate in 2016 for a touring exhibition when it was bought by a private collector in Sydney. Its return to the market also marks its auction debut.

The painting is one of Onus' celebrated and highly-prized 'watery landscapes', though one of the few that seem so obviously inspired by his residency in Yokohama in 1989 - with the inclusion of the wonderfully decorative 'Koi' fish so prevalent in Japanese garden ponds.

At 2 x 4 metres the diptych is a major work, rich in detail and immensely appealing. With an estimate of $450,000-650,000 the work will likely sell for more than the artist's current auction record as recorded by the Australian Art Sales Digest, set in 2015 by Frogs on Waterlilies (which is one quarter the size of the current work) from the David Clarke Collection at Sotheby's Australia for $512,400 IBP.

10-Apr-2017

Gottfried Lindauer painting sets record at art auction in Wellington

An unrecorded painting by famous New Zealand artist Gottfried Lindauer has sold at a record price in an auction on Wednesday. The portrait of Chief Renata Kawepo sold for $227,000 on Wednesday night at Dunbar Sloane. The previous highest price a Lindauer portrait sold for was $198,000 in 2000.  Dunbar Sloane director of fine and applied art Helena Walker said the painting was bought by a direct descendant of the sitter. "It couldn't be going to a better home," she said. The painting was sold with the original purchase receipt signed by Lindauer.

09-Apr-2017

Radical religious messages left on website of art auction house Dunbar Sloane

Dunbar Sloane, New Zealand's prestigious art auction house, got a raw deal when its homepage, was hacked on Saturday. Messages "to the sons of monkeys and pigs" were left on the homepages at dunbarsloane.co.nz and dunbarsloane.com. The auction house uses both domain names in its promotions. "This hacked [sic] is dedicated to the Palestinian People," the site read at 5pm. "Your security is very low," the message said. It appeared alongside the tagline "hacked by #ShysterAngel. "Israhell does not have a presence we will continue to hacked your site because you are our enemies," it said. Several images of Middle Eastern conflict anchor the hacked page, sitting under rows of Arabic text.

09-Apr-2017

Mystery bid to take Goldie masterpiece out of New Zealand

The New Zealand Government is considering a bid by a mystery buyer to take one of the country's most celebrated historical artist's paintings offshore.The Ministry of Culture and Heritage confirmed it received an application to take a Charles F Goldie painting out of the country. It is considering whether the work should be protected by  laws allowing authorities to block culturally significant artefacts from being taken overseas. However, the identity of the painting and which country its owner hopes to take it to remains a mystery.

Clearing a very comfortable 93% by volume and a happy 123% by value, Deutscher and Hackett’s sale of The Laverty Collection Part III: Contemporary Australian Art closed the books on the third and final deaccession from the collection, amassing a total of $2,614,582 (including BP).The most expensive work (and the sale’s top lot) was Rover Thomas’ Djugamerri and Bolgumerri, 1991 (Lot 10), which reached $240,000 in the room before selling to a phone bidder for the mid-estimate price of $260,000.
By Jane Raffan on 06-Apr-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Beyond Sacred, but not Beyond Reach: The Laverty Collection Part III

Clearing a very comfortable 93% by volume and a happy 123% by value, Deutscher and Hackett’s sale of The Laverty Collection Part III: Contemporary Australian Art closed the books on the third and final deaccession from the collection with a solid, if not exciting performance: some strong result for artists, although no new major records, and a few collectors running off with bargains to boot.

With many works featuring in the Laverty’s lavish and highly regarded publications (two editions) on their collection: Beyond Sacred – it was reported that Elizabeth Laverty found it hard to let certain works go: “That sort of history makes a work terribly hard to sell.”[i] Let go they were, and sell they did, amassing a total of $2,614,582 (including BP).

 

02-Apr-2017

Two valuable Gottfried Lindauer paintings stolen in Auckland ram raid burglary video

There was "no evidence of political motivation" in the theft of two valuable Gottfried Lindauer paintings from an Auckland auction house, police say. Thieves smashed into the International Art Centre in Parnell and took the paintings about 4am on Saturday. The two portraits, Chieftainess Ngatai – Raure and Chief Ngatai-Raure, date from 1884. International Art Centre spokesman Ian Stuart said the paintings, which were due to be auctioned on April 4, were worth between $350,000 and $450,000 each.

