Smith & Singer In the News

Painted in 1907, St Kilda Pier (1907) by Arthur Streeton is a highly impressionistic composition which perfectly captures the sunlight and breezy scene of ocean, shoreline and sailing boats, together with the men, women and children as they promenade on the pier.  The colours are bright and fresh, a celebration of Streeton’s re-acquaintance with the Australian light after a period of living in Europe the previous decade.

Held in the same private collection since 1919, St Kilda Pier (1907) (estimate $50,000-70,000, lot 29) was originally acquired directly from the artist by Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer – Streeton’s greatest patron.  Last offered for auction in 1919 it was purchased by the present owner’s ancestors for 22 gns. 

One of Australia’s greatest collectors and patrons, Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer is best known for his considerable legacy to Australian anthropology; however, he traversed several disciplines of art, ethnography and science.  He was a trustee of the combined National Gallery of Victoria, Museum Victoria and State Library of Victoria from 1884-1928, and actively promoted the acquisition of historical and contemporary Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian Art into Australia’s repositories.  As a passionate collector of Australian contemporary art, Spencer was Arthur Streeton’s greatest patron, at one time owning 41 works by the artist.  In August 2015 Sotheby’s Australia sold 4 works from the Spencer Collection that achieved exceptional results, including Unloading Bricks, Kew (1905) for $122,000 against an estimate of $30,000-40,000.

Geoffrey Smith, Chairman of Sotheby’s Australia commented: ‘St Kilda Pier is a unique image in the artist’s career and has not been seen in public for almost half a century.  Included in the Sir Arthur Streeton Survey exhibition at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in March 1968, it was simply titled The Pier, its exact location unidentified.  Through my research for the Arthur Streeton 1867-1943 Catalogue Raisonné, I was able to reinstate the painting with its original title, as well as full provenance and exhibition history.’

>View lot

>View e-Catalogue

Illustrated
ARTHUR STREETON 1867-1943
St Kilda Pier (1907)
oil on wood panel
18.5 x 24 cm
Estimate $50,000-70,000

Financial Review  |  Peter Fish

Chinese cloisonné – the art of intricately decorating metal vases and other objects with coloured enamels – is on the comeback trail, as demonstrated by its prominence in the latest major Asian art auctions.

Adelaide Advertiser  |  Louise Nunn

A RARE 19th century picture of Aborigines and settlers in the north park lands, held by Adelaide’s Muirhead family since it was painted and first exhibited, is up for sale.

An icon of Australian 20^th Century interior design, a Café Australia dining chair designed by Marion Mahoney Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin will be auctioned by Sotheby’s Australia on 27 October 2015 in Sydney. 

Café Australia opened on 8 November 1916 and became regarded as the most handsome café in Australia, frequented by the elite of the city, including Dame Nellie Melba. 

Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahoney Griffin are widely known for the design of the national capital Canberra.  Other buildings constructed include Newman College, University of Melbourne and the Capitol Theatre, Melbourne.  Café Melbourne was the Griffin’s first architectural and interior design commission in Australia including plasterwork, stained glass and tables and chairs with highly distinctive decorative elements.

Geoffrey Smith, Chairman of Sotheby’s Australia commented: ‘Very little remains of Café Australia, which at the time was regarded a tour de force in interior design.  Located on Collins Street, Melbourne it was demolished in 1938 to make way for the new Australia Hotel.  Rare highlights such as this complete dining chair are a valuable insight into the burgeoning modernist style created by one of Australia’s greatest architectural and interior design teams.  There is richness to the chairs design, while still remaining economical with the fabrication.’

This is the second only known complete chair to appear for auction, the only known other was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 2003.  There are two other partial chairs that have been identified.

Afternoon Tea Room and Stairway to balcony of Banquet Hall at Café Australia.  Collection of the New York Historical Society.

Main Picture
A Cafe Australia dining chair, blackwood
(Acacia melanoxylon), plywood and
leather designed by Marion Mahoney
Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin, 1916
Estimate $3,000-4,000

Dating from 1934 to 1940 six rare vintage prints by one of Australia’s most renowned photographers are to be offered at Sotheby’s Australia’s auction of Fine Asian, Australian & European Arts & Design on 27 October 2015 in Sydney.  Sydney born Max Dupain spent most of his life photographing the architecture, landscape, beaches and cities of Australia with a brief sojourn to other countries, including Paris where he photographed the Harry Seidler designed Australian Embassy.  It was not until the 1970s that he gained wider recognition when his photographs were collected in depth by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

The industrialisation of society and the environment did not go unnoticed by Dupain.  The Silos, Morning 1935 has been described as his ‘first stark image’ that broke free of traditional photographic boundaries exploring architectural and industrial form reduced to a simplified minimum.  As further discussed in Jill White’s book Dupain’s Sydney, The Silos, Morning ‘shocked the local photographic clique who saw the image as nakedly confronting … soaring cylindrical shafts threatened the confined edges of the camera frame, highlighting the dynamic interplay of angles and space.’

The dynamic interaction between humanity and the environment are explored in several of his works.  Within Brave New World 1935 (estiamte $8,000-12,000, lot 133) the artist has silhouetted a nude with various instruments of building and measurement.  An interpretation of Discobolus and the Machine 1935 (estimate $8,000-12,000, lot 131) is the disruption of the classical arts by the industrialised age.  In Sunset, Frenchs Forest 1940 (estimate $8,000-12,000, lot 132) the human form has become at one with the landscape.

Illustrated
MAX DUPAIN 1911-1992
gelatin silver print
31.6 x 45.5 cm
Estimate $8,000-12,000

The Australian  |  Michaela Boland

A previously unknown memento of pioneering street artist Keith Haring’s 1984 visit to Melbourne has surfaced at Sotheby’s Australia.

Arthur Streeton 1867-1943: A Catalogue Raisonné

The catalogue raisonné is currently in preparation on the oil paintings by Arthur Streeton.

Arthur Streeton was one of Australia's most influential artists who produced a significant body of work spanning more than fifty years.

This definitive publication of the complete oil paintings by Arthur Streeton will become the standard reference on the artist.

For a confidential enquiry, please contact Geoffrey Smith, Chairman of Sotheby's Australia.

Enquiries +61 (0)3 9508 9900 or +61 (0)2 9302 2402
[email protected]

Illustrated
ARTHUR STREETON 1867-1943
'Sunlight Sweet', Coogee  1890
oil on canvas
90.2 x 49.5 cm
Private Collection

BlouinArtInfo  |  Nicholas Forrest

Sotheby’s Australia will offer one of the most significant paintings by John Brack still in private ownership during its August 25 Important Australian Art sale at the InterContinental Sydney.

The Australian  |  Michaela Boland

Sidney Nolan’s daughter has consigned for sale a little-known painting her father gave her at the age of 10.

From her home in the US, Jinx Nolan said that despite protect­ively guarding the artwork and living with it for more than 60 years, she was happy to part with it now. “I said to him after he gave it to me, ‘don’t you dare paint over it,’ because­ he did that before when he’d needed a bit of masonite,” she said.

Business Insider Australia  |  Simon Thomsen

Corporate law firm Minter Ellison is putting its collection of contemporary Australian art and photography up for auction after moving across the road to Governor Macquarie Tower in Sydney last month.