Important Australian & New Zealand Art | Important Australian Art from The J.G.L. Collection

Important Australian & New Zealand Art (Lots 1-98)
Including Important Australian Art from The J.G.L. Collection (lots 99-137)

Sotheby's Australia continues its art auction market leadership with stunning results achieved at the May sale of Important Australian & New Zealand Art with a total of $8.84 million with 82.3% sold by value, including seven new artist auction records.  The result represents the highest total for an art auction in Australia for 2018.

Two monumental and highly significant paintings by Lin Onus both exceeded the previous auction record for the artist. Commissioned by Melbourne Airport, Fish, Ferns and Rocks (1995) established the new auction record of $793,000 (estimate $450,000-650,000, lot 10) and Fish at Dusk (1996) realised $671,000 (estimate $450,000-650,000, lot 11).  These works were painted in the last two years of Lin Onus’ life and represented the artist’s most ambitious paintings in their scale, complexity and visual impact. Sotheby's Australia now holds four of the top five highest auction results for the artist.

An artist auction record of $305,000 was established for Gottfried Lindauer’s Maori Girl Learning the Haka which provided an intimate and rare insight into Māori culture, as a young child is taught by her elders the tribal dance (estimate $250,000-350,000, lot 98).  William Delafield Cook's Headland, Hawkesbury River 1985 exceeded its high estimate selling for $366,000 setting a new auction record for the artist (estimate $150,000-200,000, lot 8).