Davidson Auctions to offer Rare Collection of Paintings by Australian Women Artists this Sunday

By David Hulme & Brigitte Banziger, on 17-Jul-2019

It is hard not to be inspired by one man’s art collection passion, especially when it comes from the ebullient David James Angeloro, who was born and raised in Syracuse, New York, but has called Australia home since 1971. Angeloro’s enthusiasm for Australian women artists and in particular many who have been forgotten is unabated. After nearly 50 years pursuing his deeply held views about the museum quality of these paintings, his collection of close to 100 works (almost a quarter of the total of 475 lots) is to be sold at a Davidson Auctions fine art sale this Sunday 21 July from 12 noon, in Annandale, Sydney. https://www.davidsonauctions.com.au/

After 50 years of collecting Australian women artists, close to 100 paintings from the Angeloro Family Collection will be offered with Davidson Auctions on Sunday 21 July in Sydney. Above: Lot 146, Florence Rodway, Profile Portrait of a Woman in Fur-lined Coat, est.$1,200-2,500.

We spoke with David Angeloro, and he tells us that he is moving back to New York for family reasons, saying that “it is time for new art lovers to appreciate and cherish these items”.

Accompanying this impressive collection is an equally impressive academic analysis titled An Australian Woman’s Impression and its Influence (a more complete picture) written by David Angeloro, a part of a manuscript for a book to be published next year, and now available online at the Davidson Auctions website. Angeloro makes some strong points there which make for very interesting reading, in particular on how well known and appreciated women artists from 1890 to 1940 were at the time – see  

https://www.davidsonauctions.com.au/files/a_womans_impression_and_its_influences_2019_july.pdf

Of course, David Angeloro is not the only collector of Australian female artists, as the well known and highly regarded Sheila Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art is testament to – see https://sheila.org.au/collection/ and https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/the-art-world-angel-her-son-the-countess-and-the-detective-20190519-p51p2z.html

Both the National Gallery of Victoria State and the Ballarat Art Gallery have currently shows on women artists, see https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/modern-australian-women/

 and https://artgalleryofballarat.com.au/, and commercial dealers like Lauraine Diggins who sadly passed away earlier this year, and Christopher Day amongst other have promoted early Australian women artists exhibitions, see https://www.diggins.com.au/exhibition/australian-women-artists-between-the-wars/ and

http://dayfineart.com/exhibitions/progression-women-in-australian-art/

Art museums are taking a very visible stand in this regard: The National Gallery of Australia under the auspices of its director Nick Mitzevich has launched a campaign in acknowledgment that only one quarter of its own collection comprise works by female artists, see https://nga.gov.au/knowmyname/ and https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/know-my-name-the-new-push-for-female-artists-20190524-p51qpb.html

For International Women’s Day this year, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, held a symposium “Unfinished Business: Women’s Representation in the Arts”, and in Perth on Saturday 3rd August, at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, leading female artists discuss the history of women’s art including those forgotten, see https://www.mca.com.au/stories-and-ideas/womens-representation-in-the-arts/ and https://www.artshub.com.au/whats-on/western-australia/panels-lectures-ideas/women-in-art-241571.

The Portia Geach Prize has always been about women portrait painters, and the recent Ravenswood School Art Prize is also trying to redress the gender imbalance by offering its $35,000 art prize only open to the most talented women artists, see https://www.shervingallery.com.au/event/portia-geach-memorial-award-2019/ and https://www.ravenswoodartprize.com.au/2019/artprize/home

Perhaps it is Janine Burke’s 1980 publication “Australian Women Artists 1840 – 1940” that helped start the momentum, and it looks like that this has finally turned into a torrent of action from many different places, see also https://art150.unimelb.edu.au/articles/women-and-art

Some of the (very reasonably priced) highlights from the Angeloro Family Collection offered on Sunday with Davidson Auctions include:

  • Elaine Coghlan, Self Portrait at Easel, c1917 (Lot 105 ), est. $600-$1,000

  • Sybil Craig, Chinese Jar and Black-Berry Leaves, 1934 (Lot 112 ), est. $800-$1,200

  • Aline Cusack, Moored Ships, Darling Harbour, 1895 (Lot 114 ), est. $500-$800

  • Portia Geach, Autumn Idyll, Cremorne Point (Lot 118 ), est. $450-$750

  • Jessie Laver Evans, Little Wanderers in the Bush, c.1898 (Lot 117 ), est. $800-$1,500

  • Elaine Haxton, Boathouse, Pittwater, c1960 (Lot 123 ), est. $5,000-$8,000

  • Ellen Adye Hume, Still Life (Lot 125 ), est. $500-$800

  • Alice J. Muskett, The Horse Ferry, Sydney Harbour, 1908 (Lot 137 ), est. $1,500-2,500

  • Florence Rodway, Profile Portrait of a Woman in a Fur-lined Coat (Lot 146 ), est. $1,200-2,500

  • Jessie Scarvell, Sheep Grazing, 1898 (Lot 147 ), $600-$1,000

  • Ethel A. Stephens, Garden Arch (Lot 150 ), est. $350-$550

  • Jessie Traill, Lantern Light (Lot 153 ), est. $1,300-2,250

Sale Referenced:

About The Author

Brigitte Banziger and David Hulme are the principals of Banziger Hulme Fine Art Consultants, established since 2003. With their combined experience of over 40 years, they provide private collectors as well as companies and public institutions with independent expert art valuations. In addition to their appraisals for insurance, family law, deceased estates and market values, they assist clients with transparent advice when buying or selling an individual artwork or an entire collection, for some of Australia’s most significant private collectors. David Hulme is an approved valuer for the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, and both Brigitte and David are members of the Art Consulting Association of Australia, where David served as President from 2015 to 2019. David Hulme is a regular art market critic and commentator on the Australian art market and has been interviewed by numerous media, including the 'Australian Financial Review', 'The Australian' and 'The Sydney Morning Herald'. He has also been interviewed on Network 10’s 'The Project', on the ABC’s Radio National Breakfast show with Hamish MacDonald, the ABC’s 'The Business' program amongst many others.

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