Antiques Trade Gazette 55
strength in depth
A Boyd in the bush is worth £28,000 to his admirers
WEST London auctioneers Lots Road (20% buyer’s premium) sparked international attention on February 27 with the sale of a painting by one of Australia’s most highly regarded post- War artists, Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (1920-1999). Four telephone bidders and two
collectors in the room swiftly bid the price above the enticing £5000-8000 estimate to reach a final hammer price of £28,000. Born in Melbourne in 1920, Arthur
Boyd (the grandson of accomplished artist Arthur Merric Boyd Senior) was one of the original seven members of the Antipodeans Group of modern Australian artists who championed figurative art at the time of American abstract expressionism. He represented Australia at the
Venice Biennale in 1958 then in the early 1960s at influential group exhibitions at London’s Zwemmer and Whitechapel Galleries, his work was shown alongside the likes of Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and John Perceval. The Lots Road’s picture, a 3ft x 2ft (91
x 60cm) oil on composition board, dated from the second phase of Boyd’s career after 1971 when he returned to Australia to rediscover his roots. He settled by the Shoalhaven River in Bundanon in the Southern Highlands,
Above: 9644 by Robert Marc, 2ft 2in x 21in (65 x 54cm) oil on canvas – £11,000 from The Cyzer Gallery and Alon Zakaim Fine Art.
The Marc of approval
Anna Brady reports
THE early Cubist works of Georges Braque and Juan Gris immediately spring to mind on seeing the abstract yet painterly works of the French artist Robert Marc (1943-1993). But, while these artists were undoubtedly
influential, it was the vibrant diversity of 1960s Paris, from jazz and student revolts to African art, that really provided the stimulus for Marc’s work, although he preferred to live quietly in the French countryside. The New York dealer Barry Friedman
Above: Australian riverscape by Arthur Boyd – £28,000 at Lots Road.
south of Sydney, where his property, Bundanon Trust, now operates as an arts centre. The riverscape in West London, in its
original 1970s frame, depicted the beauty of the Australian bush with a cockatoo and black swan providing company for the lone inhabitants of the pitched tent
back down under
artist who became the official portraitist to Queen Victoria and the Royal Family. But while he painted young children relatively frequently, babies were a less common subject and this one suffered in comparison to another showing the artist’s wife, Elizabeth, with their baby daughter Mary Edith. That one made a record £90,000 at
Christie’s in June 2006, but the Dreweatts offering was not of the same quality and, to some minds, appeared slightly lifeless. With some scattered retouching and
needing a clean, the 2ft 5in (74cm) oil on board came from a local private source and was offered with a £5000-7000 estimate. It sold at £8000 to private buyer from
Herefordshire.
Left: Sleeping Baby by James Sant – £8000 at Dreweatts.
on the sandy shore. These features, as well as the
contrasting blue palette, made it highly desirable for collectors, although larger and more technically accomplished paintings of the Shoalhaven River have sold for over £150,000 at auction. Marika Clemow
‘discovered’ Marc in Paris the early 1980s and went on to hold a series of exhibitions of his work during the 1980s and 1990s, which helped him to develop an international collector base through Europe, Japan and the US until his untimely death in 1993. Over the past few years, Marc’s works
have appeared at auction regularly both sides of the Atlantic, establishing a pretty solid secondary market. An auction record was achieved last March at Christie’s New York for Composition Cubiste, which realised $15,625 (£10,930) including premium. Now, the London dealerships The
Cyzer Gallery at 23 Bruton Street and Alon Zakaim Fine Art at 30 Cork Street, working with Barry Friedman, will hold a joint show Robert Marc: Reflections and Rediscovery. This retrospective show will include
47 pictures from Marc’s estate, produced between 1960 and 1990, which have never been exhibited before. All bar one will be for sale, priced from £3500 to £30,000. The exhibition will launch with an
opening at the larger Cyzer Gallery on March 10 but will continue, with the works split between the two galleries, until April 8. Contact 0207 6290100 / 020 72877750
www.cyzerart.com www.alonzakaim.com
galleries@
antiquestradegazette.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96