The Age | Nick Miller
On May 9 (US time), at the Rockefeller Center in New York, Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn might become the most expensive 20th-century artwork ever to sell at auction.
Smith & Singer In the News
Arthur Boyd for Private Sale
28 April 2022ARTHUR BOYDSmith & 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.
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Art sales up $30m year on year
21 April 2022Financial 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.
The naked truth? Jeffrey Smart steps up again
30 March 2022Financial Review | Gabriella Coslovich
Jeffrey Smart's seamless blend of the mysterious and the everyday has long held market appeal -
Frederick McCubbin painting unveiled for first time in 140 years
25 October 2021The 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 2021The 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.
The Enchanting Flowers of Criss Canning
10 June 2021Amour Fou & Art Magazine | Anon.
Criss Canning is one of Australia's leading artists and is world-renowned for her still life art. After a long career she hangs in the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Artbank and in many private collections around the world. She has had over 21 solo exhibitions and in 2007 was the subject of a major retrospective organised by the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
She lives and works in a country house surrounded by a gorgeous garden which she maintains with her husband David Glenn. She is also a worldwide star on social media with a large number of followers who can admire her artwork and also videos of her garden.
Man on a Mission: John P O'Sullivan Traces the Colourful Career of Artist John Kelly
31 May 2021Irish Arts Review | John P O'Sullivan
Banksy Does the Business
19 May 2021Financial 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 20217 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.