Alan Robert Melbourne Sumner Australia, 1911-94
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by Alan Sumner
Auction Houses
About Alan Sumner
Born in Melbourne in 1911, Alan Sumner studied at the National Gallery Art School in 1933, RMIT and the George Bell School. He served as a military artist with the RAAF during Worlld War II. A painter, silkscreen printer and stained glass designer, he first exhibited at Georges Gallery in Melbourne in 1946 followed by exhibitions in Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide. He was the head of the National Gallery School from 1954 to 1962.
In our database, 249 works by Alan Sumner are listed as being offered for sale, the earliest in 1976, of which 161 (65%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $42,700 for Hill Train Terminus Ferntree Gully sold by Deutscher and Hackett in May 2016. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by Alan Sumner are held by the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and a further five major public national galleries (see list below).
Alan Sumner 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 925
- Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia, Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition. Craftsman Press, Sydney, 1990. Page 655
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 370
- 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…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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