Deutscher & Hackett sells all but seven lots in Part III of the sale of the Cbus Art Collection.

By Richard Brewster, on 19-Aug-2022

Deutscher and Hackett recorded another pleasing result of $321,300 including buyers premium (104 per cent by value) for Part III of its Australian superannuation giant Cbus art collection auction on August 16 in Melbourne. All but seven of the 48 paintings on offer sold, with well-known Australian painter and ceramic artist John Perceval’s (1923-2000) – the last surviving member of a self-taught group known as the Angry Penguins – painting entitled The Garden of Eden setting the tone from the opening lot reaching the high catalogue estimate of $24,000.

The sale achieved $321,300 including buyer's premiums with the top price achieved by Fred Williams 'Forest Trees' (above) which sold for the lower estimate figure of $35,000.

Unsurprisingly, top price went to Fred Williams (1927-1982) Forest Trees (Lot 4 ) which sold for the lower estimate figure of $35,000. It was listed as the highest priced painting in the sale but others were just as popular – such as Michael Shannon’s (1927-1993) Evening in Toorak Road (Lot 2 ) which brought $27,000 on a $15,000-$20,000 estimate.

New Zealand-born Australian painter Roland Wakelin (1887-1971) doubled his high catalogue estimate with a $14,000 hammer return ($17,182 with BP) for Beach at Sandringham (Lot 5 ), the same figure as that paid for abstract artist John Passmore’s (1904-1984) The Seagull (Lot 10 ).

Other artists worth mentioning include William Beckwith McInnes (1889-1939) (Summer Light - lot 18), Jan Scheltema (1861-1941) (Horses and Figure – lot 22) and John Peter Russell (1858-1930) (Pine Tree, Brigham’s Creek, New Zealand – lot 25 and New Zealand Landscape – lot 26), each of which changed hands for an inclusive BP price of $13,500.

Australian watercolourist Jesse Jewhurst Hilder (1881-1916) also featured in the top 10 results with her painting Nocturne which tripled its high catalogue estimate and sold $12,000.

 

All prices are hammer unless otherwise noted.

 

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About The Author

Richard Brewster has been writing about the antiques and art auction industry for almost 25 years, first in a regular weekly column for Fairfax's The Age newspaper and also in more recent times for his own website Australian Auction Review. With over 50 years experience as a journalist and public relations consultant, in 1990 Richard established his own business Brewster & Associates in Melbourne, handling a wide range of clients in the building, financial, antiques and art auction industries.

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