William Robinson's whimsical 'Birkdale Farm Construction with Willy Wagtail', estimated at $250,000 - 350,000 leads the third sale of the Laverty Collection, to be sold by Deutscher and Hackett in Sydney on 5 April, 2017.
By John Furphy on 28-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

For the third and final time… last stand alone sale of Laverty Collection

The auction of the third tranche of the Laverty Collection will be conducted by Deutscher and Hackett in Sydney on Wednesday 5 April.  Comprising works by some of the finest indigenous and non-indigenous Australian artists on the market, the final sale follows two successful auctions that have come before it.

By Terry Ingram on 17-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Fortunate US purchase boosts total from Rob Gould Collection

Deutscher and Hackett’s sale of the collection of Melbourne based Rob Gould for $7.76 million in Sydney on March 15 was comfortably in excess of estimates largely due to a contribution of $2.1 million ($2.56 million with premium) from Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly – Outlaw 1955 (lot 9).

The $7.67 million was achieved with 70 per cent of the 74 lots finding buyers, many of them in the room. Helped greatly by the Nolan, the clearance by value was 106.9 per cent.

The London sale on March 22 of Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art, Maritime Art, Sporting & Wildlife Art at Christie’s South Kensington is almost certainly the last that will have an Australian lot illustrated on the catalogue cover, and probably the last lot of any special Australian interest to be offered in its rooms.
By Terry Ingram on 10-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Little Digger’s daughter's portrait presages sad end to long Aussie innings in UK saleroom

The London sale on March 22 of Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art, Maritime Art, Sporting & Wildlife Art at Christie’s South Kensington is almost certainly the last that will have an Australian lot illustrated on the catalogue cover, and probably the last lot of any special Australian interest to be offered in its rooms.

The lot is also the last that offers the opportunity for Australian institutions to compete for, in a saleroom that has produced many Australian institutional buys as well as private and trade purchases. The saleroom on Old Brompton Road which was established in 1975 as Christie's secondary London premises alongside its flagship King Street rooms is being closed down.

The Australian War Memorial has announced the acquisition of 'Ruby Plains Massacre 1', 1985 by Rover Thomas which the AWM said was acquired from 'an auction' but declined to give any more information on the grounds of 'commercial-in-confidence.' However, at Deutscher and Hackett’s sale of Aboriginal Art from the Luczo Family Collection of the USA, in Melbourne last August a work of this title, and of the same size, made $365,000 IBP.
By Terry Ingram on 10-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Institutional collectors pluck trophy paintings from a market overshadowed by wealthy private collectors

The Australian art market has lost two exemplary works, presumably for good, to the public sector following perceptive intervention in the secondary market by museum collections.

This is never welcome news to dealers as they are unlikely ever to secure a second bite at them. But if private collectors zero in on trophy works, deft funding utilisation is called for if public collections are to grow.

The works are Meditating on Good Friday 1961 a triptych, oil on board by Stanislaus Rapotec, 183 x 412 cm and Ruby Plains Massacre 1, 1985, natural earth pigments and bush gum on canvas, 90 x 180 cm by Rover Thomas.

On a quiet night for Mossgreen's much-anticipated Lowenstein sale in Melbourne, a shimmering Lin Onus painting Frog, c1995 with all the wistful pull of captured moonlight proved that a canny secondary market audience is after fresh high calibre works that are modestly estimated. This painting, built on the concept of reflected light realised $60,000 (IBP), just above its upper estimate.
By Peter James Smith on 09-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

A mercurial Lin Onus steals the limelight at Mossgreen’s Lowenstein sale.

Mossgreen are specialists in single-owner sales. On a quiet night for their much-anticipated Lowenstein sale, a shimmering Lin Onus painting Frog, c1995 (lot 76) with all the wistful pull of captured moonlight proved that a canny secondary market audience is after fresh high calibre works that are modestly estimated. This painting is built on the concept of reflected light, glowing like a glass-half-full bridge between aboriginal culture and western pictorial construction. True to form, the painted frog almost vanishes in the textured painted layers.  What a gem. It realised $60,000, just above its upper estimate.  (All realised prices quoted include the buyer’s premium.)  Compared to previous Lin Onus auction records, this was a modest sale. However for Onus, the records are held by works of larger scale and incisive aboriginal character.

