Australia
See also : Colonial Australia Paper currency 20th century furniture Chairs and seats
Chronology : 1907 1977
Chronology : 1907 1977
1834 A Wealthy Settler in Tasmania
2013 SOLD 1.74 M£ including premium
John Glover was a good English landscape painter, although he failed to be elected to the Royal Academy. Idealizing the landscape to make it more expressive, he was closer to classic artists than to Constable and enjoyed being compared to Claude Lorrain.
In 1829, three of his sons leave for Van Diemen's Land in a boat of convicts. They were free, assessed by the fact that they had acquired some grants of farmers' land. A lot of boldness was needed for moving into that large island whose main use was penitentiary, and which will become the Tasmania.
John follows them in 1831. His previous success as an artist and farmer allowed him to obtain in 1832 a very large estate on the slopes of Ben Lomond mountain. According to the practice of his time, he used his watercolor sketches to achieve more ambitious oil paintings.
The discovery of the undisclosed landscapes of his new country generated to Glover a great creativity. In 1834, he assembled 63 paintings including 38 local subjects for an exhibition to be held in London in the following year.
On September 26 in London, Christie's sells one of the paintings of the London exhibition. Ben Lomond is on the horizon as seen from the property of a neighbour of the artist. Four men are walking in the countryside. We are told that they are busy catching opossums.
The estimate of £ 1.8 million is ambitious. This painting is shown in the press release shared by ArtDaily.
Here is the link to the catalogue. The dimensions of this oil on canvas are 77 x 115 cm.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was ambitious because the early Australian painting is sometimes difficult to sell. Although the estimate has not been reached, I consider that the result £ 1.74 million including premium, is excellent.
In 1829, three of his sons leave for Van Diemen's Land in a boat of convicts. They were free, assessed by the fact that they had acquired some grants of farmers' land. A lot of boldness was needed for moving into that large island whose main use was penitentiary, and which will become the Tasmania.
John follows them in 1831. His previous success as an artist and farmer allowed him to obtain in 1832 a very large estate on the slopes of Ben Lomond mountain. According to the practice of his time, he used his watercolor sketches to achieve more ambitious oil paintings.
The discovery of the undisclosed landscapes of his new country generated to Glover a great creativity. In 1834, he assembled 63 paintings including 38 local subjects for an exhibition to be held in London in the following year.
On September 26 in London, Christie's sells one of the paintings of the London exhibition. Ben Lomond is on the horizon as seen from the property of a neighbour of the artist. Four men are walking in the countryside. We are told that they are busy catching opossums.
The estimate of £ 1.8 million is ambitious. This painting is shown in the press release shared by ArtDaily.
Here is the link to the catalogue. The dimensions of this oil on canvas are 77 x 115 cm.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was ambitious because the early Australian painting is sometimes difficult to sell. Although the estimate has not been reached, I consider that the result £ 1.74 million including premium, is excellent.
1861 Victorian Civilization
2017 SOLD for A$ 1.95M including premium
Melbourne was created in 1835 by free settlers attracted to the fertile banks of the Yarra river. The simultaneous discovery in 1851 of gold nuggets on various sites in the neighborhood brings all kinds of adventurers. On the same year the Victoria colony was separated from New South Wales.
Eugene von Guérard landed in 1852 to take his share in the gold rush. In 1855 he found it more lucrative to exploit his artistic training. He now travels in all directions inside the new colony to make sketches of the landscapes already transformed by the colonists. He then paints the oils on canvas in his studio for the use and vanity of the rich owners.
On August 30 in Sydney, Deutscher and Hackett sells Mr John King's Station, oil on canvas 40 x 84 cm painted in 1861 from sketches made on that property in November of the previous year. It is estimated AUD 800K, lot 10. Here is the link to the website of the auction house.
The art of von Guérard glorifies these very new conquests of civilization. What is important here is not the horizon treated in a Humboldtian rigor but the garden and the field that retreat the boundaries of wilderness. His themes and compositions are reminiscent of Frans Post's didactic paintings in Brazil two centuries earlier.
Two small groups in a resolutely opposite attitude populate the Station in a direct evocation of their clash of cultures which is rare in the art of von Guérard.
