Smith & Singer's sale of Important Australian Art to be held in Sydney on 17 April 2024 presents a selection of extraordinary moments in Australian art history, along with ground-breaking paintings, sculptures and works on paper by the most influential artistic innovators of historical, modern, and contemporary Australian Art. Among the highlights of the sale is Fred Williams’s major composition, Landscape (1976-1977) (Lot 21 ), which carries a catalogue estimate of $1,400,000–1,800,000.
Landscape (1976-1977) (Lot 21 ) is one of eleven paintings measuring six by five feet (183 x 152 cm) included in Fred Williams’s 1978 solo exhibitions. Landscape is one of the most impressive from the series of revolutionary subjects created by Fred Williams in the 1970s that was acquired from the acclaimed solo exhibition Fred Williams: Paintings, Gouaches, Lithographs 1976-1978, shown at The University of Western Australia, Perth, and Contemporary Art Society, Adelaide, in 1978.
Arthur Streeton’s Sunlight at the Camp 1894 (Lot 22 ) having been hidden from public view since its creation, and known only to a handful of Streeton scholars, dazzles in its technical as well as visual brilliance. The significance of the re-emergence of Sunlight at the Camp cannot be overstated. Not only does the painting rightfully and effortlessly claim its position as one of the finest works by the artist remaining in private ownership, but also offers a timely re-affirmation of the extraordinary and enduring legacy of one of Australia’s most influential creative practitioners.
In Doves on the Balcony, Lavender Bay (Lot 19 ), Brett Whiteley achieved the ideal synthesis of all his skills, learned or guessed, providing us the ‘Great Glimpse’ of his and our world. A perfectly formed and articulated statement reflective of the ‘very quiet, very minute and very silent’, Whiteley has produced in Doves on the Balcony, Lavender Bay a composition of quiet exhalation that elevates the soul and provides the ultimate statement on the highest achievements of Australian art.
William Dobell’s The Chamber Maid (1937) (Lot 17 ), is a rare and historic composition by one of Australia’s most celebrated artists and has remained largely hidden from view until now, re-emerging for public auction for the first time. The Chamber Maid created in London during the 1930s helped established Dobell’s reputation as an insightful observer of the mundane rituals and realities of everyday living as well as the theatrical and lively intercourse of social events and occasions.
Australian women artists are superbly represented with exceptional examples by Clarice Beckett, Cressida Campbell, Bronwyn Oliver, and Margaret Olley.
