Dave’s Faves: Bonhams ‘Fairwater’ Auction – Sept 22, 2019
We all love a good home contents auction, but “Fairwater” in Point Piper is not just any old home, but the ultimate Sydney harbour front mansion on 11,000 m2 of manicured grounds. The largest privately-held property on Sydney harbour was owned by the Fairfax publishing dynasty for over 100 years. This year the family sold […]
Dave’s Faves for the Menzies Auction September 2019
The Menzies Fine Art Auction on 26 September in Sydney promises some very interesting offerings among its 125 lots. There are a number of works on paper by international greats such as Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol with a Mick Jagger portrait and Banksy (fear not, it won’t be shredded after the hammer comes down). Aboriginal […]
Dave’s Faves for the Deutscher + Hackett Auction August 2019
The Deutscher + Hackett fine art auction on 28 August features very important artworks from two outstanding art collections. These collections span two very different, yet important times in Australian art history: early modernism and contemporary Australian art, and complement each other beautifully in our view. They are also both great examples in how to […]
Dave’s Faves for Sotheby’s Auction August 2019 – Banziger Hulme
Among the 87 lots offered at Sotheby’s sale of Important Australian Art on 27 August, there are several multiple offerings from a number of Australian masters – including not surprisingly Arthur Boyd, Hans Heysen, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Streeton, Norman Lindsay and William Dobell. More surprising perhaps is the appearance of four works by Cressida Campbell. […]
Dave’s Faves for the Deutscher + Hackett Auction April 2019
The first 8 lots of the Deutscher + Hackett sale on 10 April 2019 in Sydney contain four outstanding works by some of the Australian masters of the abstract from the 1960s to the contemporary (Balson, Miller, Audette and Frank), a beautiful selection for the connoisseur of non-figurative art. This serves as the lead-in to […]
Dave’s Faves for the Sotheby’s Auction April 2019
Sotheby’s autumn auction in Sydney on 9 April presents 81 lots of outstanding Australian art. This includes two oils by Russell Drysdale, a true rarity by this master of the Australian country town and outback landscape. Another eye catcher will be lot 27 John Olsen’s “Seafood Paella” – however, a very big wall (and pocket) […]
Dave’s Faves for the Menzies Auction March 2019
The first Menzies auction of 2019 starts with two collections, one from the estate of Gwendoline Mutton and the other from Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer. The collection presented in the middle of the catalogue is a real stand-out in the sale. Titled the Thomas Tyrwhitt Balcombe Family Collection, lots 56 to 68 are a veritable […]
Colonial Art: A Rare Journey at Deutscher and Hackett
Nicolas Baudin’s extraordinary journey came full circle as 13 artworks created on his expedition to Australia between 1800 and 1804 made their epic return to this country more than 200 years later, to be auctioned at Deutscher and Hackett in conjunction with rare book dealers Hordern House in Melbourne on 28 November 2018. Before offering […]
Dave’s Faves for the Deutscher + Hackett auction Nov 2018
13 ink drawings and watercolours no larger than A4 start off the Deutscher + Hackett sale on 28 November in Melbourne. Their modest size and medium belies their importance: among them are the last pre-settlement portraits of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and extremely early depictions of Western Australia, created between 1801 and 1804 on the Baudin […]
Dave’s Faves for the Menzies Auction November 22nd
In their last auction of the year, Menzies present a diverse offering of 125 lots in their summer sale held in their South Yarra premises in Melbourne. The star painting is without a doubt the cover lot: Jeffrey Smart’s “Outside the Ministry” from 1970, and it’s as impressive a Smart as you are ever going […]