Menzies’ first sale of the year started with a bang – or was it a CRAK?: three of the leading US Pop artists, Lichtenstein, Haring and Warhol, set the mood for the pre-Easter auction in Melbourne: 140 of the 170 lots sold, with a total hammer price of $5.588 million or $6.859 million incl. buyer’s premium, equating to clearance rates of 82% by volume and 85% by value.
Lots 1, 2 and 3 were all limited edition prints by giants of the contemporary art world, but the current jitters in the world market for this category were nowhere evident when Roy Lichtenstein’s CRAK 1964 (Lot 1 ) from an edition of 300 with Josef Lebovic provenance sold for a healthy $28,000 hammer price on its $20,000-$30,000 estimate.
Meanwhile, Keith Haring’s Pop Shop IV, 1989 (Lot 2 ) which is actually a complete set of four screenprints from an original edition of 200, on the same estimates as lot 1 sold for $40,000 or double the low estimate.
Continuing the run, Andy Warhol’s iconic soup scan screenprint from 1968 (Lot 3 ) from an edition of 250, sold for $19,000, estimated at $15,000-$20,000. According to Cameron Menzies, all three Americans headed back home to US West Coast based collectors.
A modest, colourful early painting by Emanuel Phillips Fox from c1889-90 (Lot 9 ) received considerable attention from both room and phone bidders, selling for $15,000 on expectations of $8,000-$10,000.
A private collection of exceptional sculptures were offered next. A rare Norman Lindsay bronze Aphrodite (Lot 10 ), number 1 from an edition of 10, sold for $16,000, just above the low estimate of $15,000.
Four rare stunning bronzes by one of Australia’s most revered 19th century sculptors, Bertram Mackennal, received mixed attention: the tiny Peace, c1896 (Lot 11 ) only managed a small price of $9,500 on its $12,000-$16,000 estimate. Daphne, 1897 (Lot 12 ) was also a little shy of its $45,000 low estimate, selling for $38,000.
Interest however rose markedly at each new Mackennal, as Head of a Saint, 1892 (Lot 13 ) sold exactly at its low estimate, a respectable $90,000. Saving the best till last, the serene and timeless Morning (Woman Dressing her Hair), c1902 (Lot 140 ) was estimated at $30,000-$40,000, and not surprisingly attracted the most interest, selling at $50,000.
Penleigh Boyd's delightful Portsea Pier, 1922 (Lot 15 ) sold just below its low estimate of $45,000 at $40,000.
It was a tale of two Olleys, as the very large Still Life with Lilies and Agapanthus, 1973 (Lot 16 ) failed to bloom on the night on its $50,000-$70,000 estimate. The smaller Untitled (Still Life with Poppies and Daisies), 1969 (Lot 71 ), meanwhile received massive interest: it shot away from its $25,000-$30,000 estimate to hit a hammer price of $38,000.
Jeffrey Smart proved himself ever popular in the auction room with three very different examples: Morgan Warehouse 1946 (Lot 18 ), perhaps a connoisseur’s painting, sold below its low estimate of $70,000-$90,000 at $60,000, whereas the brightly coloured and much more typical road sign and lorry images in Panel of Studies for Autobahn in the Black Forest, 1979 (Lot 25 ) sold mid-range of the estimates at $160,000, the auctioneer Martin Farrah suggesting that it might be turned into four individual paintings due to its design. Finally, Nomentana, Rome, 1965 (Lot 89 ) an ink and watercolour work on paper, sold well at double its high estimate of $10,000, for $20,000 hammer price.
A typically large canvas by Tim Storrier landscape (or should we say skyscape)Over the Night Road (Flame & Line) (Lot 27 ), 107 x 300 cm, was a particularly good example and generated much interest. With a wide estimate of $150,000-$200,000, it sold just below the high estimate at $190,000. Destined for a Hong Kong collection, the freight bill on such a large painting however might be a bit painful.
Prices for Garry Shead paintings have generally been off the boil for a number of years, so it is refreshing to see such confidence in the sale of The Studio, 2001 (Lot 30 ). It was of course the cover lot of the sale, and also a very large canvas at 181 x 282.5 cm – although paintings of such large proportions can sometimes be off-putting except for those with the maximum wall space to accommodate them. A sale then at the low end of estimates of $260,000 is a success, given it is also the second highest price ever for a painting at auction by the artist. The highest priced was set by Queen of Suburbia, 1997, which was sold by Sotheby’s at the height of the market in August 2007 for $360,000 hammer price.
Sidney Nolan’s very red Camel and Man, 1966 (Lot 32 ) did not take off on its $180,000-$240,000 estimate and was left unsold, while the very dark Lagoon (Mrs Fraser), 1958 (Lot 37 ) however, with a very modern feel and looking like a good buy, sold for $85,000 on its $90,000-$120,000 estimate.
It seems that a strong revision of prices for James Gleeson is in effect at all leading auctioneers, and the two very large paintings on offer both sold below their low estimates: Landscape with Self-Portrait in Parenthesis, 1994 (Lot 22 ), at $38,000, whilst The Wall, 1986 (Lot 42 ) sold for $45,000 on estimates of $50,000-$70,000.
Perhaps the most competitively bid painting of the night was Rick Amor’s giant work The Attic Amphora (The Lamp), 1994 (Lot 24 ), 140 x 360 cm. The painting resembles a temple, but in fact is a stylised depiction of the lobby of the iconic Melbourne building 333 Collins Street (and a commission by the seller);it well and truly trounced its $120,000-$160,000 estimate, finally selling to a very determined room bidder for $185,000– an auction record for the artist. The previous record for Amor was set in March 2010 also by Menzies for The Waiter; this much smaller and somewhat ghostly painting at 107 x 91 cm sold for $110,000 hammer price on estimates of $60,000-$80,000.
Lively bidding ensued for the modestly sized Bridge in China, 1933 (Lot 44 ) by Ian Fairweather. This important early work sold comfortably above its $40,000-$50,000 expectations for $65,000.
There were a number of what could only be described as difficult works by Charles Blackman in the sale: lots 45, 56, 84 and 104. All lacked the artist’s usual spark and that included a later watercolour (Lot 162 ) which did manage to sell for $2,600, whilst a more typical Dancing Alice (Lot 170 ), a screenprint, sold for $2,000.
Meanwhile, the two William Dobell offerings both featured the weather in their titles, and both weathered very well: Bike Rider, Stormy Weather, Wangi (Lot 48 ) was a tiny 9.5 x 13.5 cm gouache on card with a $6,000-$9,000 estimate – it reigned it in at $17,000.The following lot Study for Westerly Breeze, 1948 (Lot 49 ), a somewhat larger painting in oil at 23.5 x 28 cm, sold for $34,000 on its $20,000-$30,000 expectations.
On the back of an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, Lloyd Rees’ pencil on paper study (Lot 93 ) not surprisingly well surpassed its estimates and sold for double the high estimate of $7,000 for $14,000.
Good works by auction favourite Ray Crooke continue to find favour with collectors.. Four were offered in this sale, lots 60, 70, 102 and 105 with sales at $3,400, $25,000, $16,000 and $26,000 respectively.
A very strong image by Sally Gabori (Lot 111 ) attracted keen interest: it was estimated keenly at $3,000-$5,000 and bidding for it didn’t stop until the hammer fell at $9,000.
Pablo Picasso not wanting to be left behind by his American friends, one of the last lots of the sale, Jacqueline, 1958 (Lot 168 ), from an edition of 100, was enthusiastically bid for by Menzies executive chairman Rod Menzies who secured it for his client for $13,000 hammer price, well beyond its $5,000-$7,000 estimate.
