The Mail on Sunday | Jack Mahony
A lucky customer who bought a Banksy print from a museum gift shop for 'less than $300' is expected to pocked $150,000 from its sale after it turned out to be an original planted by the mystery artist.
The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, bought the work in Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art in 2003.
Herald Sun | Elizabeth Fortescue
A $300 Banksy artwork bought at the MCA Store in 2003 has emerged as the art bargain of a lifetime. A Banksy screen print picked up at the MCA Store at Circular Quay for less than $300 in 2003 is estimated to fetch its lucky owner between $100,000 and $150,000 at auction this month, eclipsing Banksy’s Australian auction record.
Banksy’s Love Is In The Air is number 450 of an edition of 500 printed in 2003, according to Smith and Singer auctioneers’ chairman Geoffrey Smith.
Financial Review | Gabriella Coslovich
Three million-dollar paintings, six new auction records, and Australia’s first million-dollar diamond were all realised in Sydney on Tuesday night, emphasising the ongoing strength of the secondary art market. Deprived of their international getaways, Australia’s richest, many of whose fortunes have grown during the pandemic, are splashing out at home, and the auction industry is a clear beneficiary. The money needs to go somewhere, and why not on art and luxury goods – tangible art and luxury goods no less.
Financial Review | Gabriella Coslovich
Collectors will be spoilt for choice next week as more than $16 million in art goes under the hammer at Deutscher and Hackett, Smith & Singer, and Bonhams. No fewer than four million-dollar-plus paintings by blue-chip artists will be offered – three of them by Smith & Singer.
The Sydney Morning Herald | Stephen Crafti
Furniture from the post-war period saw a number of great proponents, with many European designers making their mark in Australia.
One of the most acclaimed is cabinet-maker and artist Schulim Krimper, described as the “Gio Ponti” – an Italian designer of great note – of Australia by Geoffrey Smith, chair of Smith and Singer (formerly Sotheby’s Australia).
The Sydney Morning Herald | Meaghan Wilson Anastasios
More than 100 years ago, upstairs in the Athenaeum on Collins St, a painting of a girl in the outback sat next to a masterpiece.
What the Little Girl Saw in the Bush - its subject standing by a fencepost, spying on two fairies frolicking in the lush Australian landscape - was exhibited at Frederick McCubbin’s first solo exhibition directly beside The Pioneer, the artist’s monumental work soon to be snatched up by the NGV and become one of the country’s most recognised, admired and loved images.
