IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN ART

The exhibition will be on view in Melbourne from Wednesday 2 November until Sunday 6 November, 10 am to 5 pm, at 14-16 Collins Street.

Among the highlights of the sale is Lin Onus' magnificent and confronting Ten Little Niggers (1992) (estimate $400,000–600,000, pictured above), an image that powerfully blends Indigenous and Western references with startling originality.

The figure of a nude woman lying on an inflatable Li-lo floating on a leafy billabong is one of only three major paintings of the female nude by Lin Onus, and is the earliest of these.  Ten Little Niggers (1992) with its confrontational title was painted two years before the ambiguously titled The Joy of Fishing – In Waiting (1994, Private Collection) followed by the portrait-like Robyn (1995, Private Collection).  In this remarkable composition Lin Onus has faithfully rendered in detail the cover of Christie’s world-wide best-seller to crystallise the allusions within his painting as a metaphor for the historic racist stereotyping that has insidiously permeated Western culture.

Following Melbourne, the Sydney exhibition will take place from 10-16 November, 10 am to 5 pm at 30 Queen Street, Woollahra.

The auction will be held at the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, 111 Queen Street, Woollahra at 6.30 pm on 16 November 2022.