John Olsen and Sidney Nolan paintings sold at ‘strong’ auction

John Olsen’s 1960 work People Who Live In Victoria Street sold on Wednesday night for $775,000 — higher than earlier price ­estimates.

Smith & Singer chairman Geoffrey Smith with John Olsen’s People Who Live in Victoria Street. Picture: John Feder

John Olsen’s 1960 work People Who Live In Victoria Street sold on Wednesday night for $775,000 — higher than earlier price ­estimates — as paintings from some of the country’s best-known artists went under the hammer at auction house Smith & Singer.

And Sidney Nolan’s 1955 work Ned Kelly: In The Bush was sold by a private Perth collector for $875,000.

The 74-lot auction held in ­Sydney’s eastern suburbs, of Australian and international work, was described as highlighting “the artists that changed the course of Australian art practice”, Smith & Singer chairman ­Geoffrey Smith told The Australian last week.

The auction house’s chief executive, Gary Singer, on Wednesday night said he was delighted with the prices, with the results representing a “very strong” showing.

“We never sell everything at every auction,” Mr Singer said.

“It was strong and we had all these great results for excellent paintings.”

People Who Live in Victoria Street — a painting of inner-city Sydney that captured the chaotic ­nature of the metropolis — was being sold by a Sydney collector.

Ned Kelly: In the Bush — part of the second famous Kelly series — was one of five Nolan artworks featured at the auction.

However, other notable pieces failed to attract the anticipated ­attention. Portrait of Mlle Morel by Rupert Bunny passed in after falling below the lower end of the $800,000 expected price, well below the $1.2m hoped for by the auction house.

Cannibal Pearce by Albert Tucker went under the expected $300,000.

Whiteley’s Wategos Beach, Holiday Suite 7 sold for $75,000, while six Arthur Boyd works were also up for auction.

Rocks in Budgong Creek, New South Wales was one of the few artworks to exceed expectations, collecting $412,500.

The Smith & Singer auction was part of the packed November season, which began with the strong Deutscher and Hackett’s showing last week.

Russell Drysdale’s Going to the Pictures, 1941, sold for $2.4m — falling just short of an artist ­record.