IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN ART

The exhibition will be on view in Melbourne from Wednesday 3 April – Sunday 7 April, 10 am to 5 pm, at 14-16 Collins Street.

Among the highlights of the sale is Fred Williams’ spectacular Landscape (1976-1977) (lot 21, estimate $1,400,000–1,800,000, pictured above).  

Fred Williams made his reputation in the 1960s with paintings of studied elegance – spare, restrained, even minimal mark-making – with each series transitioning smoothly into the next. By contrast, the 1970s proved to be the most radical and turbulent period in his art as he embraced a broader range of experiences and colour.  As Memory Holloway succinctly declared: ‘Now there just seems to be more of everything: more colour, more details, greater exuberance, and more courage to take chances …’ (Memory Holloway, ‘Travelogue in an Experimental Style’, The Australian, Sydney, 16 June 1978, p. 10)

Landscape certainly demonstrates the truth of this assessment in its daring use of space and colour and application of pigment.  Inspired by the acacia-studded scenery of Cottles Bridge and Panton Hill, Landscape offers a summation of this revolutionary series of flowering acacias, bush ponds and dirt roads.  A work of exceptional quality, gravitas and stature, Landscape was acquired from the suite of major solo exhibitions by Fred Williams that travelled to public and commercial galleries in 1978 and is offered for public auction for the first time.

Following Melbourne, the Sydney exhibition will take place from Thursday 11 April – Wednesday 17 April, 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 17 April 2024.

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