News Archive — Current Year

There has been an appropriate amount of hoopla over the auction listing of Sidney Nolan's First-class Marksman (Lot 51) by Menzies Art Brands for their Sydney sale on March 25. The painting, which has an estimate of $3-5million, has a pedigree that speaks royalty in the Australian art realm.

Two unusual paintings by Polish migrant the late Joseph Ostoja-Kotkowski should grab centre of attention at Philips Auctions first sale of the year from noon Sunday at 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern.

After a five year association with Sydney-based auctioneer Tim Goodman, the venerable Adelaide firm of Theodore Bruce is going it alone. And it is kicking off its first year of independence with a cut to 15 per cent in the buyer’s premium it charges (compared with the 20 per cent common at big city auctions), plus the sale on March 14 of works from the legendary Strehlow collection - including a number of works by Albert Namatjira and other artists from the historic Hermannsburg Mission in Central Australia, where Carl Strehlow ministered in the 1890s.

E. J. Ainger of Melbourne are hoping to repeat the success of their last house sale with the auction of the effects of Jill Holst, and several other estates on Sunday February 28. On September 6, 2009 Ainger's very successfully sold the Estate of Marjorie May Kingston in South Yarra.

About 60 people braved the continuous torrential rain to attend the Australiana auction held by Davidson Auctions in its rooms at Annandale on February 6, our Sydney correspondent writes.. The crowd was only a tad under the numbers that the company usually associated with a print sale, Colin Chestnut of Davidson said.

The Resale Royalty for Visual Artists Act 2009, which was passed by the Federal Senate in late November, received Royal Assent on 9 December 2009.  Hence, resale royalties will commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation but no later than 9 June 2010, as set out in Section 2 of the Act.

Melbourne laywer Gary Singer has been commissioned to lead the hunt for a new CEO of the Goodmans/Sotheby's auction operation. But executive chairman Tim Goodman, his trophy Sotheby's secure, is still calling the shots, writes AASD's special correspondent.