Tim Klingender farewelled at memorial service at Bondi Pavilion

Two weeks after the international art world learnt that one of Australian Indigenous art’s greatest champions had died in a boating accident, 400 of Tim Klingender’s friends, colleagues, clients and peers gathered at the Bondi Pavilion High Tide Room on Friday afternoon for what was billed as a “celebration” of his life.

While there was laughter and applause, there were tears too for the much loved 59-year-old. The diverse collection of people who turned up reflected just how far and wide Klingender’s reach had been.

Tim Klingender was farewelled at a memorial service in Bondi on FridayCredit: John Woudstra

Fashion designers Camilla Freeman Topher and Camilla Franks, Dinosaur Designs co-founder Louise Olsen and artist husband Stephen Ormandy, Bondi knitwear designer John Macarthur, social fixtures Mary Shackman and retired models Martin and Michelle Walsh, Icebergs restaurateur Maurizio Terzini, architect Nick Tobias, hotelier Deke Miskin and Paddington gallerist Dominic Maunsell joined an eclectic crowd to pay their respects.

But firmly at the centre of the moving proceedings were the three people who knew and loved him most: wife Skye and their daughters, Bay and Gala. The venue choice was no coincidence, it was the same spot where Klingender married his new bride 20 years ago.

Still coming to terms with his death, the family had farewelled Klingender on Wednesday when he was cremated. Afterwards, his loved ones watched the crashing surf of Bondi as the “supermoon” rose over the horizon.

Klingender died following a freak accident during a fishing expedition on July 20, but as his sister Jessica recalled, he died doing what he loved – exploring the “wide blue yonder”.

His body was found off Watsons Bay just hours after he and friend Andrew Findlay, 50, a father-of three, set off on one of Klingender’s regular fishing expeditions on Sydney Harbour and around the Heads.

Despite an intense police search, it was almost a week before Findlay’s body was recovered, while police suspect a wave had engulfed the experienced anglers’ boat, which was found capsized on the rocks below The Gap.

He also fought for the establishment of an ethical secondary market for Indigenous art and devoted himself to raising funds to improve living conditions among some of Australia’s most remote communities.

Klingender pioneered the elevation of Indigenous art on the international market over the past 30 years, orchestrating high-profile auctions from London to New York where local collectors paid record-breaking seven figure sums for works by artists working in some of the remotest parts of Australia.

He established the Aboriginal art department at Sotheby’s in 1996 after starting at the auction house in the early 1990s, where he initially ran its contemporary art department.

As head of Sotheby’s Aboriginal art, Klingender championed works by artists including Rover Thomas and Emily Kame Kngwarreye, firmly placing them on the world art stage.

In 2009, he set up his own operation, Tim Klingender Fine Art, and dedicated much of his time and resources to supporting First Nations people, raising money for the Western Desert Dialysis Appeal which funded Purple House, an Alice Springs-based health organisation.

Following his death, in a letter to Skye, Henry Howard-Sneyd, Sotheby’s chairman of Asian Art, Europe and Americas, wrote: “Tim became a big part of my reason for being so taken by the Australian market presence of our company ... I know my life was enriched by knowing and working with him.”

Only weeks ago, Klingender had been in New York for Sotheby’s fourth auction of Aboriginal art.

On leaving The Big Apple to return to Bondi, he posted on his Instagram feed: “Such great art, energy, old friends and new friends every time ... and now 26 years of having the responsibility and privilege to show some of the best Australian Indigenous art in a city like no other. Can’t wait to get home and head to sea.”

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