Far away but in full light Mr King and his gardener cultivate their roses. In the foreground an Aboriginal family group is in the shade. They gave up their resistance to the white man but ignore the agriculture. Among them the little crouching girl reaches out towards a dead parrot that was probably carried by the dog. The preparatory drawing of this child is identified : it was made in 1855 by the artist near Adelaide.
Eugene von Guérard landed in 1852 to take his share in the gold rush. In 1855 he found it more lucrative to exploit his artistic training. He now travels in all directions inside the new colony to make sketches of the landscapes already transformed by the colonists. He then paints the oils on canvas in his studio for the use and vanity of the rich owners.
On August 30 in Sydney, Deutscher and Hackett sells Mr John King's Station, oil on canvas 40 x 84 cm painted in 1861 from sketches made on that property in November of the previous year. It is estimated AUD 800K, lot 10. Here is the link to the website of the auction house.
The art of von Guérard glorifies these very new conquests of civilization. What is important here is not the horizon treated in a Humboldtian rigor but the garden and the field that retreat the boundaries of wilderness. His themes and compositions are reminiscent of Frans Post's didactic paintings in Brazil two centuries earlier.
Two small groups in a resolutely opposite attitude populate the Station in a direct evocation of their clash of cultures which is rare in the art of von Guérard.
Far away but in full light Mr King and his gardener cultivate their roses. In the foreground an Aboriginal family group is in the shade. They gave up their resistance to the white man but ignore the agriculture. Among them the little crouching girl reaches out towards a dead parrot that was probably carried by the dog. The preparatory drawing of this child is identified : it was made in 1855 by the artist near Adelaide.
1907 View of Sydney by Arthur Streeton
2016 SOLD for A$ 2.07M including premium
Specializing in landscapes, Arthur Streeton was painting outdoors in the following of the French painters of the nineteenth century. The city and harbour of Sydney are rightly his favorite themes : the British sailors who had much earlier explored this coast considered that it is the most beautiful natural harbour in the world.
Streeton resided in Mosman, 8 km northeast of the city. In between, the graceful headland of Cremorne enables to create pleasant and balanced compositions in the panoramic views.
On August 31 in Sydney, Sotheby's Australia sells a view of Sydney from Mosman, oil on canvas 61 x 122 cm painted by Streeton, lot 31 estimated A $ 1.5M.
This technique in large size is rare for this artist who liked to practice painting on wood. It was realized in 1907 for his main patron of that time, Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer. A similar artwork painted in the same year is kept at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
This painting is a fine study of the shades of blue from sea and sky in dialogue with the ocher and green of the land. On the horizon the smoke of the factories discretely symbolizes the industry of the big city. The boats offer their reflections in the water of the bay.
Mosman is since 1916 the location of the Sydney Zoo from where visitors still admire this view that has not changed except that the skyscrapers and the bridge reinforce the modern character of the city.
Streeton resided in Mosman, 8 km northeast of the city. In between, the graceful headland of Cremorne enables to create pleasant and balanced compositions in the panoramic views.
On August 31 in Sydney, Sotheby's Australia sells a view of Sydney from Mosman, oil on canvas 61 x 122 cm painted by Streeton, lot 31 estimated A $ 1.5M.
This technique in large size is rare for this artist who liked to practice painting on wood. It was realized in 1907 for his main patron of that time, Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer. A similar artwork painted in the same year is kept at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
This painting is a fine study of the shades of blue from sea and sky in dialogue with the ocher and green of the land. On the horizon the smoke of the factories discretely symbolizes the industry of the big city. The boats offer their reflections in the water of the bay.
Mosman is since 1916 the location of the Sydney Zoo from where visitors still admire this view that has not changed except that the skyscrapers and the bridge reinforce the modern character of the city.
1913 Australia's first banknote (10 shillings, nr M000001)
2008 SOLD 1.9 MA$ including premium by International Auction Galleries
1946 Penguin in the Bush
2010 SOLD 5.4 MA$ including premium
If you like non-conformist art, just go to Australia. it is the right time, as the austral summer ends and the selling season begins.
That country reminds as a guarantee of originality its ancient past of prison. This isolated continent in the middle of the oceans has allowed to develop unimaginable animal species as the koala and echidna ... and a political art equally original in the mid-twentieth century.
