Menzies Important Australian and International Art, held in Melbourne on 27 March 2024 achieved a sales total of $4.0 million including buyer’s premium, selling 84% by volume and 122% by value. Fierce bidding on Bronwyn Oliver’s Acorn, 2005 (Lot 48 ) a sculpture from the Rod Menzies Estate created in the final year of the late artist’s life, predictably saw prices fly far beyond the very modest estimates of $60,000 - 80,000 to settle at a hammer price of $190,000 ($237,500 inc. BP) to a bidder online, via the third-party Invaluable.com platform.
While the cover lot, a fresh-to-market “Face and Flowers” painting by Charles Blackman, Daydream, 1958 (Lot 33 ) took the highest price of the night, $220,000, the real excitement came from competitive bidding on modernist and contemporary works by female artists and respected Indigenous masters, perhaps pointing to a gradual shift in interest away from the formerly reliable blue-chip artists (such as Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd, Fred Williams, and Lloyd Rees, all of whom were represented in this sale with multiple lots, each with at least one failing to find a home). Prospective collectors were called to attention on the night when radically low reserve prices were announced in extremis on selected works, including those from the Estate of former chairman Rodney Menzies, further slashing prices on top of already reduced estimates (in comparison to much higher values the works had previously achieved at auction, as noted by Elizabeth Fortescue in the Australian Financial Review on the 20th of March).
Fierce bidding on Bronwyn Oliver’s Acorn, 2005 (Lot 48 ) a sculpture from the Rod Menzies Estate created in the final year of the late artist’s life, predictably saw prices fly far beyond the very modest estimates of $60,000 - 80,000 to a settle at a hammer price of $190,000 ($237,500 inc. BP) to a bidder online, via the third-party Invaluable.com platform. International works from the Menzies collection including a citrus-toned seascape by Kees Van Dongen, Deauville, Les Tentes, 1956 (Lot 49 ) and Aristide Maillol, Baigneuse Debout se Coiffant, le Coude Levé, 1921, a table-top bronze statuette in an edition of 6 (Lot 50 ) both sold sensibly within estimates, with hammer prices of $170,000 and $40,000 respectively. Auctioneer Martin Farrah was right to point out from the rostrum, in the hope of stimulating further bidding in the room, that these works had previously carried much higher expectations [the Kees Van Dongen was last sold for $350,000 against estimates of $320,000 - 380,000 in March 2019 and the Maillol was last sold for $60,000 in June 2019 against estimates of $60,000 - 80,000, both auctions taking place at Menzies]. It is worth noting a comparable example of the Baigneuse Debout was sold at Crait+Müller in Paris in November 2019 for a hammer price of 68,000 EUR ($112,580 AUD). Much reduced estimates, however, did little to entice interest in Charles Blackman’s A Choir for Christabel, 1972 (Lot 52 ) and Tim Maguire’s Untitled 20070406, 2007 (Lot 47 ), with Farrah taking a radical choice to opt for a Dutch auction technique the former to ensure a sale at any price. Although this portrait of one of the Blackman daughters carried pre-sale estimates of $70,000 - 90,000, starting bids of $50,000 then $40,000, then $30,000 were announced before bidding sparked, finally climbing to find a final hammer price of $38,000 ($47,500 inc. BP) to a lucky bidder in the room. The semi-abstract floral oil painting by Tim Maguire, which featured a printed indication in the catalogue next to its printed pre-sale estimates of $38,000 - 48,000 : “this lot is for sale with no reserve”, was in fact was offered on the night with a revised estimate of $16,000 - 20,000. Farrah started the bidding at only $10,000 before a battle between room bidders and those online ended, the work selling for $16,000 ($20,000 inc BP). In contrast, although it carried the third highest pre-sale estimate of the night at $140,000 - 180,000, Sidney Nolan’s Burke and Camel, c. 1966 (Lot 53 ) failed to find a willing buyer on the night.
