Smith & Singer

Australian & International Art

Exhibition Catalogue Announcement – John Kelly

10 May 2022

JOHN KELLY: THE LAZARUS SERIES

The digital catalogue for the upcoming selling exhibition  JOHN KELLY: The Lazarus Series exhibition at Smith & Singer is now available to view online

During the past two and a half decades John Kelly has developed a distinguished reputation in Australia and internationally for his work that combines his unique intellect and humour.  Bristol born, Kelly moved to Australia with his parents in 1965, the year of his birth.  Kelly now resides in West Cork, Ireland and has English, Australian and Irish nationality.  It was during his time in Australia that Kelly developed his affinity with one of his most recognised subjects, William Dobell’s camouflaged cows, created when, during World War II, Dobell was commissioned to make paper-mâché cows with the purpose of confusing enemy aircraft about the locations of Australian airbases. 

This significant exhibition will feature 16 major works by the artist and will be open to the public Monday–Friday, 10 am – 5 pm, 17 May – 10 June 2022 at 14-16 Collins Street, Melbourne.

To enquire about the availability of works in the exhibition please contact our specialists.

Important Australian Art for Private Sale

10 May 2022

JAMES GLEESON

Smith & Singer are honoured to offer James Gleeson's Prometheus Encyphered 1986 for private sale.

James Gleeson remains a colossus within the history and development of Australian art, primarily as an artist, but equally for his enormous contribution to our visual culture in his roles as author, art critic, arts administrator and advisor.  

For almost seven decades Gleeson practiced Surrealism and explored the realms and possibilities of the Surrealist creed, that sought to show that there exists, beyond the obvious and everyday, an alternative reality experienced through dreams, hallucinations, and differing mental states.  Rather than focusing on purely private fantasies, the most significant contributions made by Surrealist artists, including Gleeson, are the visionary and profound statements that comment on the human condition.

We are particularly delighted to present James Gleeson’s magnificent and magisterial Prometheus Encyphered for Private Sale.  

Arthur Boyd for Private Sale

28 April 2022

ARTHUR BOYD

Smith & Singer are delighted to offer Arthur Boyd's Nebuchadnezzar Eating Grass with Lion's Head on Fire (1968) for private sale.

Arthur Boyd’s epic and historical series of paintings on the theme of the banishment and punishment of the proud, cruel, and mercenary Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, were described by Ursula Hoff as ‘mesmerising’ and ‘a tribute to Boyd’s artistic culture, to his awareness of the art that surrounded him both in Australia and in the Old World, and to the heights to which he aspires.’  Although the iconography references the biblical text, Boyd’s compositions diverge to reference the Australian landscape as well as to the then current political anxieties of the Vietnam War and to the psychology of brutal dictators of the twentieth century.  These powerful canvases create an extraordinary impact through their use of agitated brushwork and a diverse, vibrant palette, ranging wildly from intense aggression to more delicate and muted tones.

Nebuchadnezzar Eating Grass with Lion’s Head on Fire remains one of the most dramatic and sumptuous within the comprehensive series and featured on the cover of Boyd’s solo exhibition at Arthur Tooth & Sons in London in 1969 and represents a rare opportunity to acquire a seminal work from one of Australia's most radical voices.  

 

For more information please contact:

Geoffrey Smith
Chairman
+61 (0)418 889 656 
[email protected]

Emily Walker 
Administrator, Art 
+61 (0)3 9508 9900 
[email protected]

Gary Singer
Chief Executive Officer & Director
+61 (0)418 337 788 
[email protected] 

David Mackay  
Gallery Manager   
+61 (0)2 9302 2402 
[email protected]

 
 
Pictured above 

ARTHUR BOYD 1920-1999 
Nebuchadnezzar Eating Grass
with Lion's Head on Fire
 (1968)  
oil on canvas
175 x 183 cm
For private sale 
© Arthur Boyd/Copyright Agency, 2022

Art sales up $30m year on year

21 April 2022

Financial Review  |  Gabriella Coslovich

The Australian auction market has enjoyed one of its strongest-ever starts to a year. Some $41 million worth of art has been sold so far, compared with $14 million in the year-earlier period. 

Frederick McCubbin painting unveiled for first time in 140 years

25 October 2021

The Age /Sydney Morning Herald | Kerrie O'Brien

A rarely seen painting by one of Australia’s pioneering impressionist artists, Frederick McCubbin, will go under the hammer for the first time in 140 years.

The 1884 painting The Letter is one of McCubbin’s earliest contributions to the late 19th-century art movement known as Australian Impressionism and has been long held by his family, known to exist by only a handful of scholars.

The work features McCubbin’s sister Harriet, an artist who modelled for him as well as his contemporary Tom Roberts, reading a letter, apparently deep in thought.

Measuring 45.5cm x 22.6cm, the piece will be auctioned by Smith & Singer in November with an estimated price range of $300,000-$400,000. But the auction house says there’s a chance it will sell for well above that, given the rarity of McCubbin’s work of this era and the degree of interest it is expected to generate.