Sidney Nolan had belonged to the group of Angry Penguins, a literary and artistic movement in the Surrealist following, whose one of the goals was to shock the bourgeoisie. He made several series of paintings on themes of epic history of his country, especially the disastrous expedition of Burke and Wills and the revolt of the bushranger (escaped convict) Ned Kelly.
In his 27 paintings made in 1946 on the theme of Ned Kelly, the hero is a robot with a dark black head of TV monitor (then!) pierced by a narrow horizontal slit revealing two terrible eyes.
In Sydney on March 25, one of them, a ripolin 91 x 121 cm, goes on sale at Menzies. Ned Kelly, in the hostile atmosphere of the bush, is brandishing a rifle. He looks like a scarecrow, and is estimated 3 M A$. Here is an illustration of this artwork, shared by Heraldsun.
The repetition of a recognizable character in a series of images was a common artistic language for some surrealists, including Ernst, Lam and Dominguez.
POST SALE COMMENT
The auction house knew that this strange work had all qualities to appeal to Australians: national theme, bush scenery, the main character out of any social or artistic conventions. Moreover, it belonged to a series in which all or almost all other elements are no longer available on the market.
The press is catching the outstanding result, even before it is published on the site of Menzies: 4.5 MA$ hammer price, 5.4 MA$ including premium.
That country reminds as a guarantee of originality its ancient past of prison. This isolated continent in the middle of the oceans has allowed to develop unimaginable animal species as the koala and echidna ... and a political art equally original in the mid-twentieth century.
Sidney Nolan had belonged to the group of Angry Penguins, a literary and artistic movement in the Surrealist following, whose one of the goals was to shock the bourgeoisie. He made several series of paintings on themes of epic history of his country, especially the disastrous expedition of Burke and Wills and the revolt of the bushranger (escaped convict) Ned Kelly.
In his 27 paintings made in 1946 on the theme of Ned Kelly, the hero is a robot with a dark black head of TV monitor (then!) pierced by a narrow horizontal slit revealing two terrible eyes.
In Sydney on March 25, one of them, a ripolin 91 x 121 cm, goes on sale at Menzies. Ned Kelly, in the hostile atmosphere of the bush, is brandishing a rifle. He looks like a scarecrow, and is estimated 3 M A$. Here is an illustration of this artwork, shared by Heraldsun.
The repetition of a recognizable character in a series of images was a common artistic language for some surrealists, including Ernst, Lam and Dominguez.
POST SALE COMMENT
The auction house knew that this strange work had all qualities to appeal to Australians: national theme, bush scenery, the main character out of any social or artistic conventions. Moreover, it belonged to a series in which all or almost all other elements are no longer available on the market.
The press is catching the outstanding result, even before it is published on the site of Menzies: 4.5 MA$ hammer price, 5.4 MA$ including premium.
1957 A Wedding from Down Under
2012 SOLD 1.68 MA$ including premium
The young Australian intellectuals are shocked by World War II. They react by a social criticism closer to Dada than to Surrealism, exacerbating the nonsense of modern society.
The magazine Angry Penguins, which is a cleverly chosen name, is the fer-de-lance of this movement. In literature, its most famous act was a hoax when they invented the poet Ern Malley.
The Ned Kelly series by Sidney Nolan, glorifying one of the worst adventurers of the bush, opens up an entirely new and deeply original Australian art, figurative, narrative and sarcastic.
Arthur Boyd was close to Nolan, who will later become his brother-in-law, and also of John Brack, one of the harshest critics of the established society.
In 1957, Boyd made a series of paintings on the theme of love, marriage and death of the half castes. The groom is shaggy and bearded, somehow a brother of Ned Kelly. He is sometimes presented dead in his too tight coffin.
On August 14 in Melbourne, Sotheby's Australia sells Bride running away by Boyd, an oil and tempera 91 x 121 cm in the style of a child's drawing. The bride escapes her ugly man, who tends his arms in vain to restrain her.
This is an important artwork of the maturity of this young artist who will thereafter make a successful career. It is estimated AUD 1.4 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was ambitious for a work of this artist, but the sale of this lot is successful: AUD 1.4 million excluding costs, 1.68 million including premium, exactly matching the lower estimate.
