Submitted by aarAdmin on Fri, 08/18/2023 - 00:00
Impressionist painter John Peter Russell (1859-1930) is the new high flyer in the Australian art world with an artist auction record of almost $4 million for his painting Souvenir de Belle-Ile, 1897 (Marianna Russell with Goats, Goulphar, Belle-Ile) (lot 23) at Deutscher and Hackett’s Melbourne auction on August 16.
The actual figure of $3,927,273 including buyer’s premium also eclipsed Australian auction records for an impressionist painting in a sale that realised $15,440,932 where 82 per cent of the works sold by volume and 116 per cent by value.
Strong pre-sale interest no doubt propelled the bidding for a work which Russell presented as a gift to Melbourne GP Dr William Maloney before it was handed down through his family.
The artist holds a unique place in Australian art history because of his close association with avant-garde circles in 1880s Paris and first-hand acquaintance with the masters of European Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.
His Belle-Ile paintings derive from several months stint in 1886 on the island, one of a small group off the Brittany coast, where he met and befriended French impressionist Claude Monet.
Highlights of the sale were the works that belonged to giants of the Australian art world – advertising guru Peter Clemenger and his wife Joan, and successful entrepreneur and businessman Henry Krongold (1909-2003) who with his wife Dinah built a significant collection of Australian and European paintings.
The collection was bequeathed to their son Paul with 17 paintings from his estate in the auction.
Chief amongst them was Sidney Nolan’s (1917-1992) Early Morning Township, 1955 (lot 9,) which sold for $2.7 million, and Fred Williams’ (1927-1982) Cootamundra Wattles – Botanist’s Garden, 1975 (lot 11) that changed hands for $662,727.
The Clemenger collection featured the first four works of the auction with Brett Whiteley’s (1939-1992) South Coast After the Rain, 1984 (lot 1) – winner of that year’s Wynne Prize – selling for $2,209,091 after strong, decisive bidding.
Lot 2, Landscape with Creek Bed, 1976-77, also by Williams, was another strong Clemenger performer, changing hands for $981,818.
Contemporary artist Del Kathryn Barton’s popularity continues to rage with Of Pink Planets, 2014 (lot 33) reaching an impressive $527,727.
Recently deceased John Olsen (1928-2023) Life Upon the Golden River (lot 39) was a pleasing $282,273, while a couple of works clocked up $270,000 including Bruce Armstrong’s Guardians sculptures (Pair of Maquettes for the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Melbourne), 2009-2021 (lot 49) and Yvonne Audette’s Tuscan Landscape, 1959 (lot 29).
