This sale at Leonard Joel’s offers a remarkable collection of original prints and even hand-signed plates by the Australian master, produced in the 1990s with master printmakers Tony and Indra Deigan who introduced Boyd to the collagraph technique.
Whether you are starting out as an art collector or have already established a collection, it is essential to understand the importance of provenance.
Why Provenance is Important
Provenance not only often establishes the authenticity of an artwork, but it can and does add real value to your art too. When we are advising our clients on purchases, this is simply another important factor to consider.
Good provenance includes the prestige of the gallery or auction house where the artwork was acquired or purchased directly from the artist. Equally and sometimes more important can be the identity of the previous owner, be it because of their eye for art, their celebrity, or both.
This was demonstrated beautifully just a couple of weeks ago, when Leonard Joel sold artworks from celebrity and noted collector Barry Humphries, at four times the estimates.
We can all learn from this in building our own collections, by considering the provenance of each individual artwork and combined in your own collection, this hopefully will ultimately increase the value of your entire collection when looked at as a whole.
This leads us to another important auction at Leonard Joel which is aptly titled “Arthur Boyd: The Printmakers’ Archive”.
None of these works have been exposed to light nor frames in all of this time. Opportunities like these are rare and prices modest. The original hand-signed colour plates are priced at $2,000 to $3,000, and prints are offered from $300.
This offers a rare chance for young collectors to start a collection of great art by one of Australia’s most important artists on a small budget.
Given these artworks come from the printmakers Tony and Indra Deigan themselves, the provenance is as good as it gets.
The collection comprises 104 artworks, and they can be viewed in person from 23 June – 24 June 2025, 10am – 4pm, at the Leonard Joel premises at 36-40 Queen Street in Woollahra/Sydney.
Browse the Leonard Joel catalogue here.
You can read more about this collaboration in the interview with Tony and Indra Deigan here.
If you would like to find out more about our art advisory, visit here.