The magazine Angry Penguins, which is a cleverly chosen name, is the fer-de-lance of this movement. In literature, its most famous act was a hoax when they invented the poet Ern Malley.
The Ned Kelly series by Sidney Nolan, glorifying one of the worst adventurers of the bush, opens up an entirely new and deeply original Australian art, figurative, narrative and sarcastic.
Arthur Boyd was close to Nolan, who will later become his brother-in-law, and also of John Brack, one of the harshest critics of the established society.
In 1957, Boyd made a series of paintings on the theme of love, marriage and death of the half castes. The groom is shaggy and bearded, somehow a brother of Ned Kelly. He is sometimes presented dead in his too tight coffin.
On August 14 in Melbourne, Sotheby's Australia sells Bride running away by Boyd, an oil and tempera 91 x 121 cm in the style of a child's drawing. The bride escapes her ugly man, who tends his arms in vain to restrain her.
This is an important artwork of the maturity of this young artist who will thereafter make a successful career. It is estimated AUD 1.4 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was ambitious for a work of this artist, but the sale of this lot is successful: AUD 1.4 million excluding costs, 1.68 million including premium, exactly matching the lower estimate.
1963 View of Australia from the Top of the Hill
2013 SOLD 2.3 MA$ including premium
Fred Williams interprets the land of Australia and the sparse vegetation of the bush. His paintings on this unique theme are however of great variety and show his passion for his country. The angle can vary and include or not the horizon, but the image is always unlimited.
His visit to You Yangs near Melbourne in 1963 was a turning point in his career. This aboriginal word is meaning Mountain in the middle of the plain. The arid landscape is a dream of prehistory.
You Yangs Landscape 1, oil on masonite 137 x 180 cm, is the masterpiece of this series in the etymological meaning of that word. Williams looks at the plain from the top of the hill. He sees rich shades of warm colors punctuated by scattered shrubs.
This painting is estimated Aus $ 1.5 million, for sale by Bonhams in Sydney on June 26. Here is the link to the catalog.
The result may look as abstract as the ground of Long Island reinterpreted by Pollock but ultimately remains more realistic. The lack of perspective of this image makes it like an aerial topography improved with beautiful colors.
The painting career of Williams began earlier than the revival of Aboriginal pictorial art and certainly influenced it.
POST SALE COMMENT
This abstract landscape is a key work in the art of Fred Williams. It was sold for Aus$ 2.3M including premium.
His visit to You Yangs near Melbourne in 1963 was a turning point in his career. This aboriginal word is meaning Mountain in the middle of the plain. The arid landscape is a dream of prehistory.
You Yangs Landscape 1, oil on masonite 137 x 180 cm, is the masterpiece of this series in the etymological meaning of that word. Williams looks at the plain from the top of the hill. He sees rich shades of warm colors punctuated by scattered shrubs.
This painting is estimated Aus $ 1.5 million, for sale by Bonhams in Sydney on June 26. Here is the link to the catalog.
The result may look as abstract as the ground of Long Island reinterpreted by Pollock but ultimately remains more realistic. The lack of perspective of this image makes it like an aerial topography improved with beautiful colors.
The painting career of Williams began earlier than the revival of Aboriginal pictorial art and certainly influenced it.
POST SALE COMMENT
This abstract landscape is a key work in the art of Fred Williams. It was sold for Aus$ 2.3M including premium.
1977 The Jacaranda Tree (on Sydney Harbour) by Brett Whiteley
1999 SOLD for A$ 2M including premium by Christie's
1979 The Secret Meadow of Brett Whiteley
2019 SOLD for A$ 1.84M including premium
Brett and Wendy Whiteley want a life of passion. Wendy abandons her own artistic ambition to second her husband. Brett believes that an artist can influence the world. After the total failure of a monumental work in mixed techniques against the war in Vietnam, the rest of his career marks his need to define his relationship with the world, exacerbated by his addiction to alcohol and drugs.
The art of Brett Whiteley is of a great variety. Wendy's body is the treasure of the closed universe of his studio in Sydney. The immensity of the sea symbolizes the magnitude of his ambition but is also a pretext to simulate the pathological passion of Gauguin in Oceania. The heron flying against the wind is autobiographical.
