Bromley collection hits the auction market

Artist David Bromley and his fashion designer wife Yuge are auctioning their collections in Prahran and Daylesford on site over two successive Sundays through Leonard Joel.

The first collection will be auctioned from 12pm Sunday July 24 at 280 Chapel Street, Prahran and comprises an eclectic range of items of personal significance that have reflected their shared journey through married life.

“When placed together our collections form a major part in the architecture of our lives: the way we live, make art, create and find treasures for other people’s journeys,” David Bromley writes in the introduction to auction catalogues.

“We rarely see things as ‘antique’, ‘mid-century’ or ‘vintage’, but choose things because they resonate with us on a personalised aesthetic level.”

The Bromleys keep pieces for varying lengths of time, learning through long years of collecting experience that each item goes through its own lifespan.

In Sunday’s auction several items stand out including a contemporary black leather sofa on a chrome base, a David Bromley carved timber sculpture entitled Paper Boy and a decorative two sectional tansu.

Auction goers should also be interested in artist Keith Haring’s (1958-1990) Pop Shop Quad III serigraph 6/75, Bromley’s Untitled (Boy with Cigarette) and artist Charles Blackman’s Phases of Nude 2 mixed media on paper.

Unusual items bound to attract attention include a taxidermy fox and deer head, sculptures of rhinoceroses from reclaimed timber and timber fragments, hand painted female Indian mannequins, a Japanese ice-cream cone lamp and an early 20^th century large format camera on a stand.