Whilst the major auction houses have drastically reduced the number of works they offer in their major sales, (Bonhams and Goodman's May sale comprised 54 lots), the prize for the smallest art sale by number of lots with it's own dedicated full colour illustrated catalogue for 2009, goes to Charles Leski Auctions, whose December 15 sale comprised 39 lots.
Better known for selling sporting and general memorabilia, stamps, coins and banknotes, the sale was put together for Charles Leski Auctions by Peter Struthers, formerly head of Art at Leonard Joel, and it neatly completes the circle, as it follows two art sales by Charles Leski Auctions in 2008, curated by John Albrecht, now CEO and Head of Art at Leonard Joel.
Of the 39 lots offered, 22 were provenanced to the collection of the late Dr. George Bearham, a Collins Street Melbourne obstetrician and gynaecologist who died in 1994.
All 22 paintings from the Bearham collection sold. These ranged from minor watercolours sold for as little as $160 up to $11,000 for Hans Heysen's Arkabu (Lot 27).
Top price was Arthur Streeton's The Rose Garden (Lot 3) which sold for $37,500, provenanced to a private collection in Hobart.
In total, 29 of the 39 lots offered were sold, and the sale grossed $96,650.
[All prices shown are hammer.]
(By Supplied, 20 Dec 2009)
Leonard Joel's final Sunday Art Sale for the year, on December 13 recorded a strong result grossing $612,000, with 81% of lots sold by value, and 72% sold by number.
Highest price was Margaret Olley's Lemons and Oranges 1964 (Lot 60) which sold for $43,200, more than double the low estimate of $20,000 but well below the highest price recorded for the artist of $99,875 for Ranunculus and Fruits I by Christie's in 2003.
The Leonard Joel catalogue noted that the proceeds of Lemons and Oranges 1964 would be donated to the Hamlin Fistula Relief & Aid Fund for their work with the hospitals and women in Ethiopia.
The appointment of John Albrecht as CEO and Head of Art of Leonard Joel on June 23 this year has seen the ramping up of the Sunday Art Sales. His appointment fell only a week short of the first anniversary of the closure of the Leonard Joel offshoot, Joel Fine Art of which John Albrecht was CEO .
The three Sunday Art Sales prior to his appointment, in February, April and June resulted in sales totals of $285,000, $286,000 and 382,000, and average of $317,000. Since his appointment, average sale value has more than doubled to $665,000, with $576,000 August, $809,000 in September and $612,000 in December
(By Supplied, 13 Dec 2009)
Less than a week after Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2009 was passed in Parliament, the Minister for the Arts Peter Garrett has released an open tender to identify and appoint a collecting society to administer the scheme.
"The collecting society will have responsibility for setting up and delivering Australia's first resale royalty scheme for visual artists." Mr Garrett said.
"The Australian Government is seeking tenderers who are experienced in the sector and have the ability to collect and pay royalties, educate the art sector about the scheme and establish reciprocal arrangements with other countries that have resale royalty schemes in place."
The Government has committed $1.5 million over three years to fund the scheme. Funding is for establishment costs, administration and database development, to ensure that the scheme is fully operational from day one.
It is hoped that in the long term, the collecting society will cover its costs from a percentage on collecting resale royalties.
(By Supplied, 4 Dec 2009)
(By John Furphy, 3 Dec 2009)
In our report published on Dec 1. entitled Summer Snow and Westerly Winds: Menzies Art Brands’ Final Front for the 2009 Season we wrongly attributed the sale of Fred Williams Evening Sky, Upwey 1965, highest price achieved at auction for 2009, to Sotheby's instead of Deutscher and Hackett.
We apologise to D&H for this error which has since been corrected.
(By John Furphy, 1 Dec 2009)
Sotheby’s Australia Aboriginal and Oceanic Art sale held this afternoon grossed $1,719,350 hammer, $2,063,220 with buyer's premium, compared with the low-high eatimate of $2,452,000-3,610,000 (excluding buyers premium). The percentage sold-by-lot for the sale was 67.8%.
Highest price was Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula's Water and Tucker (Lot 78) which sold for $150,000 including buyers premium, compared with an estimate of $100,000 - 150,000.
A newly discovered untitled work by William Barak (Lot 5) followed in the footsteps of the record-breaking success of Barak's Corroboree sold by Sotheby's in July this year, achieving $144,000, estimate $60,000-80,000.
A full report of the sale will be published shortly.
(By Supplied, 24 Nov 2009)
Although there has been little in the media of late concerning the Resale Royalty Bill, it has been set down for debate in the Federal Senate over the next fortnight, and there is still a possibility it will become operational by the end of the year
Clauses 1 and 2, as well as Part 3 of the Bill state that the resale royalty arrangement, initially earmarked to commence 1 July 2009, will instead become law once the Bill receives Royal Assent.
The commencement date will either be fixed by proclamation or within 6 months of receiving Royal Assent.
The best outcome one could hope for, is that the commencement date will be 1 January 2010 to ease the administration for art market professionals, but it will also be dictated by the timeframe necessary to establish the scheme watchdog, The Collecting Society. (My own suggestion is for tenderers to name their organisation The Thief Catcher in homage to Robert Hughes’ Fatal Shore but I digress).
Public tender to establish The Collecting Society can only occur once the Bill has received Royal Assent, and this will take between 7 and 10 working days after the legislation passes through the Senate.
(By , 12 Nov 2009)