The other double act last night consisted of one of the most seasoned auctioneers and former head of Christies Australia, Roger McIlroy, and his follow-on performer Scott Livesey, both of Melbourne and both in their comfortable roles of dealer/auctioneer.
Mr. McIlroy was clearly keen to get into the action and started at an unusually blistering pace. This was in stark contrast to the rather slow-paced painting he was offering as lot 1, a modest and small watercolour by Charles Dirck Wittenoom titled Sketch of the Town of Perth Western Australia (Lot 1 ).
The key to its status as lot 1 and also the estimates of $150,000 to $200,000 lay in its early date of ca. 1836-37 and the expert belief that it is the earliest depiction of St. George’s Terrace, the main thoroughfare of Perth.
Looking somewhat of a sleepy little village, this painting had been off the market since its previous sale almost 30 years ago in May 1988 at Christies in Melbourne, where it sold for the then high hammer price of $85,000. It sold to art consultant and valuer Adrienne Carlson at the back of the room for an exceptional hammer price of $240,000. One might speculate that after a trip across the Nullarbor from a private collection to be sold in Sydney, it might have to make the trek back, but this time to a public institution perhaps.
Speaking of pictures with Public Institution written all over them, George Rowe’s George Rowe at the Diggings Near Ararat, c. 1858 (Lot 2 ) is one of the most historically interesting paintings to arrive onto the market this year. It is not only as grand a scale painting as any Eugene von Guerard, it also offers us the artist himself painting this picture in the foreground with a group of Aboriginals, the Grampian Ranges and the town of Ararat.
Its one problem was its condition, and perhaps the one thing that put off any institutional bid on this monumental work. With plans to completely restore this magnificent work, coming with the provenance of the great-great-granddaughter of the artist, and repatriated from New Jersey, USA, art dealer Andrew Crawford was delighted with his purchase for perhaps the buy of the night at $150,000 hp on estimates of $250,000-350,000.
Lots 3 to 6 were 4 stunning still life paintings by 4 of our greatest exponents of the genre. Not surprisingly, they all sold: Grace Cossington-Smith’s Wattle, c1944 (Lot 3 ), sold for the high estimate of $80,000, whilst Margaret Preston’s more traditional Flowers in a Jug, 1955 (Lot 4 ), sold at the low end of expectations at $45,000.
Roses, la France, c1933 (Lot 5 ) by Arthur Streeton was keenly sought and achieved a healthy $48,000, estimated at $35,000-45,000. Last and not least Margaret Olley’s glorious bouquet Winter Flowers (Lot 6 ) rounded out the decades to the 1960s, and sold at the low estimate for $30,000.
The interest in Charles Blackman continues, and there were two very committed bidders on the very large 172.5 x 213 cm The Letter, c. 1968 (Lot 7 ). It was secured at $135,000, just shy of the top estimate of $140,000.
Don’t we all just love a knockout bid? The trouble is they don’t always work, they simply upset or stall the bidding. In this case, Jeffrey Smart’s The Dome II, 1978-79 (Lot 8 ), you would think that a bid of the high estimate of $200,000 for this modestly sized oil on paper work would have carried it away. However, the battle was only won when the hammer came down on a $240,000 final bid.
Henry Moore’s diminutive Reclining Stringed Figure, 1939 and cast 1982 (Lot 9 ) was one of the pass-ins of the night: estimated at $180,000-240,000 failed to sell, but perhaps not surprising given its previous selling price in the US just recently.
But overall it was a splendid night for sculpture: large-scale works by Clement Meadmore are rare, and Virginia, 1970 (Lot 10 ) clearly pleased as it sold nicely at $100,000, exact mid-range of its $80,000-120,000 expectations.
Meanwhile, French/Swiss artist Niki de Saint Phalle made her first appearance in the Australian auction room: her Les Baigneurs (Lot 15 ) (The Bathers) happily found a new home in the land of surf, sand and beach, selling for $40,000 on estimates of $35,000-55,000. The painted polyester resin sculpture was number 7 from the edition of 20, aside from the edition of 150 – certainly not that rare, but probably completely unique in Australia.
