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Arthur Boyd

This Month

Visitors viewing Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros at night.

National Gallery handed $15m in biggest-ever donation

Kerry Stokes’ $15 million donation is about one-quarter of what the Canberra institution needs to raise for a new sculpture garden.

  • Michael Bailey

August

Arthur Boyd’s Colonial Poet Under Orange Tree, 1979, measuring more than 1.5 metres high, is estimated at $250,000 to $350,000 in Smith & Singer’s August 21, 2024 auction in Sydney. The work is being sold from the estate of the late Sir James Wolfensohn.

James Wolfensohn’s Australian classics lead $14m art sale

The canvases by Arthur Boyd and Fred Williams adorned the Australian former president of the World Bank’s Manhattan apartment and lead Smith & Singer’s big mid-year sale.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

July

Actors Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman signed the ceiling at Darcy’s restaurant after Crowe’s Oscar statuette was accidentally rammed through the plasterboard during a night of celebration. The fragment has a pre-sale estimate of $800 to $1500 in Davidson Auctions.

Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman and piece of Oscar party history

An overexcited incident with the actor’s Gladiator statuette created a piece of history that is now going to auction with other art from Sydney restaurant Darcy’s.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

He was terrified of planes, but Boyd’s works could fly at auction

Seven paintings by celebrated Australian artist Arthur Boyd are going under the hammer in Melbourne on July 24.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

June

Big name Indigenous artists bring the love to Redfern

A high-end auction brings Indigenous art to the people, while Menzies hopes Kirk Douglas can be their hero.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue
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May

John Coburn’s Yellow Landscape with White Bird, 2003, was estimated at $25,000 to $35,000 in Bonhams 7 May auction of Important Australian Art. It fetched $31,250 (including buyer’s premium).

Brack bolts, Whiteley sinks on a tough night for art sales

A John Brack with a fabulous backstory was a rare highlight at Bonhams, as Leonard Joel wheels out the big contemporary names for its Centum sale.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

December 2023

John Peter Russell’s Souvenir de Belle-Île, (Marianna Russell with Goats, Goulphar, Belle-Île), 1897, was the year’s top lot.

Art sales top $140m but it’s a buyers’ market now

Australian art auction houses largely defied inflation, interest rates and conflict, but the pandemic-era surge has run its course.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

November 2023

Different Directions, 1964, by Yvonne Audette, carries an estimate of $120,000 to $160,000 in the catalogue for Deutscher and Hackett’s November 22, 2023 auction in Sydney. A diptych, the work measures 128 x 161.5 cm overall. 

Antipodeans old and new carry hopes at end-of-year sales

Smith & Singer is hoping to end the year with a bang to trump Deutscher and Hackett as the top-selling auction house of the year.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

October 2023

Art blue bloods under the hammer in ANZ revamp

The ANZ Art Collection is selling 37 works by the likes of Boyd, Drysdale and Rees to make way for contemporary artists.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

July 2023

Eager buyers snap up Perceval’s Williamstown tugboats

The two paintings by the artist closely bound up with the Boyd artistic dynasty smashed estimates even though they were done after the 1950s.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

June 2023

Demand for modern South-East Asian artists hots up

A work by highly collectable Vietnamese artist Vu Cao Dam, who worked for years in France, is expected to be a high point for the art auction market in June.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

May 2023

This exquisite portrait by New Zealand master Charles Frederick Goldie was passed in at $1.35 million at the Smith & Singer’s Important Australian and International Art auction in Sydney on May 2, 2023. The painting’s estimate was $1.4 million to $1.6 million. Its title is Reverie: Ena te Papatahi, a Ngapuhi Chieftainess (Ina Te Papatahi, Ngā Puhi), 1916. The consignor was veteran Sydney art dealer Denis Savill.

How Smith & Singer’s big Sydney sale failed to fire

The sale was meant to be one of the biggest of the year, but several of the most highly priced works failed to sell.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

April 2023

Psychedelic Head, 1990, by the late Melbourne artist Howard Arkley sold for a mere $7150 in 1992. Its estimate in Smith & Singer’s May 2, 2023 auction is $250,000 to $350,000. The large work, measuring 175cm by 135cm, is from the Selwyn and Renata Litton collection.

Olsen, Arkley and other art stars headline $10m sale

How the market reacts to John Olsen’s death will be tested when he joins a who’s who of modern Australian art - and a few Lucian Freuds - in Smith & Singer’s sale.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

November 2022

Lloyd Rees, Sydney - The Source, 1973, from the collection of Millie Phillips, being auctioned at Menzies next week with an estimate of $500,000 to $600,000.

Groundbreaking miner’s art collection goes under the hammer

‘Force of nature’ Millie Phillips was a pioneer for women in the mining industry and a dedicated collector of blue-chip Australian artists.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

August 2022

Margaret Preston, Coastal Gums, 1929, sold for $500,000 hammer on an estimate $180,000 to $240,000.

Art liquidation sale delivers Cbus bumper $8m return

Margaret Preston was among seven artists to set auction records in the first tranche of the super fund’s sale of its collection of Australian art.

  • Gabriella Coslovich
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July 2022

John Brack, Three Egyptian Women, 1975, has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000.

Cbus expects mixed returns in great Australian art sale

The top 100 works from the superannuation giant’s collection represent an A-Z of Australian art, and illustrate its varying fortunes as an investment class.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

April 2022

The all-black Bridge at Bundanon: “Black is the colour of shadows, of charcoal, of post-fire landscapes,” says architect Kerstin Thompson.

Bridge to a sensory realm expands Arthur Boyd’s gift to the nation

An architectural installation at Bundanon lets visitors steep themselves in the world of one of Australia’s most revered artists.

  • Xenia Hanusiak
Cressida Campbell, The Verandah, 1987, estimated at $140,000 to $180,000.

Cressida Campbell leads way as living artists fly high

The work of living Australian artists was at the forefront of fierce bidding at two major auctions last week with Cressida Campbell leading the charge.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

March 2022

Auguste Rodin, Jean D’Aire, conceived c. 1895, cast 1966, ($110,000), from The Hirst Collection of Australian and International Art, being sold at Philip Bacon Galleries next month.

Brisbane set for biggest art sale in decades

The collection of Jewish refugees Doc and Fritzi Hirst includes works by a who’s who of Australian modern art.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

February 2022

Inside NAB’s star-studded sale of ’70s art

Next week’s first two sales from the bank’s 2000-work collection feature a who’s who of 1970s Australian art and prices starting at $1000.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/arthur-boyd-23h