Opinion: Australian Art Auction News

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Tonight (24th September) and tomorrow night (25th September) there will be art auctions taking place here in Australia both of which are being conducted by Menzies Art Brands who are the number one market leaders in Australian art auction sales. Tonights auction is the main event with three works estimated to fetch over AU$1,000,000 including a work by Warhol titled “Head After Picasso” , a work by Pierre Bonnard titled “Bouquet de chiminee” and a work by the iconic Australian artist Fred Williams titled “Hillside II”.

33 FRED WILLIAMS Hillside II $1,000,000 - 1,300,000
34 ANDY WARHOL Head After Picasso $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
35 PIERRE BONNARD Bouquet de cheminée $1,100,000 - 1,400,000

See catalogues here:
http://www.menziesartbrands.com/cgi/dmcat.cgi?rm=browse&cat_id=82
http://www.menziesartbrands.com/cgi/dmcat.cgi?rm=browse&cat_id=83

With the last few major art auctions here in Australia achieving less than ideal results all eyes will be on tonight’s and tomorrow night’s auctions although the pre-sale vibe is quite positive considering the current financial turmoil being experienced all over the world. The inclusion of the three above mentioned works in the first of the two Menzies Art Brands auctions should boost interest and participation. The second sale however, consists mainly of middle and lower priced works which, without the assistance of the buyers and money attracted by the inclusion of higher priced works, may struggle.

In other auction news, Sotheby’s have released some limited but none the less interesting data regarding the bidders at the Hirst sale. According to a press release by Sotheby’s:
• 35% of the buyers in the Evening Sale were new to the Contemporary Art department and 18%
were new to Sotheby’s.
• Of the bidders new to Sotheby’s, 25% came from the new markets (Russia , India , China and the Middle East).
• Of the bidders registered in the sale, 16% were new to Sotheby’s and 35% were new to the
Contemporary Art department.

image:
PIERRE BONNARD
(1867-1947, French)
Bouquet de cheminée (also known as Fleurs sur une cheminée) 1913
oil on canvas
81.5 x 53.5 cm
signed lower right: Bonnard

**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of www.artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications