Menzies Art Brands

Contemporary Australian 'instafamous' artist Catherine Jenna Hendry (CJ Hendry), 33, will make her Australian auction debut at Menzies Wednesday December 1 Important and international Art sale from 6.30pm at the company's Sydney gallery at 12 Todman Avenue, Kensington. 

With a catalogue estimate of $800,000-$1 million, Andy Warhol’s Queen Elizabeth II 1985 (lot 15) is the centrepiece of Menzies inaugural Prints & Multiples timed online auction due to finish at 8pm on Thursday September 23.

The work is a complete set of four colour screenprints from Warhol’s Reigning Queen series. The vibrantly coloured portraits explore the convergence of royalty and celebrity – presenting the Queen as an icon of our time – and are set to establish a record price for Warhol prints at an Australian auction.

Menzies is honouring former Archibald prize winner Ben Quilty with its catalogue cover for his work Skull 3 2006 (lot 22) in their Wednesday June 30 Melbourne auction following the artist’s record-breaking success in its March sale for Beast 2 which sold for $220,000.

The auction, from 6.30pm at Menzies Gallery 1 Darling Street South Yarra, will feature a comprehensive range of Australian and international paintings and sculptures.

Melbourne’s inclement weather did not keep enthusiastic potential buyers from a Sunday March 21 viewing of paintings at Menzies forthcoming art auction – to begin at 6.30pm Wednesday March 31 at the company’s Sydney-based Menzies Gallery at 12 Todman Avenue, Kensington.

Given the 12-month tussle Australia, like all other countries, has had with COVID-19, there was a sense of optimism that perhaps the worst of the pandemic was behind the industry – and that regular viewings and live auctions could once more become the norm.   

Brett Whiteley will undoubtedly become the most valuable and influential Australian artist of all time if his painting Henri’s Armchair 1974-75 reaches its predicted $5 million to $7 million estimate at Menzies single lot auction on Thursday November 26.

Purchased at the time from the artist by the late Sydney-based Clive Evatt QC, the work will be auctioned from 7pm in Menzies Sydney rooms at 12 Todman Avenue, Kensington.

Brett Whiteley’s Henri’s Armchair 1974-75 – offered for sale for the first time since being purchased from the artist by the late Clive Evatt QC – could be the painting that smashes all previous Australian art records when it goes under the hammer as a single lot auction by Menzies at 7pm on November 26 in Sydney.

Carrying a catalogue estimate of $5 million to $7 million, the painting is set to eclipse the $5.4 million achieved 11 years ago for Sidney Nolan’s First-Class Marksman 1946 by Menzies when sold to prominent art dealer Roger McIlroy.

After holding its first auction for 2020 in February, like many other Australian auction houses Menzies was obliged to hold off on its next Australian & International Fine Art & Sculpture sale until the deadly conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic that swept the globe improved nationally.

Although the crisis is far from over in many other countries – and Australia is still facing troublesome hotspots with lockdowns in some Melbourne suburbs – Menzies is preparing for its forthcoming July 9 sale from 6.30pm at 12 Todman Avenue, Kensington in Sydney.

Menzies is excited about the potential for a new artist auction record for Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton’s painting Openly Song 2014 (lot 33) at its first sale for 2020 from 6.30pm Thursday February 27 at 1 Darling Street, South Yarra.

Chief executive officer Justin Turner describes the painting, which has never been auctioned before, as the best of her works to come onto the secondary market.

As Menzies chief executive officer Justin Turner confidently predicts a continuing upward trend in Australia’s secondary art market – based on strong performances over the past 12 months – the auction house prepares itself for a Sydney sale on September 26 hoping to achieve more than $8 million in revenue if all goes well.

“The real estate market also appears to be turning and there are a lot more apartments for sale than there are good paintings (of which supply is finite),” he said.

Rod Menzies is not one to stand still when it comes to buying and selling art.

Over the years, the chairman of top 500 Australian company Menzies International and co-founder of Menzies Art Brands has purchased impressive works by many of Australia’s leading artists including such household names as Brett Whiteley, John Brack and Russell Drysdale.