Submitted by aarAdmin on Sat, 11/13/2021 - 00:00
An Australian art auction devoted to important women artists, with selected Australian and international fine art thrown in for good measure, undoubtedly would have been a major disappointment if the works by said women painters had not attracted much buyer interest.
However, despite a market bedevilled for the past two years by the COVID-19 pandemic, major art auction house Deutscher and Hackett was prepared to chance its arm on solid buyer support for paintings by Australian female artists at its November 10 Melbourne sale.
And it is just what the auction house got – with more than $11 million paid for a knockdown clearance of 84 per cent of the paintings.
Directors Chris Deutscher and Damian Hackett were well pleased with their gamble, particularly as several of the women artists works on offer resulted in individual high-price records.
Standouts included Still Life with Chair, 1962 (lot 13) giving the artist Grace Cossington Smith (1892-1984) a hammer return of $650,000 ($797,727 with buyer’s premium), the highest price ever paid for one of her works.
Likewise, Bessie Davidson’s large oil on plywood entitled Lecture au Jardin c1935 was a record $660,000 or $810,000 once the buyer’s premium was included.
Both these paintings were more than twice their lower estimates and the subject of strong bidding – in the auction room, where limited numbers of double-vaccinated patrons were permitted following the recent lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria, and on the phones.
A much-loved iconic figure from Melbourne’s bohemian art and cultural scene of the 1950s and 1960s, the late Mirka Mora (1928-2018) made a strong impression on auction goers when her painting entitled Self Portraits, 1960 (lot 17) went under the hammer for $140,000 – twice its upper catalogue estimate.
Survivors of the Holocaust, Parisian-born artist Mirka and her late husband Georges migrated in 1951 with their infant son Philippe from post-war France and quickly settled into the Melbourne scene where they also owned and operated several European style cafes and restaurants.
Other female artists of note with personal auction records included Clarice Beckett’s (1897-1935) The Tan, South Yarra, c1925 (lot 8) which also doubled its high auction estimate to be knocked down for $240,000, while Vida Lahey’s (1882-1968) Early Morning, Brisbane River, 1932 (lot 7) was an $85,000 result on a $25,000-$35,000 range.
Another giant of women’s painting Margaret Olley (1923-2011) also needs to be highlighted for her Still Life with Harbour View, c1995 (lot 19) which sold for $170,000 ($208,636 including BP) on a $70,000-$90,000 catalogue estimate.
As always iconic female Aboriginal artist Emile Kame Kngwarreye (c1910-1996) figured among the top lots with her Untitled (Yam), 1996 (lot 24), which changed hands for $270,000 (including BP) on a $120,000-$160,000 estimate, and Josephine Muntz Adams’ (1862-1949) Self-Portrait, c1896 (lot 12) was another artist record effort at $73,636 – four times its upper catalogue estimate.
Other artists worth mentioning include Arthur Streeton’s The Centre of the Empire, 1902 (lot 36), which was the highest priced auction painting at its lower estimate $1.2 million ($1,472,727 including BP), Charles Condor’s (1868-1909) The Three Cows, 1899 (lot 30 - $417,273 including BP), and Lin Onus (1948-1996) Reflections (Barmah Forest), 1994-95 (lot 58 – $478,636 including BP).
