Submitted by aarAdmin on Wed, 09/06/2023 - 00:00
Art collectors love Australian artist Ray Crooke (1922-2015), particularly his paintings of Pacific islanders and the entry in Deutscher and Hackett’s timed online Melbourne Modern, Contemporary and Indigenous Art auction on September 5 only confirmed his popularity.
His painting entitled Village Islanders (lot 4) brought the top price when it went under the hammer for $42,000.
Australian art icon Brett Whiteley (1939-1992) is another who rarely goes unsold and his brush and ink on torn reassembled paper entitled Self Portrait at 36, 1975 Verso: Seed Pods and the Tide Coming In (lot 2) sold for $28,000.
Although James Gleeson’s (1915-2008) Evidence of Uncertainties, 2005 (lot 5) did not reach the catalogue estimate of $30,000-$40,000, it still brought a credible $20,000 on the night.
David Hockney’s colour lithograph of famous American novelist Christopher Isherwood and portrait artist Don Bachardy (lot 3) completed in 1976 sold for $17,000, at the upper end of its $12,000-$18,000 estimate – while the two Adam Cullen paintings entitled The Space Between the Anus and the Steeple, 2005 (lot 10) and Rodeo Hip Sport Rodeo (lot 11) each fetched a respectable $16,000.
Other pleasing results were William Dobell’s (1899-1970) Nude, 1933 selling for $12,000 (lot 6), Dick Watkins Untitled, 1990 (lot 15) for $11,000 , Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’s, (c1924-2015) Big Sandfish, 2005 and Otto Pareroultja’s (1914-1973) Central Australian Landscape (lot 42) – each for $9,500.