Keenness for works of quality by previously overlooked Modernist female artists was evident in the high prices achieved for Agnes Goodsir, Zinnias in a Green Bowl, c.1925 (Lot 5 ), selling for a hammer price of $22,000 above estimates of $8,000 - 12,000; and Janet Cumbrae Stewart, The Green Bowl, 1927 (Lot 88 ), achieving $12,000 online, beyond pre-sale estimates of $7,000 - 9,000. Strong interest was also observed for contemporary female artists, with a large abstract painting by Melbourne painter Helen Maudsley, We Are As We Are, Not as We Would Like, 1995, setting a new auction record for the artist at $9,000 ($11,250 inc. BP). This painting also broke a record last time it was offered at auction, at Lawson~Menzies in March 2009, where it was acquired by Rodney Menzies. The same scenario also applies to the stunning painting over 3m long, by Angelina Ngal Pwerle, Spring Flowers at Arlparra, 2007 (Lot 55 ). It was last sold at auction at Lawson~Menzies at the peak of the market in 2007 with estimates of $30,000 - 40,000, where it set a record at $32,000 hammer ($38,400 inc. BP), when purchased by Menzies. On Wednesday night, it was again hotly contested in quickfire volley between online and telephone bidders, to finally achieve a hammer price of $55,000 ($68,750 inc. BP). A similarly high result was achieved for a smaller work by the artist (Lot 95 ), selling for $18,000, eclipsing estimates of $8,000 - 12,000. Perhaps the Australian market for Pwerle is buoyed by her performance at auction in the United States, where a new record of US$120,650 (A$181,494, inc. BP) was set by Sotheby’s in May last year?
Glowing with watery reflections, Albert Namatjira’s watercolour Ellery Creek Big Hole, c.1955 (lot 03) flew beyond conservative expectations to achieve a price of $75,000 to a bidder present in the room. This result, although much higher than the pre-sale estimate, is consistent with high prices commanded for works of unusual compositions and strong colour values by the respected Arrernte master, with very recent examples at Cooee Art Leven (Glen Helen Gorge, 1942) and Deutscher and Hackett (Ranges West Simspons Gap) both surpassing consistent estimates of $30,000 - 40,000 to reach hammer prices of $60,000 and $66,000 respectively. Likewise, Yorta-Yorta artist Lin Onus remains ever popular, with a painting of his recurrent frogs on illustration board, Gumiring Garkman, 1994 (Lot 27 ) receiving much interest during the preview exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne before bidders battled over it on the phone on Wednesday night. The work sold for a hammer price of $85,000 ($106,250 inc. BP), a remarkable price for a work this size.
Works featuring an impeccable provenance from the Estate of the late Clive Evatt, QC did well on the night, with Brett Whiteley’s confronting assemblage Heroin Clock 2, 1981 (Lot 28 ) selling for $82,500 ($103,125 inc. BP). Although the bidding for this lot had a sputtering start, a cheeky half-bid offered by a phone bidder was key to securing the work, successfully shaking off competing internet bidders. A rare painting by Martin Sharp from the Evatt Estate, the candy-coloured Ginger Meggs, 1979 (Lot 19 ) sold comfortably for $32,000, between estimates. Other high prices on the night were achieved with Arthur Boyd’s Shoalhaven River with Black Cockatoo, c.1980 (Lot 34 ), selling for $190,000; John Glover’s Mill on the Tiber (After Claude), c.1840 (Lot 39 ), selling for $110,000; Clarice Beckett’s Bridge over the Yarra (Punt Road Bridge), c. 1924 (Lot 35 ), selling for $100,000; and Tom Roberts’ Lake Como, 1913 (Lot 37 ) which sold for $60,000. An honourable mention also goes to a diminutive and unusual watercolour of Sydney Harbour by Brett Whiteley, Sydney Cove, 1958 (Lot 14 ), for which bidding ran away online hours before the auction commenced on-site in Melbourne, to finally be sold for $24,000 ($30,000 inc. BP) on the night.
All prices quoted are hammer prices and do not include the buyer’s premium, unless otherwise stated .On the night the sale achieved 82.5% by number of lots sold.
