John Joseph Wardell Power Australia, Britain, 1881-1943
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by John Power
Auction Houses
About John Power
Born in Sydney in 1881, John Wardell Power was a medical practitioner who, after the first World War, abandoned medicine for his career in art. Australia's first cubist painter, he lived most of his life in England and Europe. He died on the island of Jersey on 1943. On the death of his wife in 1962, Sydney University received a bequest of around $4 million Power had made for the encouragement of artists. This led to the establishment of the Power Institute of Fine Arts, and subsequently to the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The earliest auction listing we have for John Power is in 1979 and in total 29 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 21 (72%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $170,800 for Basket of Fruit, c. 1936 sold by Bonhams in June 2015. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by John Power are held by the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia and a further four major public national galleries (see list below).
John Power is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 794
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 355
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
No, ineligible. The artist has been deceased for more than 70 years.
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