Margaret Olley painting sells for almost $100,000 in hot Covid market

27 August 2021

The Australian  |  Stephen Lunn

It didn’t take long for Margaret Olley’s Still Life With Fruit and Flowers to find a buyer.

Art dealers Smith & Singer sent a note to those well-heeled members of its mailing list just after 10am on Thursday offering the painting for private sale. By 11.30am it had found a new home.

The buyer negotiated an undisclosed price understood to be just shy of $100,000, not a record for an Olley, but serious money.

Banksy Does the Business

19 May 2021

Financial Review  |  Gabriella Coslovich

In Australia and around the world the irreverent British graffiti artist is becoming more sought after and the prices at auction have become as much a talking point as the works themselves.

In his 2005 monograph Wall and Piece the elusive British street artist Banksy wrote ‘Despite what they say graffiti is not the lowest form of art’.  And if the measure of merit is in the price people are prepared to pay for an artist’s work (an enduringly debatable point), then Banksy has proved himself right many times over.

Australian Who Found Authentic Banksy Print for $300 Sells it for Staggering $184,000

14 May 2021

7 NEWS  |  Alex Turner-Cohen

One Australian has walked away almost $200,000 richer after a lucky find at an art store in Sydney. In 2003, a customer walked into the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) store in Sydney’s Circular Quay and picked up a Bansky print for less than $300. The painting was a copy of infamous street artist Banksy’s iconic Love Is In The Air with a red background, which depicts a protester throwing flowers.  After the purchase, Smith and Singer, Australia’s auction house for paintings, discovered that the artwork was indeed authentic as it was number 450 of an edition of 500 printed by Banksy in 2003.

On Thursday night, 17 years after it was first purchased, the print sold for $184,091 on the international market.

Banksy Print Bought for $300 Sets Record Australian Price at Auction

14 May 2021

The Age  |  Kerrie O'Brien

An Australian record has been set for the sale of a Banksy print with the anonymous artist’s Love Is In the Air (2003) selling at auction for nearly $200,000.  Purchased by an unidentified bidder in America, it was offered in a single-lot, 10-day, online auction by Smith & Singer on Wednesday night and attracted bidders from around the world. It sold for $184,091, doubling the previous Australian record of $73,000.

Exhibitions Now Open

20 February 2021

Toorak Times  |  Mick Pacholli

To celebrate 15 years of the Bowness Photography Prize MGA has partnered with Smith & Singer to showcase the 15 previous recipients during PHOTO 2021 International Festival of Photography. 

John Kelly’s Kangaroo Meets a Cow That Won’t be Branded

5 February 2021

The Australian  |  Imogen Reid

When Australian artist John Kelly, known for his artistic take on the humble cow, was struck down with a severe strain of flu and hospitalised for months, a special meeting took place as his hospital bed became his art studio [...]

As he prepares to unveil a ­series of works at the launch of auction house Smith & Singer’s 2021 exhibition program in Melbourne on February 15, Kelly ­reveals the story behind the show, Something Old Something New Something Borrowed Something Blue.

Influencers Who Changed Our Views

14 November 2020

The Australian  |  Imogen Reid

A 1960 painting by one of Australia’s most treasured artists is estimated to sell for up to $650,000 in a coveted auction where some of the nation’s rarest artworks will be placed under the hammer.  Bids for John Olsen’s People Who Live in Victoria Street, a painting of “decorative chaos” featured in Smith & Singer’s Important Australian & International Art exhibition, are expected to start at $450,000.  Spanning more than a century, the pieces will form an event comprising examples of the nation’s most renowned collections. Open for viewings in Sydney on Wednesday, it will be a precursor to the auction in the city’s eastern suburbs on Nov­ember 18.

Smith & Singer Present an Exhibition and Auction of Australian & International Art

13 November 2020

Le Courrier Australien  |  Yves Hernot

Exposition du 11 au 18 novembre 2020, de 10h à 17h au 30 Queen Street, Woollahra (Sydney), NSW

Vente aux enchères le 18 novembre 2020 à 18h30 au National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, 111 Queen Street, Woollahra (Sydney), NSW.  La vente aux enchères aura lieu à Sydney le 18 novembre 2020 au Conseil national des Femmes Juives d’Australie,  au 111 Queen Street, Woollahra  à 18h30.  Parmi les points forts de cette vente, citons l’extraordinaire A Southern View, Olinda (1933) d’Arthur Streeton, lot 14, estimation 300 000–500 000 $,  voir photo et Lysterfield Landscape de Fred Williams (1968) lot 8, estimation 450 000–650 000 $ .

The Love of Bunny's Life Now Top Lot for Smith & Singer

4 November 2020

Financial Review  |  Gabriella Coslovich

Collectors will be spoilt for choice this month as a succession of headline-grabbing artworks go under the hammer as the auction year winds up [...] Smith & Singer has consigned a few gems of its own [...] Rupert Bunny’s haughtily elegant portrait of his companion and muse, the French artist Jeanne-Heloise Morel, could set a new record for the artist. Estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million, the sumptuous Portrait of Mlle Morel, from 1895, is the star work in Smith & Singer’s 74-lot final auction of the year.

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