Smith & Singer In the News

2GB 873AM  |  Ross Greenwood

Ross Greenwood speaks to the Chairman of Sotheby’s Australia Geoffrey Smith about a major art auction taking place next week. (Audio)

Adelaide artist Dorrit Black (1891-1951) is one of Australia’s most respected artists credited for introducing modernist principles and techniques to local audiences.  In the late 1920s during her time studying at the Grosvenor School of Art in London and Mirmande in the south of France, Black developed a distinct post-impressionist and cubist style.  

The Pink House (1928) (estimate $40,000-60,000, lot 25) and A Dorset Farmyard (1944) (estimate $30,000-40,000, lot 26) are two particularly rare examples of her exceptional work as a modernist painter.   The use of tonal modelling is evident in The Pink House, a device Black successfully adopted during her time working and studying abroad.  The foreground of the painting shows the green foliage of trees, while the flat apricot walls and red rooftop prisms show Black’s supreme skills as a modernist painter.

A Dorset Farmyard, was painted by Black in Adelaide from sketches she had made ten years earlier at Chideock, a small west Devon coastal farming village.  The artist visited the village in 1935 with a group of artists on her second visit to England and later revisited the sketches while working in Adelaide.  The oil painting shows a herd of cattle against the soft organic curves of the farm rooves in the background.

These important paintings by Dorrit Black are offered for auction for the first time at Sotheby’s Australia’s Important Australian & International Art sale on 26 August 2014 in Sydney.  The paintings have been consigned from the collection of fellow South Australian artist Jacqueline Hick (1919-2004) and represent a unique opportunity for collectors of Australian art.

Much of the artist’s work was influenced by her studies in Europe, but as a founding director of the Modern Art Centre in Sydney, Black’s contribution to Australian modern art is undisputed.  Black taught landscape painting at the South Australian School of Arts, where one of her pupils was Jacqueline Hick.  Well known for her figurative paintings, Hick was passionate about the arts and served on the board of the Art Gallery of South Australia for seven years and the Council of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra between 1982 and 1985.

view e-Catalogue
View catalogue entry The Pink House (1928)
view catalogue entry A Dorset Farmyard (1944)

Dorrit Black 1891-1951
A Dorset Farmyard (1944)
oil on canvas board
42.2 x 58.7 cm
Estimate $30,000-40,000

Pictured top:Dorrit Black 1891-1951
The Pink House (1928)
oil on canvas on cardboard
36.8 x 47.6 cm
Estimate $40,000-60,000

Australian Financial Review  |  Peter Fish

With no less than four major paintings by Jeffrey Smart and three by Fred Williams, Sotheby’s Australia has been wheeling out the big guns for its spring sale later this month.

Broadsheet  |  Katya Wachtel

A 1972 work by the famous artist, not seen in public for 42 years, has been rediscovered in a private collection.

Australian Financial Review  |  Peter Fish

An old Chinese cupboard and a gaggle of ducks by a noted German artist were the odd couple that took out the equal top scores of $100,000-plus at Sotheby’s Australia’s latest arts and design auction.

The Advertiser  |  Louise Nunn

TWO important oil paintings by Adelaide artist Dorrit Black - not seen since the 30s and 40s - are up sale for the first time, as a major exhibition of her work continues at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Gourmet Traveller

Making a five-star hotel feel like home is the challenge under way at The Langham Sydney - though four months and $30 million is a fine start.

The Australian  |  Michaela Boland

A JEFFREY Smart “mystery paint­ing” has surfaced in Sydney after having been owned by the same family since it was bought from South Yarra Gallery in Melbourne 42 years ago.

Born in Neustadt, Germany in 1864, Alexander Koester (1864-1932) was a skilled and versatile artist famed for his paintings of ducks.  Koester initially earned a living painting commissioned portraits, however in 1890 his works became focused on the watery landscapes and ducks of Klausen, where he settled.  By the turn of the 20^th century his love for painting ducks had become his specialisation and established his reputation, earning him the moniker ‘Duck Koester’ or ‘Enten-Koester.’

Koester’s duck paintings are arguably his most sought-after subjects, winning him a gold medal at the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair as well as other accolades throughout Europe.

Works by the renowned German artist continue to daw attention from discerning collectors of European art worldwide, with Sotheby’s New York selling Enten in Teich (Wilde Jagd) (lot 101, 9 May 2014) for US$455,000 against a presale estimate of US$150,000-200,000.

Another work by Koester, Ans Ufer (Enten) (lot 230) will be offered for sale by Sotheby’s Australia at its Fine Asian, Australian & European Arts & Design sale in Melbourne on 29 July 2014. The fine oil painting features eight ducks and dates from the midpoint of Koester’s career in the years prior to World War I.  It combines the close observations of his early Naturalist works with the Impressionist brushwork techniques he developed over the course of his career.  Ans Ufer (Enten) is offered from a private collection in Queensland and has a pre-sale estimate of AUD$50,000-70,000.

Blouin ArtInfo  |  Nicholas Forrest

Sotheby’s Australia has brought together an eclectic range of desirable art and objects for their July 29 Fine Asian, Australian & European Arts & Design auction in Melbourne.