Bertram McKennal’s beguiling, provocative and powerful Circe, c1902-04 (Lot 23 ) so bewitched the many bidders that the $210,000 hp now constitutes a new auction record for the artist, eclipsing the previous highest price for a comparable work achieved by Menzies in 2007.
The most expensive painting of the evening was a pencils and playing cards themed work from 1989-90 by John Brack titled Never (Lot 11 ). With the possibility of adding another $1 million dollar plus sale to their 2017 tally of three, the sale of this particular painting was extremely important to this auction. After seemingly stalling at $700,000, and the auctioneer looking like he was going to pass it in, those pencils got moving as Mr McIlroy dealt a fresh deck of cards. The bids were coming fast and furious not only from the phone, but also from art consultant Michael Nagy seated immediately behind us.
Before we all knew it, the price was approaching the magic million dollar mark. The phone bidder took the million dollar spot, and Mr Nagy bid $1.1 million – which seemed somewhat of a jump after the many increments of $10,000. After correcting his bid amount to one million and ten thousand dollars, Nagy successfully secured the painting for his buyer, with a round of applause forthcoming.
Success was also the order of the day for Howard Arkley’s A Freeway Painting (Exit), 1994 (Lot 12 ). Just as Wittenoom’s little dusty colonial path took off, so did this massive modern thoroughfare, selling for $470,000, or $20,000 above the low estimate.
Cressida Campbell’s woodblocks have been achieving remarkable prices of late, and in what was clearly one of the best examples ever to appear at auction, Spotted Eucalypts, Orange, 2000 (Lot 14 ) surpassed its expectations of $45,000-65,000, selling for $80,000. Likewise, Aida Tomescu’s Salamander, 2007 (Lot 17 ), another artist much in favour in the secondary market, sold at $38,000, well above its $20,000-30,000 hopes.
Large aboriginal works by Lin Onus Deep Water (Matong), 1995, (Lot 20 ) est. $120,000-160,000, and Emily Kngwarreye, Alhalkere (My Country), 1990 (Lot 21 ), est. $100,000-150,000, sold both for $120,000.
Meanwhile another Emily, Untitled, 1991, (Lot 22 ) on estimates of $60,000-80,000 did not find a buyer on the night, nor did Tracey Moffat’s Something More No. 1, 1989 (Lot 19 ), estimated at $45,000-65,000.
Though initially passed in, Ian Fairweather’s Scooters, 1950 (Lot 24 ) just made it to the finish still during the auction at $60,000, just $10,000 under the low estimate.
Still on two wheels, John Olsen’s The Bicycle Boy’s Collision, 1961 (Lot 27 ) had no such issues with bids colliding into each other too. The estimates of $50,000-70,000 were overridden when the work sold for $80,000.
The love continues too for Adelaide’s modernist printmaker Dorrit Black. The String Quartette, c1935 (Lot 37 ) sold well above estimates for this two-coloured linocut. The movement-filled work sold for $40,000, or twice the high expectation, and matching the fifth highest price for the artist, achieved last year at Bonhams with Argentina (The Spanish Dancer, c1928-29.
The auction achieved a very respectable $5.24 million including buyer’s premium, with 83% sold by volume and 108% sold by value.
Year-to-date sales of fine art at auction in Australia stand now at $101.8 million, which is $18 million more than last year’s total of $83.05 million at the same time.
With four major auctions still to go before the end of the year, we might expect to have the second best fine art auction year on record. 2016 achieved $106.5 million, whilst 2007 was the boom year, where $175.6 million worth of art was sold.
The total art auction sales by auction house to date are:
Deutscher + Hackett $30.73 million
Sotheby’s $26.03 million
Menzies $19.14 million
Mossgreen $8.69 million
Leonard Joel $3.87 million
Bonhams $3.5 million