In 1979 Brett painted a series of two oil on canvas showing The Paddock at two different times of the day with bright colors inspired by Matisse. In Australia paddock is synonymous with grazing.
This landscape seen from above is limitless, with no perspective and no logical path. It was located in the inland 180 km from Sydney but the inconsistency of the shadows reveals that it comes mainly from the imagination of the artist.
The Paddock - Early Morning was sold for A$ 650K including premium by Deutscher-Menzies in September 2004. The Paddock - Late Afternoon was sold for A$ 1.56M including premium by Menzies on June 23, 2011. This 202 x 152 cm painting is estimated A$ 1.6M for sale by Menzies in Melbourne on August 10, lot 40.
Brett and Wendy divorced in 1989 but Wendy retrieved after the death of Brett the moral authority on his art. In 1992 she created a landscaped garden in Lavender Bay which she named Wendy's Secret Garden, conceived as a giant piece of art for which she learned horticulture. Considered retroactively, the Paddocks of 1979 were not a delirium but an achievable desire.
2019 AUCTION RESULT
Unsold in 2017, this painting was listed again by Menzies in March 2019, also lot 40. (I did not catch it before the sale).
It was sold for A$ 1.84M including premium.
The art of Brett Whiteley is of a great variety. Wendy's body is the treasure of the closed universe of his studio in Sydney. The immensity of the sea symbolizes the magnitude of his ambition but is also a pretext to simulate the pathological passion of Gauguin in Oceania. The heron flying against the wind is autobiographical.
In 1979 Brett painted a series of two oil on canvas showing The Paddock at two different times of the day with bright colors inspired by Matisse. In Australia paddock is synonymous with grazing.
This landscape seen from above is limitless, with no perspective and no logical path. It was located in the inland 180 km from Sydney but the inconsistency of the shadows reveals that it comes mainly from the imagination of the artist.
The Paddock - Early Morning was sold for A$ 650K including premium by Deutscher-Menzies in September 2004. The Paddock - Late Afternoon was sold for A$ 1.56M including premium by Menzies on June 23, 2011. This 202 x 152 cm painting is estimated A$ 1.6M for sale by Menzies in Melbourne on August 10, lot 40.
Brett and Wendy divorced in 1989 but Wendy retrieved after the death of Brett the moral authority on his art. In 1992 she created a landscaped garden in Lavender Bay which she named Wendy's Secret Garden, conceived as a giant piece of art for which she learned horticulture. Considered retroactively, the Paddocks of 1979 were not a delirium but an achievable desire.
2019 AUCTION RESULT
Unsold in 2017, this painting was listed again by Menzies in March 2019, also lot 40. (I did not catch it before the sale).
It was sold for A$ 1.84M including premium.
1988 Furniture Art by Marc Newson
2010 SOLD 2.1 M$ including premium
The contemporary furniture is a geometrical study. Apart from the fact that its use is defined, there is no real difference between a piece of furniture and an abstract sculpture. The proof is made by a designer, a collector and an auctioneer in the catalog of a sale to be held in New York on May 13.
The auction house is Phillips de Pury, which is currently strengthening its position among the market leaders in contemporary art.
The collector is Halsey Minor. Among the 22 works from his collection for sale on that day, Marc Newson is neighbouring Richard Prince and Ed Ruscha.
Newson is the leader in contemporary furniture, considering the excellent results he gets so regularly at auction. The presence of three major works in aluminum will excite the specialists.
In October 2008, I had discussed the sale by Sotheby's at 420 K £ including premium of one of the two artist's proofs of the Orgone Stretch Lounge. The other artist's copy of this 1993 bench is now estimated $ 400 K by Phillips de Pury.
In that article, I chose for reference price a prototype of the Lockheed Lounge sold $ 970 K by Sotheby's in June 2006. The same copy of this 1988 deck chair is now estimated $ 1 million by Phillips de Pury. On April 30, 2009 in London, this auction house got £ 1.1 million including premium for another copy.
The other major lot is a 1987 prototype of the Pod of drawers, estimated $ 500K. A production model of this cabinet has reached $ 1.05 million including premium at Christie's in May 2007.
