Davidson’s previous record of $255 422 IBP set at an international auction house way back in 1997 had remained unchallenged for 24 years. On Australian soil, this very same painting last sold at Deutscher and Hackett in 2008 for a hammer price of $130,000. That is a cool half million increase.
The Smith and Singer auction held in Sydney was very successful on three fronts: first, financially with 93% of lots sold and 118% by total hammer-price value compared to the lower estimates. The pandemic era is treating auction houses kindly when they offer carefully-selected artworks in limited number so that the bidding can be monitored across the room, through phone lines and on the internet—carefully and slowly. Second, it was also successful in moving the big trophy items such as the new-to-market McCubbin (Lot 26 ) at a hammer price of $1,200,000 right on the lower estimate. Third, the house also savoured several contemporary works, such as the delightful ‘Yellow Peril’ Robertson-Swann maquette from an edition of 10 (Lot 42 ) which sold at $45,000, nearly double the high estimate of $25,000.
It is notable that on 3 or 4 occasions the internet bidders were successful in out-manoeuvring room and telephone bidders, often striking at the end of a run of bids to claim the prize. The role of the internet will certainly not be lessening as we move out of the pandemic.
Then there is the location of the sale. Smith and Singer are normally based at the Paris end of Collins Street in Melbourne, but hold their sales in Sydney where they confide that ‘the market works well for them’. Melbourne-based Deutscher and Hackett seem to alternate their sale location between Sydney and Melbourne, while Menzies seems at home at established premises in either city.
That said, the Sydney viewing for the Smith and Singer sale was at two locations in Queen Street Woollahra, and this writer trundled further down a dark and dimly lit Queen Street to the National Council for Jewish Women in Australia to enter the auction itself from a side door. Hard to find for an out-of-towner!
The atmosphere of the auction room was quiet with seating tightly organised, so the flurry of bidding from the outset was unnerving. It would have made for difficult bidding. The catalogue had been carefully prepared with lots 1-7 highlighting the contribution of female artists to the Australian aesthetic. A beautifully spartan Clarice Beckett Boatsheds, c1928, (Lot 1 ) began the sale in a vigorous flurry, finally selling for $50,000—well above a $30,000 top estimate. The current Beckett retrospective at the Art Gallery of South Australia must have helped, but it is true to say that if you place a Beckett on a vast white gallery wall, it simply radiates and holds its own. Next, Freda Robertshaw’s Bushwalker’s Camp, 1945, (Lot 2 ) was hotly contested between phone and room, setting finally at a hammer price of $60,000 eclipsing the $35,000 upper estimate.
This was a perfect introduction to Bessie Davidson’s Interieur (Lot 5 )—a mature painting of Davidson’s interior/still life oeuvre, with tonally-controlled shadings and patches of colour historically recalling Cezanne. Even the black drawn deliberations to create forms owe much to Cezanne. What Davidson sensationally brings is an Australian heart to the matter: a larrikin disbalance to the composition with the flowers planted firmly to the left; and what flowers—rendered blood-red with searing passion. This is a perfect example of why paintings cannot be appreciated digitally. In a digital version, the physicality of the paint is flattened away to a digital wall.
Also hugely successful, Constance Stokes’ very formal The Three Graces, 1951, (Lot 6 ) reached a hammer price of $180,000 in the room over $60,000 - $80,000 estimates. Her paintings are both scarce and desirable. The frantic bidding wars continued, with Grace Cossington-Smith’s jewel-like Buttercups, 1944 (Lot 7 ) also selling for more than double top estimate at $65,000.
In the central section of the auction the substantial works mostly found new homes. A very gnarled Albert Tucker Antipodean Figure, 1967, (Lot 9 ), was perhaps a little under-estimated, given its substantial position as a member of an art-historically famous suite of works. The hammer fell at $240,000 on a top estimate of $120,000. A superb Ian Fairweather On the Lake, 1964, from a series with black calligraphic drawing overlaid on what looks like an already finished Fairweather, sold deservedly mid-range for $270,000.
Eventually the frantic pace of bidding seemed to pause. On a scale more towards the trophy end, a carefully figured Jeffrey Smart The Arezzo Turn-Off, 1973, (Lot 16 ) sold for $800,000 right at the lower estimate. Also at the lower estimate was the highly-coloured Fred Williams Guthega Landscape, 1973 (Lot 17 ) with a hammer price of $1,000,000. This spectacular painting seemed to look up, over and into the mouth of the landscape to record bleeding gums (literally) in purple and green. It is a heavyweight painting that overcomes any criticism that his mark-making can be simplistic or a facile record of tree trunks dabbled into a blank ground.
The impressionist silver and green Frederick McCubbin What the Little Girl Saw in the Bush, 1904, (Lot 26 ) brought a spectacular hammer price of $1,2000,000 albeit at the low end of the estimated range. McCubbin completes his narrative vision of fairies in the half-light of evening, with a young girl alone in the thick of the bush, no path visible. The colonial mind had trepidation at the very thought of ‘lost children’.
With many of these major works the auction house managed client expectations with realistic estimated ranges. All it takes is one buyer and the deal is clinched in a manner like the primary market. Then there were some client surprises. There were 6 high-price records for artists on the night and in business terms, this is certainly a KPI for the current strong market: Davidson $540,000 (Lot 5 ); Stokes $180,000 (Lot 6 ); Makigawa $110,000 (Lot 40 ); Zavros $65,000 (Lot 41 ); Robertson-Swann $45,000 (Lot 42 ); Baldessin $160,000 (Lot 48 ).
Of the four unsold lots in a sale of 61 offered, it was disappointing to see Eugene von Guerard’s Mount Shadwell from Mount Noorat, c1857, (Lot 23 ) fail to find a buyer. This small gem, was completely new to the market. Von Guerard characteristically uses deeply resonant violet and magenta to record the setting sun on Victoria’s nineteenth century topography. Given the strength of the market, it is safe to assume that a buyer will be found in the coming days.
Footnote: Subsequent to the sale Smith & Singer advise they sold a further 2 works totalling $284,727 (IBP), bringing the sale total to $12,250,636 (IBP). Final results were 97% of lots sold by number and 133% by value.
All prices shown are hammer prices unless otherwise indicated.
