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Russell Drysdale

November

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

Sir Rod in 1998 when he chaired Adacel Technologies.

Rod Carnegie: corporate giant felled at the final hurdle

Sir Rod Carnegie soared across the corporate sky in the ’70s and ’80s but was thwarted in his attempt to secure full Australian local control of mining giant CRA.

  • Andrew Clark

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

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
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May 2023

Russell Drysdale’s Children Dancing, 1950, has never been traded at auction before, and comes from a private collection in Melbourne. It carries the highest estimate ($1.3 million to $1.6 million) of all the 91 lots in Deutscher and Hackett’s May 3, 2023 auction of Important Australian and International Fine Art, in Melbourne.

Drysdale dances to heights but art market turns cautious

A Russell Drysdale proved the first work to pass the $2 million mark at auction this year, but for the second night in a row the overall result was underwhelming.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue

April 2023

The Sydney-based vendor of this Banksy screenprint, Girl with Balloon, 2004, probably paid about $100 for it in London in 2004. Deutscher and Hackett have estimated it at $450,000 to $650,000 in its May 3, 2023 auction of fine art in Melbourne. This signed print of Banksy’s highly recognisable image is likely to sell to an overseas buyer. It is number 71 in an edition of 150.

Bought for $100, this Banksy could sell for $650,000

A Sydney vendor who bought a print of the street artist’s infamous Girl with Balloon in London could be floating on air if expectations are on the money.

  • Elizabeth Fortescue
EMBARGOED FOR GW - SEPT 3/16 ISSUE GW. Portrait of Australian Artist John Olsen photographed at his studio in Bowral. Pic by Nic Walker. Date 12th August 2016.

Farewell John Olsen, a titan of Australian art

When we look back on this complex, vital, sometimes selfish man and his achievements, it’s the bright-eyed, charming, self-confident character that one remembers.

  • John McDonald

December 2022

Ethel Carrick, Sur La Plage, On the Sands, Dinard, 1911, sold for more than double it’s high estimate at $1,996,591 at Smith & Singer.

The 10 top art sales of the year

A record number of women made it into the top ten auction prices this year. That number was two.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

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

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

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

May 2021

Veteran dealers bid a farewell to arms, if not art

Two of Australia’s longest-serving art dealers are winding up their businesses as a Maori weaving peg sells for more than 80 times its low estimate.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

April 2021

David Leggatt, left, solicitor for Alex Stanowitsch, with some of the art found to be basically worthless during his winning court case.

Guilty verdict in Melbourne fake art scam

One of the associates of “notorious” Melbourne art dealer Peter Gant has been found guilty of misleading or deceptive conduct in a failed investment scheme that used a cache of fake art as security.

  • Gabriella Coslovich
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‘There is enormous appetite’: art market revels as more records fall

By anyone’s measure, last week was exceptional for Australia’s secondary art market, with $25.8 million in sales, 16 artist records and a new high for an internet bid.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

December 2020

Russell Drysdale 1941's Going to the Pictures sold for $2,945,455 in November.

A year of hidden gems and high drama in the art saleroom

A pandemic, a punch-up, a chute of new records, and a toppling at the top. It’s been a year like no other for Australia’s art auction industry.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

November 2020

Living artists set records at $13m D&H sale

While Russell Drysdale's Going to the Pictures didn't hit the hoped for heights, buyers spent up big on Ben Quilty, Michael Cook and 90-year-old Yvonne Audette.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

The love of Bunny's life now top lot for Smith & Singer

Rupert Bunny’s portrait of his French muse could set a new record for the artist at a $10 million-plus sale. Hopefully it will avoid the fiery end of its predecessor.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

October 2020

Art auction season set for thrilling finale

With vendors reemerging and buyers apparently willing to spend up big, three big end-of-year sales promise to end the saleroom year with a bang.

  • Gabriella Coslovich

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/russell-drysdale-59r