Unique single collection to attract special art auction lovers

Richard Boland holds a unique place among single owner Australian art collectors whose works are now going to auction.

While many serious collectors work with advisers and dealers to obtain well-known quality pieces often to maximise investment potential, Boland’s main motivation for purchasing a work was its intrinsic visual appeal.

This might have reflected his work in the early years of television when pioneers were still learning about the importance of visual methods of communication.

The sheer range of Boland’s collection offers a rare comprehensive overview of early to mid-20^th century of art from Adelaide – a common thread among most of the works.

The range includes prints and linocuts by Lisette Kohlhagen, paintings by Kathleen Saubier and works by expatriate artists who spent significant periods of their working lives outside Australia, such as Marie Tuck and Rex Wood.

Leonard Joel will auction the collection from 6.30pm Tuesday May 3 at 333 Malvern Road, South Yarra.

Marie Tuck (1866-1947) was a highly important Australian artist living and exhibiting in Paris at the Paris Salon de la Société des Artistes Françaises prior to 1914, who also painted commissions for Rheims Cathedral.

Her auction works include The Red Ribbon and The Proclamation, Glenelg 1936.

While Rex Wood (1908-1970) fades from memory because of his many years in Europe, he was a crucial figure in the early modernism years in Adelaide.

His most significant works from the 1930s are his woodcuts, made before he left for Europe to further research modern art.

Dying in Portugal in 1970, Wood developed a reputation as a portraitist with many of his sitters prominent members of the Adelaide community and European royals.

Auction works include Peasant Lady, Two Portuguese Women and Vases on the Windowsill, Portugal.