POST SALE COMMENT
Buyers are becoming more selective. This ensured the success of the prototype of Lockheed Lounge, sold $ 2.1 million including premium ($ 1.8 million hammer), but the other two top lots remained unsold.
Here are pictures of these three pieces on the catalog shared by LiveAuctioneers:
Prototype Lockheed Lounge
Pod of drawers prototype
Orgone Stretch Lounge
SECOND PART OF THE SALE :
BEFORE SALE :
I stated in my article that a series model of the Pod of Drawers cabinet has reached $ 1.05 million including premium at Christie's in May 2007. This copy is one of the top lots in the second part of the Halsey Minor sale by Phillips de Pury in New York on June 9. It is estimated $ 300K.
We can see that it is different from the prototype unsold on May 13: its feet are black, while the prototype has white feet.
AFTER SALE :
Pods of drawers by Newson are less esteemed than his seats. It was sold $ 290K hammer price, $ 350K including premium.
The catalog had been shared by LiveAuctioneers.
The auction house is Phillips de Pury, which is currently strengthening its position among the market leaders in contemporary art.
The collector is Halsey Minor. Among the 22 works from his collection for sale on that day, Marc Newson is neighbouring Richard Prince and Ed Ruscha.
Newson is the leader in contemporary furniture, considering the excellent results he gets so regularly at auction. The presence of three major works in aluminum will excite the specialists.
In October 2008, I had discussed the sale by Sotheby's at 420 K £ including premium of one of the two artist's proofs of the Orgone Stretch Lounge. The other artist's copy of this 1993 bench is now estimated $ 400 K by Phillips de Pury.
In that article, I chose for reference price a prototype of the Lockheed Lounge sold $ 970 K by Sotheby's in June 2006. The same copy of this 1988 deck chair is now estimated $ 1 million by Phillips de Pury. On April 30, 2009 in London, this auction house got £ 1.1 million including premium for another copy.
The other major lot is a 1987 prototype of the Pod of drawers, estimated $ 500K. A production model of this cabinet has reached $ 1.05 million including premium at Christie's in May 2007.
POST SALE COMMENT
Buyers are becoming more selective. This ensured the success of the prototype of Lockheed Lounge, sold $ 2.1 million including premium ($ 1.8 million hammer), but the other two top lots remained unsold.
Here are pictures of these three pieces on the catalog shared by LiveAuctioneers:
Prototype Lockheed Lounge
Pod of drawers prototype
Orgone Stretch Lounge
SECOND PART OF THE SALE :
BEFORE SALE :
I stated in my article that a series model of the Pod of Drawers cabinet has reached $ 1.05 million including premium at Christie's in May 2007. This copy is one of the top lots in the second part of the Halsey Minor sale by Phillips de Pury in New York on June 9. It is estimated $ 300K.
We can see that it is different from the prototype unsold on May 13: its feet are black, while the prototype has white feet.
AFTER SALE :
Pods of drawers by Newson are less esteemed than his seats. It was sold $ 290K hammer price, $ 350K including premium.
The catalog had been shared by LiveAuctioneers.
1988 The Bird of Difficult Pleasure
2016 SOLD for A$ 1.68M including premium
An early artist, Brett Whiteley seeks an unconventional relationship with society. He watches like through distorting spectacles the naked body of Wendy, his wife and muse, in the bathroom. Outside, the city is both attractive and dangerous.
In 1969 the young couple wants to live in Fiji. Facing the ocean, the artist imagines the solutions tried by Gauguin in Tahiti. He looks at the birds : they are carefree. After a few months Brett and Wendy are expelled from Fiji for drug possession.
Brett knows success, including many exhibitions in Australia. He however viscerally remains a marginal. In 1988 he is appealed by the theme of Japan where he has never traveled. He now needs bright colors that only the ocean and the birds may deserve.
The Sunrise, Japanese, Good morning! is a synthesis of these themes. The sharpness of the bird is in contrast with the usual stylization by the artist. This oil and collage on board with electric light, 244 x 205 cm, was sold for A $ 1.32M including premium by Menzies on June 20, 2012. It is estimated A $ 1.4M for sale by the same auction house in Melbourne on September 21, lot 36.
