Arts confidential: $1m Brisbane art sale: Rarely seen works up for grabs
With his works now selling for millions internationally, a Brisbane gallery is hopeful of bumper sales at its new Fred Williams exhibition.
Lifestyle
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When Fred Williams died in 1982 at the age of 55 Australia lost one its greatest artists. His widow, Lyn, has lovingly curated exhibitions of work from his estate in the decades since.
The last such exhibition at Philip Bacon Galleries in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, in 2018 netted $2.2 million and Fred Williams : Gouaches and Drawings from the Artist’s Estate is expected to attract well over the $1 million mark. Williams’ work is in big demand by serious collectors and works now sell for up to $3 million at auction. Prices in this Brisbane show may be out of reach for many but it is well worth going to see the exhibition which opens today.
Because his work is important and next level beautiful. No other non-indigenous artist has managed to capture the essence of landscape and its spiritual l dimensions the way Williams did.
“Artists and everyone else will love this exhibition,” Philip Bacon says. “His work sells for up to $3 million now at auction. That the majority of these wonderful works have rarely been exhibited or published adds to the special interests of this exhibition which has been carefully selected by the artist’s widow, Lyn Williams, with her usual sensitivity and informed knowledge of her late husband’s oeuvre. She and Lachlan Henderson, Philip Bacon Galleries manager, worked closely to offer a fresh perspective on Fred Williams’ life and interests.”
The exhibition has some strong Queensland elements with colourful gouaches (watercolours) of Springbrook, Bedarra Island and the Glasshouse Mountains.
philipbacongalleries.com.au
SINGING THE COOKTOWN CANTATA
Australian first-contact history and the work of English naturalist and botanical artist Vera Scarth-Johnson has inspired Jan Black to write a uniquely Queensland musical work.
The Cooktown Cantata - Botanical Reflections, is a 13-song cycle fusing jazz and classical music with words by Black, a former opera singer, and music by composer and pianist Louise Denson.
It will be performed this Saturday night at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Kangaroo Point, as part of the 4MBS Festival of Classics and on June 17, 18 and 19 in Cooktown as part of the Cooktown & Cape York Expo 2021.
Jan’s husband Jeffrey Black, the internationally renowned Brisbane baritone and soprano Margaret Schindler, head of vocal studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, will perform the work with Guugu Yimithir singer Derek Rosendale, nephew of Indigenous elder Tulo Gordon who is part of the story.
It is based around Scarth-Johnson who was fascinated by James Cook’s sojourn in Cooktown in 1770 after the Endeavour ran aground on the great Barrier Reef and had to be repaired. While there, botanist Joseph Banks chronicled the local flora.
“Vera settled in Cooktown some 200 years later in the 1970s and created a series of paintings depicting the same iconic flora collected by Banks,” Black says.
Black is “from the north” having grown up on the Atherton Tablelands. Visiting Cooktown and learning the story of Scarth-Johnson inspired her.
Black, now director of music at his alma mater, Brisbane’s Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie), will sing the role of Joseph Banks.
“He was a fascinating character,” he says.
Schindler will sing the part of Scarth-Johnson and Rosendale will sing as his uncle Tulo Gordon.
4mbs.com.au, cook.qld.gov.au
MAGICIANS PUT IT ALL ON SHOW
Do Christopher Wayne and Mike Tyler really have to take their clothes off on stage?
Well, yes they do actually since they are the Naked Magicians. These funny, saucy fellows (pictured), who were a big hit in Vegas, are back and doing their Home-Coming Tour at The Tivoli from August 5-7 as part of the Brisbane Comedy Festival.
They debuted at the festival in 2014 and Wayne says: “I can’t think of a better way to return to where it all began.”
They’ve had some funny experiences along the way, as you can imagine. In Topeka, Kansas, their show was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church, a notoriously conservative outfit.
“This is the first time we truly felt we had made it,” Wayne says.
The Brisbane Comedy Festival is a broad church and is on from July 16 to August 8 at the Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli and the Fortitude Music Hall.
You can see Effie (Mary Coustas), Ross Noble, Paul McDermott, Jimeon, Mel Buttle, Peter Helliar and many more. Talk about laugh! We hope so.
Most of them will, however, be keeping their clothes on. Phew.
QSO COMES TOGETHER
In troubled times, music is a tonic and Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is administering lashings of that tonic lately.
The recent Mozart and Brahms concert was a case in point. Under the baton of Alexander Briger, it was brilliant and guest artist Diana Doherty, was masterful on the oboe. Doherty, a Brissie girl who returned home from Sydney, got a rapturous welcome in the Concert Hall at QPAC. Lovely to watch her jiggle and almost dance as she played.
QSO chief executive Craig Whitehead says “what we are seeing in 2021 is that the real power of music lies in the shared experience of coming together as a community to experience the wonder and excitement of extraordinary music played by outstanding musicians”.
Amen to that. And there’s plenty more to come including, later this month, Epic Sounds – Music That Soars featuring Queenslander William Barton, the world-renowned didgeridoo player. QSO.COM.AU
THEATRE HEADS ONLINE
Theatre on demand. Is it the way of the future? We hope not because we all love going to the actual theatre and lockdowns showed us just how much we missed it.
But if you can’t get to the theatre, you might like to watch Queensland Theatre’s hit show Taming of the Shrew on demand. The team from Australian Theatre Live recently recorded this rollicking Shakespearean comedy with a live audience and this will be available for theatre fans online from June 14-20.
They are calling this initiative Queensland Theatre at Home and artistic director Lee Lewis says it is “one of this Covid silver linings”.
“People who can’t make it to South Brisbane this year can still share some of the magic created in the Bille Brown Theatre,” Lewis says. “In this time when international travel remains impossible, through Taming of the Shrew Queensland Theatre is ready to sweep audiences away to Italy, if only for a night.”
queenslandtheatre.com.au/digital
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