Important auction paintings by iconic artists

Several important paintings by iconic Australian artists are expected to generate strong buyer interest at Sotheby’s Australia forthcoming Important Australian Art sale from 6.30pm Tuesday November 24 at the InterContinental Sydney 117 Macquarie Street, Sydney.

One is Arthur Boyd’s Sleeping Bride, which has been tightly held in the same collection for almost 50 years.

The painting forms part of Boyd’s extraordinary “Love Marriage and Death of a Half-Caste” series whose themes were later extended to the “Bride” works.

Sotheby’s Australia, which currently holds the auction record for a Boyd with Bride Running Away (1957) that sold for $1,680,000, estimates the painting will bring between $1,000,000-$1,200,000.

The Bride series was recently celebrated in Heide Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition Arthur Boyd: Brides that assembled 50 paintings and works on paper.

Another significant painting is Fred Williams’s Trees and Hillsides – one of the most important still remaining in private hands.

Acquired in 1967 by the present owners (three years after it was exhibited), it is being auctioned for the first time.

Painted in Upwey, Victoria, the painting reflects the aspect of Williams’ new studio where he looked up into the horizon from the valley below.

A third work by Alexander Schramm Bush Visitors is a rare colonial painting that has been held in the same family since its purchase in 1859 by the King William Street watchmaker and jeweller Henry Muirhead.

According to Sotheby’s Australia chairman Geoffrey Smith, Schramm is recognised as the most accomplished professional artist active in colonial South Australia and the first new Australian to be trained in art beyond Britain.

Examples of his work rarely appear on the auction market – Bush Visitors is only his fourth major painting in the past four decades to appear at auction.