A hummingbird accosting a frangipani, oil and tempera on canvas 211 x 400 cm painted in the same year, was sold for A $ 2,04M including premium by Sotheby's on August 28, 2006.
No more. In the following year, a television documentary is titled Difficult Pleasure, like an observation of his life marred by drug addiction. He divorces from Wendy, loses now all his fights against schizophrenia and alcohol and dies in 1992 of a heroin overdose in a hotel room.
In 1969 the young couple wants to live in Fiji. Facing the ocean, the artist imagines the solutions tried by Gauguin in Tahiti. He looks at the birds : they are carefree. After a few months Brett and Wendy are expelled from Fiji for drug possession.
Brett knows success, including many exhibitions in Australia. He however viscerally remains a marginal. In 1988 he is appealed by the theme of Japan where he has never traveled. He now needs bright colors that only the ocean and the birds may deserve.
The Sunrise, Japanese, Good morning! is a synthesis of these themes. The sharpness of the bird is in contrast with the usual stylization by the artist. This oil and collage on board with electric light, 244 x 205 cm, was sold for A $ 1.32M including premium by Menzies on June 20, 2012. It is estimated A $ 1.4M for sale by the same auction house in Melbourne on September 21, lot 36.
A hummingbird accosting a frangipani, oil and tempera on canvas 211 x 400 cm painted in the same year, was sold for A $ 2,04M including premium by Sotheby's on August 28, 2006.
No more. In the following year, a television documentary is titled Difficult Pleasure, like an observation of his life marred by drug addiction. He divorces from Wendy, loses now all his fights against schizophrenia and alcohol and dies in 1992 of a heroin overdose in a hotel room.
1990 A Social Breakthrough in a Lounge
2015 SOLD for £ 2.43M including premium
The lounges by Marc Newson are an important milestone in contemporary creation. Just out from his sculpture training, he executed in 1986 his first prototype named LC in homage to Le Corbusier.
Australians love surfing. Newson appreciates that the manufacturing techniques of the surfboards may be used for more complex and modern structures. The shape is achieved by covering the foam with fiberglass. Then comes the finish.
The sculptor Newson wishes a metallic finish. After various tests in his garden in Sydney, he manages to keep the convex and concave curves of the cast by hammering sheets of aluminum joined by many blind rivets. The texture is similar to an aircraft fuselage. The new model in 1988 is named Lockheed lounge without the involvement of that industrial company.
The Lockheed Lounge is abstract art applied to furniture, with unprecedented materials and techniques. In 1990, ten units plus four artist's proofs are edited, bringing their figure to a final fifteen.
We do not sit on a Lockheed lounge but may recline on it for a social activity. The new Madame Récamier is the entertainer Madonna. A Lockheed Lounge appears sporadically in 1993 in the video Rain, a song from her highly successful Erotica album. Newson's chair becomes an icon of contemporary lifestyle.
The 1988 prototype was sold for $ 2.1 million including premium by Phillips on May 13, 2010. The 10/10 unit from the 1990 edition is estimated £ 1.5M, for sale by the same auction house on April 28 in London, lot 226.
Australians love surfing. Newson appreciates that the manufacturing techniques of the surfboards may be used for more complex and modern structures. The shape is achieved by covering the foam with fiberglass. Then comes the finish.
The sculptor Newson wishes a metallic finish. After various tests in his garden in Sydney, he manages to keep the convex and concave curves of the cast by hammering sheets of aluminum joined by many blind rivets. The texture is similar to an aircraft fuselage. The new model in 1988 is named Lockheed lounge without the involvement of that industrial company.
The Lockheed Lounge is abstract art applied to furniture, with unprecedented materials and techniques. In 1990, ten units plus four artist's proofs are edited, bringing their figure to a final fifteen.
We do not sit on a Lockheed lounge but may recline on it for a social activity. The new Madame Récamier is the entertainer Madonna. A Lockheed Lounge appears sporadically in 1993 in the video Rain, a song from her highly successful Erotica album. Newson's chair becomes an icon of contemporary lifestyle.
The 1988 prototype was sold for $ 2.1 million including premium by Phillips on May 13, 2010. The 10/10 unit from the 1990 edition is estimated £ 1.5M, for sale by the same auction house on April 28 in London, lot 226.
