March was a key month within the Australian art market. The Archibald prize, along with the Wynne and Sulman, rolled into town (and many congratulations to Del Kathryn Barton on her second crown). And March is now the custodian of the very popular and successful Art Month in Sydney. Importantly, the Australian auction market gets into full swing from March.
Rightly or otherwise, auctions are seen as the abiding chronicle of market value to the broader art market audience. This sentiment is at best naïve. Auctions are a volume based market and are really governed in part by the quality of work they’re able to secure for public sale. In 2012, the top eight prices at auction, globally, saw the gavel fall on each work for a price in excess of US$35 million. The auction market is more importantly a barometer of market confidence, than necessarily a means of establishing market value.
This is particularly true of the Australian art market. I have no doubt that if you’d read the newspaper during the period when the Laverty Collection was being sold, you would have noted the coverage on the success of this sale by Bonham’s. Within the context of the Australian art market, why is this sale such an important marker in the sand?
It’s fair to say that the auction market in Australia, since the demise of the economic world as we knew it in early 2008, has faltered. Lacklustre catalogues have failed to attract key lots that have been fresh to market. The top eight global results in 2012 in the auction rooms, as mentioned, sold for enormous sums, however the other key factor is that they were all fresh to market – a once in a lifetime opportunity. The Australian market has struggled to find the same in the very top end, although Sotheby’s Australia did unearth a rich vein of Arthur Boyd paintings, which has seen the glimmer develop into a decent flame. The Laverty sale was important for many reasons, but one in particular was the offer of fresh work to market.
Going it alone
Single vendor sales have been building in the Australian market place, with high profile sales of the Hale Collection, Kluge Collection of Aboriginal Art and Mossgreen’s highly successful sale of the great Ann Lewis’ estate. Bonham’s realised AU$5.06 million for the Laverty sale, with no less than nine artist auction records to deliver the most successful single vendor sale in Australian auction market history. It also saw Bonham’s sell a turnover equivalent to their total annual turnovers for 2011 and 2012 in a single evening.
What I’ve found interesting in this sale, is Bonham’s decision to take the highlights of the catalogue on the road. I viewed 40-odd lots from the catalogue here in London before they were shipped off to New York for a viewing and a similar champagne reception. This is the first time in six years that an Australian house has invested in such a venture. The effort was worthwhile, with the geographic diversity of buyers and bidders evident on the night of the sale.
The second observation is that this sale has done an enormous amount of good in re-calibrating the opinion and understanding of great Aboriginal art. While I was amazed the Tommy Watson failed to find a home, the results for the Mick Numarari Tjapaltjarri (AU$219,600) and John Mawurndjul (AU$109,800) are signs of encouragement. Great work is great work, regardless of whether it is by an artist from the Western tradition or an Aboriginal elder.
Fresh work is key for the auction market in 2013 in Australia. The lack of appetite for the sole AU$1 million plus work to be offered in John Brack’s Fronts and Backs is testament to this. Auction turnover may well struggle to hit the giddy heights of AU$100 million plus in 2013, only time will tell. However, the commitment by the auction houses to source exciting fresh work will go a long way to instilling confidence in the public arena and will do just service to developing the global recognition for the incredible talent that Australian art has to offer the global market today.
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