Deutscher and Hackett

Colin McCahon’s work Paul to Hebrews 1980 is one of the more fascinating pieces of art to be auctioned from 7pm Wednesday May 6 by Deutscher and Hackett at 105 Commercial Road, South Yarra.

Comprising written passages from the Bible on three sheets of Steinbach paper using synthetic polymer paint, the painting is one of two biblical texts that dominated the final period of McCahon’s oeuvre (the first being a Letter to the Hebrews in the 1970s).

Deutscher and Hackett will offer works by some of Australia’s best-known modern and contemporary artists at its fine art auction from 7pm Wednesday at 105 Commercial Road, South Yarra.

Some of the more highly valued paintings include Grace Cossington Smith’s Yellow Drapes 1954 – once owned by fellow still life artist Adrian Feint.

Another is John Brack’s Pears 1957, a fascinating still life that illustrates his intellectual curiosity for the genre.

Several large scale canvases by some of the most well-known Australian indigenous and non-indigenous artists are among highlights of the K.D.H Ainsworth collection to be auctioned from 7pm Wednesday March 26 by Deutscher and Hackett at 105 Commercial Road, South Yarra.

Three works by leading Kimberley artist Paddy Bedford, who died in July 2007, are in the sale.

A mix of traditional, modern, contemporary and Aboriginal art will characterise Deutscher and Hackett’s latest art auction from 7pm Wednesday November 27 at 105 Commercial Road, South Yarra.

One of the major paintings is Rupert Bunny’s Cherries, c1908. The work was part of his 1911 solo exhibition at the Baillie Gallery in London before being brought to Australia in July of that year for the Exhibition of Pictures by Rupert Bunny at Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne as part of his triumphant return after 27 years abroad.

A significant collection of paintings, sketches, furnishings, ceramics and woodcarvings either painted or picked up by the late artist Donald Friend will be auctioned from 2pm Sunday by Deutscher and Hackett at Paddington Town Hall in Sydney.

Valued at more than $1 million, they are not from Friend’s estate – but instead belong to his long-time friend and occasional agent Attilio Guarracino.

In 1951, fellow artist Jeffrey Smart introduced Donald Friend to Mr Guarracino and, despite an often turbulent relationship, they remained friends until the artist died in 1989.

Australian painter Tom Roberts (1856-1931) has long been regarded as one of the country’s finest 19^th and early 20^th century landscape and pastoralist artists with major works on display in the National Gallery of Victoria and other significant museums.