Veteran Melbourne art dealer, Rob Gould is selling part of his private collection and gallery stock through Deutscher & Hackett in Sydney on 15 March, 2015. Gould plans to open a new space in Collingwood representing Contemporary artists.  Sidney Nolan is well-represented as the creator of 16 of the 74 works in the sale, including the work with the highest expectations, Ned Kelly – Outlaw 1955 from the second Kelly Series with the potential to set a record as the second highest price for a work by Nolan.
By John Furphy on 07-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Going for Gould: Art dealer trades up with a Kelly of high calibre

Veteran Melbourne art dealer, Rob Gould is selling part of his private collection and part of his gallery stock through Deutscher & Hackett in Sydney on 15 March, 2017.

The gallery was established by Rob Gould and his mother in its current premises in Toorak Road, South Yarra in 1980, and in the early 2000's also had an outlet in Queen Street Woollahra.

Deutscher + Hackett catalogue estimates for The Gould Collection of Important Australian Art compiled by the Australian Art Sales Digest are from $5.9 million to $8.1 million hammer.

Tom and Sylvia Lowenstein are about to auction more than 250 paintings, works on paper and sculptures valued at $2 million through Mossgreen Auctions as their firm Lowenstein’s Arts Management prepares for a new era. Leading the auction is John Olsen’s Rabbit Warren, Rydal 1997 with a catalogue estimate of $120,000-$150,000.
By , on 03-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Accountant to the artists slims collection with sale through Mossgreen

Tom and Sylvia Lowenstein are about to auction more than 250 paintings, works on paper and sculptures valued at $2 million as their firm Lowenstein’s Arts Management prepares for a new era. The couple occupy a unique position in the Australian art world as patrons, collectors and close confidantes to many Australian artists and, through these relationships, have created a collection that represents the very best of modern and contemporary art.

As February drew to a close, three of the major New Zealand art auctioneers held sales in Auckland in the same week giving collectors an opportunity to acquire works of art in a range of media for a reasonable capital outlay.
This suite of second and third tier art offered some excellent buying across a range of schools, styles subjects and media.
By John Perry in Auckland on 02-Mar-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Bang / bang / bang / three in a row... the New Year kicks off.

Well what a year of change 2016 was with all sorts of records being set at art auction by the major players, mostly in Auckland. Perhaps the most interesting detail to emerge was the record amount spent on art works during the year.

The new year has been quiet, but as February drew to a close the three major Auckland art auctioneers all held sales in the same week giving collectors an opportunity to acquire works of art in a range of media for a reasonable capital outlay.

This suite of second and third tier art offered some excellent buying across a range of schools, styles subjects and media.

A new unillustrated art book from one of the world’s most prestigious art publishers, contains some surprising inclusions and omissions. One of the  inclusions, given the art elite’s snootiness about art salesmanship, is the former Sydney dealer Barry Stern whose dealings in the 1960s and 1970s were ground breaking and honest, according to the author Christopher Heathcote. Stern is shown here in a photograph taken by Terry Ingram when the dealer lived in Morocco..
By Terry Ingram on 27-Feb-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Unillustrated art book has colourful take on Australian dealers but some blank canvasses

A period rich in characters observed with the eye of the seasoned flaneur is described in great detail and considerable perception in Inside the Art Market: Australia’s Galleries A History: 1956-1976.

The book is a tribute to the “real characters” who emerged during the market's creation in its seminal years. That was when and artists still wore berets and corduroy trousers instead of panama hats and Armani suits and rode on buses instead of driving Bentleys.

 

The final sale of in the disposal of the Thomas Vroom Collection features many works by Emily Kngwarreye including Desert Flowers 1995 (above) estimated at $12,000-18,000, and Kathleen Petyarre – the two artists about which he was most passionate – and many other significant canvases, bark paintings, sculptures, prints and artefacts.
By , on 21-Feb-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Fourth and final sale of Thomas Vroom Collection.

Over the past 60 years, Europeans and Americans – not Australians - have been in the majority when it comes to significant collections of Aboriginal art.

Chief among them is Dutchman Thomas Vroom, who in the late 1980s first encountered Australian indigenous art in New York.

For the next two decades, he became a passionate collector on an unprecedented level – acquiring important historical works at auction, tracking down and directly acquiring old collections, buying contemporary works on numerous trips to remote regions, from galleries in Australian capital cities and from international dealers.

