Record Price for rare Window on weak night at Sotheby’s art auction
By Michaela Boland, The Australian, 26 November 2014
One of the earliest and largest of Grace Cossington Smith’s much-acclaimed late interiors — and possibly the only one still in private hands — ignited a bidding frenzy at Sotheby’s Australia’s Important Australian and International Art auction last night.
The Window was listed with expectations of selling for more than $250,000 but bidding quickly escalated to $550,000.
It was bought by art dealer Annette Larkin bidding in the room on behalf of a client. She would not say if the client was the Art Gallery of NSW, as has often been the case.
The sale established a record for a Cossington Smith painting at auction and was one of the few bright spots in a patchy sale. The buyer will pay an additional 22 per cent buyers’ premium, taking the total to $671,000.
Just 62.5 per cent of the 71 offered lots sold, for a total $5.357 million including the premium, a softer end to a strong year for the independently owned auction house. The auction coverlot, a big Brett Whiteley beach scene Washing the Salt Off II, like numerous high-priced works in the sale, sold for its reserve, fetching $800,000, or $944,000 with the premium. Jeffrey Smart’s The Four Closed Shops was bought by dealer David Hulme on behalf of a client for a strong price of $695,400, including the premium.
Despite being furnished with a speculative provenance, Tom Roberts’s portrait With Wistful Eyes sold for $158,600, more than double its low estimate, after a three-way bidding competition.