Submitted by aarAdmin on Thu, 04/01/2021 - 00:00
Ben Quilty would be more than pleased with the results of Menzies Sydney art auction on March 31 given that his painting Beast 2 (lot 20) went under the hammer for $220,000 – an auction record for one of his works.
Born in 1973 in Sydney, Quilty is recognised as one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists and has won several major prizes including the 2011 Archibald.
In October that year he also was attached to the Australian Defence Forces to observe and interpret service personnel activities in Afghanistan.
Almost 90 per cent of the 125 works on offer sold with 66 at or above estimate bringing a healthy hammer plus buyers’ premium return of more than $5 million.
The catalogue cover lot – Lin Onus’s Moonlight at Numerili 2 (lot 25) – changed hands for $525,000 including buyer’s premium, while another of his works (lot 17) sold for a hammer price of $74,000, an artist auction record for one of his works on paper.
Other artist auction records were achieved for Adam Cullen (lot 59 - $26,000) and Jacqueline Hick (lot 75 - $28,000).
A painting much admired by Menzies chairman Rod Menzies – Sidney Nolan’s Moonlight (lot 28) – brought $225,000 including BP and Tim Storrier’s Sirrius Flame (lot 260) $200,000.
Early 20th century landscape artist Arthur Streeton work The Oak Lane (lot 39) also attracted plenty of attention, going under the hammer for $150,000 and John Olsen’s Businessman Getting Ready for Work (lot 23) was another popular purchase at $140,000.
Robert Dickerson featured in the top 10 results with his work Girl in the Paddock (lot 41) bringing the same price as Olsen’s painting, while Arthur Boyd’s Wimmera Landscape with Fire and White Heron (lot 34) was only slightly less at $135,000.
Rounding out the top attractions were Garry Shead’s Dante’s Inferno (lot 42) and Queen and Royal Procession II (lot 32) respectively for $121,000 and $110,000.