Highlight of the sale were 12 sculptures in bronze and one in marble by British sculptor John Robinson (1935-2007) which accounted for 11 of the top 15 prices in the sale. Highest price in the sale was for the marble figure 'Danaide', (illustrated) 1985, (after the version by Rodin) which sold for $62,000 against estimates of $15,000-25,000.
By John Furphy on 21-Feb-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Sleeping figure by British sculptor with Australian connections shines at Mossgreen's Bowral sale

Mossgreen's first New South Wales auction for 2017 was not held in their saleroom in Queen Street Woollahra, but at the Gibraltar Hotel, Bowral, close to the property of the vendor, the late Michael Ball at Sutton Forrest.

Michael Ball was born and educated in Melbourne, but his career with advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather led him live and work in the US, Canada, England, Italy and Asia before retiring to Sutton Forest.

Over his life time he assembled an eclectic collection of furniture, glassware, sculpture, antiquities, tribal artefacts and taxidermy.

Coinciding with British artist David Hockney’s major solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Leonard Joel will offer two works by the artist at their auction on Thursday February 16 in their salerooms in South Yarra. 'Sunbather' 1970, (above) carries an estimate of $1,000-$1,500, while 'Parade Metropolitan Opera' 1981 is estimated at $1,200-1,800
By , on 10-Feb-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Two works by David Hockney to feature in Leonard Joel's first specialist print and photography auction for 2017

British artist David Hockney’s major solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria until March 13 is expected to generate plenty of interest in Leonard Joel’s first specialist print and photography auction for 2017 because two of his works will feature in the sale.

Now 79, Hockney is regarded as one of the most influential living artists and the exhibition features more than 1200 works from the past decade of his career including paintings, digital drawings, photography and video works.

The international guns fired again at Menzies first sale for 2017 in Melbourne, with Fernand Leger’s China Town, 1943, realising $1,875,000 including buyer’s premium. This price sits more than $300,000 shy of its previous realisation in 2015, but is still a bargain by heated international standards.
By Peter James Smith on 10-Feb-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Menzies closes the ledger on its first sale for 2017 with 82% clearance rate.

Garnishing the full flavour of secondary market cycles Menzies auctioneer Martin Farrah gathered a confident 82% clearance rate from bidders in Melbourne’s fading summer heat for the first major sale of 2017. The international guns fired again with Fernand Leger’s China Town, 1943, (lot 40) realising $1,875,000 including buyer’s premium. (All realised prices quoted include the buyer’s premium.) This price sits more than $300,000 shy of its previous realisation in 2015, but is still a bargain by heated international standards. Menzies February 2017 sale is a tale of firsts and lasts, of re-runs, of a market treading softly towards the upper end, but striding firmly at the lower.

Menzies will hold their first auction for 2017 on 9 February  in their rooms at 1 Darling Street South Yarra, and it will include a work from Danila Vassilieff’s most important period, the Soap Box Derby 1938, which according to Menzies head of Australian art Tim Abdallah, is the artist’s best work to come onto the Australian art auction market. Estimated at $40,000-50,000 it will have to exceed the top estimate to beat the record for a painting by the artist, which stands at $60,000 (hammer).
By , on 06-Feb-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Usual strong offerings for first Menzies sale of 2017.

Art lovers who visit Stonington mansion in Malvern over the next few days to view paintings earmarked for Menzies forthcoming auction on 9 February, will be struck on entry by the strong colour and highly stylised rendering of modern urban life in French 20th century master Fernand Léger’s 1943 work China Town, which takes pride of place in the foyer.

Australian painting is anything but over-priced if a Canadian painting sold in Toronto for a record price on November 23 is what at first it seems. The painting, Mountain Forms, executed in 1926 by Canadian artist Lawren Harris (1885 – 1970) sold for $C11.2 million at a Heffel’s auction in the former Toronto Stock Exchange Building.
By Terry Ingram on 11-Jan-2017 Exclusive to the AASD

Cold mountain turns Canadian art hot and puts Australian art in the shade

Australian painting is anything but over-priced if a Canadian painting sold in Toronto for a record price on November 23 is what at first it seems.

The painting, Mountain Forms, executed in 1926 by Canadian artist Lawren Harris (1885 – 1970) sold for $C11.2 million at a Heffel’s auction in the former Toronto Stock Exchange Building.

03-Jan-2017

Art Authenticator Peter Paul Biro Loses Appeal in New Yorker Defamation Suit [More holiday reading]

In a closely-watched defamation case, art authenticator Peter Paul Biro has lost his appeal of a case he brought against writer David Grann and New Yorker magazine publisher Condé Nast concerning  that raised questions about Biro’s methodology. Click the following link to read the full New Yorker  2010 article, The Mark of a Masterpiece.

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