Submitted by aarAdmin on Mon, 04/29/2024 - 00:00
Comparatively high Interest rates and increases in the cost of living might be impacting Australian home buyers at the moment, but the secondary art market is still booming – if Deutscher and Hackett’s latest sale results are any guide.
The auction house’s Melbourne-based April Australian and International Fine Arts auction saw the offered 55 paintings scream past their collective high $14,872,000 catalogue estimate to realise $16,689,682 including buyers’ premiums.
This was an extraordinary clearance rate of 134 per cent by value and 85 per cent by volume and the highest Australian fine art auction total for the past 17 years.
John Peter Russell’s (1858-1930) Cruach en Mahr, Matin, Belle-Ile-en-Mer c1905 (lot 11) – featured as the catalogue cover piece – was the best performer, selling for $3,927,273, closely followed by Brett Whiteley’s (1939-1992) The Wren 1978 (lot 6) at $3,681,818.
Whiteley’s other offering Bather on the Sand 1975-76 (lot 9) brought $1,902,273, further demonstrating his iconic status in the Australian art psyche.
Russell is unique to Australian art history because of his close association with 1880s Paris avant-garde circles.
A close friend of Vincent Van Gogh, on a summer break from the French capital in 1886 he spent several months on Belle-Ile, one of a small group of islands off the Brittany coast, where he met and befriended leading Impressionist artist Claude Monet.
Under his influence, Russell developed his own Impressionist style – prominent in this auction painting.
Australian advertising guru Peter Clemenger – founder of Clemenger BBDO which today is the largest agency group in Australia and New Zealand – had three paintings in the auction.
One was The Wren and the other two were John Brack’s (1920-1999) No More 1984 (lot 7) and John Perceval’s (1923-2000) The Splash 1956 (lot 8).
Brack’s painting sold for $981,818 while Perceval’s work brought $490,909 – a result in keeping with many of his other Williamstown efforts.
Other paintings of note included the significant Charles Blackman (1928-2018) work entitled Which Way, Which Way? 1956 (lot 10) which changed hands for $1,227,273.
Still life paintings by Margaret Preston (1875-1963) continue to be keenly sought after at auction and Anemones 1916 (lot 12) was a spectacular result for the vendor, selling for $613,636, more than double its high $280,000 catalogue estimate.
Lin Onus (1948-1996) is another popular secondary market figure and Yellow Lilies 1993 (lot 20) comfortably eclipsed its estimate of $350,000-$450,000 at $552,273.
Russell Drysdale (1912-1981) also appears to have no trouble attracting buyers with The Dancing Children c1971 (lot 15) reaching a pleasing $441,818.
