Smith & Singer

Auction Tonight - Important Australian Art

April 17, 2024

IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN ART

The exhibition will be on view in Sydney today, Wednesday 17 April, 10 am to 5 pm, at 30 Queen Street, Woollahra.

Among the highlights of the sale is Brett Whiteley's magnificent Doves on the Balcony, Lavender Bay 1979 (lot 19, estimate $800,000–1,000,000, pictured above).  

Brett Whiteley is widely and appropriately celebrated as one of Australia’s great cultural identities: both a charismatic artist pop star and a phenomenally gifted draughtsman and painter.  Versatile and expansive, Whiteley’s oeuvre encompasses a wide range of media and subjects – in 1978, the year before Doves on the Balcony, Lavender Bay was completed, he became the first and only artist ever to win all three of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ prestigious painting prizes; the Archibald (portraiture), the Wynne (landscape) and the Sulman (subject/genre).

In Doves on the Balcony, Lavender Bay Whiteley achieved the ideal synthesis of all his skills, learned or guessed, providing us the ‘Great Glimpse’ of his and our world.  A perfectly formed and articulated statement reflective of the ‘very quiet, very minute and very silent’, Whiteley has produced in Doves on the Balcony, Lavender Bay a composition of quiet exhalation that elevates the soul and provides the ultimate statement on the highest achievements of Australian art.

The auction will be held at the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, 111 Queen Street, Woollahra at 6.30 pm tonight, 17 April 2024.

  EXPLORE SALE  

For more information, please contact:

Geoffrey Smith
Chairman
+61 (0)418 889 656 
[email protected]


Emily Walker 
Administrator, Art
+61 (0)3 9508 9900
[email protected]

Gary Singer 
Chief Executive Officer & Director
+61 (0)418 337 788 
[email protected]


David Mackay 
Manager, Sydney Gallery, Marketing & Media    
+61 (0)2 9302 2402
[email protected] 

   
Pictured above 

BRETT WHITELEY 1939-1992   
Doves on the Balcony, Lavender Bay 1979
oil on canvas 
91 x 61 cm  
Estimate $800,000–1,000,000
© Wendy Whiteley/Copyright Agency, 2024

VIEW LOT

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION +

Specialists

Geoffrey Smith

Geoffrey Smith

Chairman

Australian & International Art 
Melbourne  |  Sydney 
T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900 
T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402 
E: Geoffrey Smith
Gary Singer

Gary Singer

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Australian & International Art 
Melbourne  |  Sydney 
T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900 
T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402 
E: Gary Singer
       
Emily Walker

Emily Walker

Administrator

Australian & International Art 
Melbourne 
T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900 
E: Emily Walker
David Mackay

David Mackay

Gallery Manager

Sydney 
T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402 
E: David Mackay

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