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This year has been an interesting one for the Australian art market. There was a sluggish start to the year with low auction clearance rates, although by mid-year things appeared to have improved.
However, by the end of the year it was clear that the global financial crisis had taken its toll. There were reports of auction houses lowering the price expectations of its vendors, along with the estimates of the artwork. This was done quite conspicuously at least one auction house, with Bonhams and Goodman publishing both original and revised estimates on its website catalogue. It all ended with a complete fizzer when Christies annual December Australian art sale in London acheived a clearance rate of only 36%, despite the usual offering of works by blue chip artists such as Sidney Nolan, Grace Cossington Smith, Roy de Maistre, Tim Maguire and John Peter Russell. At least one observer estimated that the art market was down 35% compared with 2007 and with history showing us that the art market often lags six months behind any major change in other financial markets, will there be worse to come? While we are not qualified to make prediction on what will happen to the art market in 2009, we can show you some statistics on what happened during 2008:
1. Top 20 Prices - Individual Artworks
1.
| Russell Drysdale | Rocky McCormack, 1962-63
| Oil on canvas | $1,890,000 | Sothebys | Important Paintings, 25-08-2008 | 2.
| Russell Drysdale | Country Child, c.1948 | Oil on canvas | $1,680,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-03-2008 | | 3. | John Peter Russell | Belle Ile en Mer, 1904 | Oil on canvas | $1,560,000 | Bonhams and Goodman | Masterpieces of Australian Art from The Julian & Miriam Sterling Collection and Australian Fine Art, 26-08-2008 | 4.
| John Brack | The Boucher Nude, 1957 | Oil on canvas | $1,500,000 | Deutscher and Hackett | Important Fine Art Auction, 27-08-2008 | 5.
| Fred Williams | Hillside 2, 1968 | Oil on canvas | $1,067,500 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian & International Art, 24-09-2008 | 6.
| Russell Drysdale | Landscape in the Kimberleys, 1958 | Oil on canvas | $1,020,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-06-2008 | 7.
| Ethel Carrick Fox | Market, Under Trees | Oil on canvas | $1,008,000 | Sothebys | Important Paintings, 22-04-2008 | 8.
| Brett Whiteley | Balmoral | Oil and collage on canvas | $990,000 | Sothebys | Important Australian Art, 24-11-2008 | 9.
| Ian Fairweather | Beach at Manicahan | Oil and pencil on cardboard on hardboard | $960,000 | Sothebys | Important Paintings, 22-04-2008 | 9.
| Arthur Boyd
| Moby Dick Hill, near Frankston, Victoria, 1949
| Tempera and oil on composition board | $960,000
| Deutscher-Menzies | December Fine Art Auction, 10-12-2008
| 11.
| Arthur Boyd | Death of a Husband, 1958 | Oil on composition board | $900,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-06-2008 | 12.
| Frederick McCubbin | Summer Morning, Kew, 1890 | Oil on canvas | $780,000 | Bonhams and Goodman | Masterpieces of Australian Art from The Julian & Miriam Sterling Collection and Australian Fine Art, 26-08-2008 | 13.
| Charles Conder | The Fatal Colors | Oil on wood panel | $702,000 | Sothebys | Important Paintings, 25-08-2008 | 14.
| Sidney Nolan | Kelly in the Landscape, 1964 | Oil on composition board | $660,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-03-2008 | 14.
| Arthur Boyd | Bride and Bridegroom with Rainbow, 1960 | Oil and tempera on composition board | $660,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-03-2008 | 16.
| Ian Fairweather | Composition in Orange and Yellow, 1963 | Synthetic polymer paint and gouache on hardboard | $600,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-03-2008 | 17.
| Brett Whiteley | Vanessa, 1985 | Mixed media on board | $512,400 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian & International Art, 24-09-2008 | | 18. | Rupert Bunny | Jeanne with her Terrier, c.1902 | Oil on canvas | $480,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-06-2008 | 19.
| John Brack | The Scissors Shop, 1963 | Oil on canvas | $463,600 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian & International Art, 24-09-2008 | 20.
| John Brack | Finale, 1973 | Oil on canvas | $456,000 | Deutscher-Menzies | Australian and International Fine Art, 18-03-2008 | 20.
| Albert Tucker | Intruder and Parrots | Oil on board | $456,000 | Sothebys | Important Paintings, 25-08-2008 | 20.
| Brett Whiteley | Glimpse of Eden | Oil and mixed media on plywood | $456,000 | Sothebys | Important Paintings, 25-08-2008 |
2. Top 20 Artists by Sales Volume
3. Top 20 Artists by Total Sales Price | 1. | Arthur Boyd | $6,664,087 | | 2. | Russell Drysdale | $5,279,869 | | 3. | Fred Williams | $3,959,005 | | 4. | Sidney Nolan | $3,776,368 | | 5. | Charles Blackman | $3,747,367 | | 6. | Brett Whiteley | $3,728,800 | | 7. | John Brack | $2,818,900 | | 8. | Ian Fairweather | $2,138,400 | | 9. | William Robinson | $2,048,400 | | 10. | John Peter Russell | $1,812,034 | | 11. | John Perceval | $1,645,420 | | 12. | David Boyd | $1,628,953 | | 13. | Emily Kame Kngwarreye | $1,567,289 | | 14. | Albert Tucker | $1,368,320 | | 15. | Frederick McCubbin | $1,301,550 | | 16. | Ray Crooke | $1,212,384 | | 17. | Ethel Carrick Fox | $1,147,998 | | 18. | Jeffrey Smart | $1,142,050 | | 19. | Pro Hart | $1,098,533 | | 20. | John Coburn | $992,539 |
4. Top 10 Surprises - Individual Artworks Exceeding Estimate | 1. | Emma Minnie Boyd | Playing on the Ladder, 1879 | Pen and ink on paper | $200 | $2,760 | 1380% | Bonhams and Goodman | | 2. | Blanche Murphy | Mt Wellington from Hobart | Oil on canvas | $350 | $4,251 | 1215% | Mossgreen | | 3. | Peter Russell | Landscape | Watercolour | $300 | $2,880 | 960% | Bonhams and Goodman | 4.
| Joshua Smith | Flowers Piece, Sydney, 1953 | Oil on board | $800 | $6,900 | 862% | Davidsons | | 5. | Roy De Maistre | Portrait of Francis Bacon | Oil on board | $12,000 | $96,000 | 800% | Sothebys | 6.
| Emma Minnie Boyd | In the Shallows at Brighton Beach, Melbourne, 1879
| Pen and ink on paper
| $200 | $1,560 | 780%
| Bonhams and Goodman | | 7. | Reginald Borstel | 3 Warships at Sydney Heads, 1915 | Gouache | $600 | $4,369 | 728% | Davidsons | | 8. | Horace Trenerry | Flinders Ranges | Oil on canvas | $2,500 | $16,800 | 672% | Leonard Joel | | 9. | Margaret Olley | Still Life with Squash | Oil on board | $3,000 | $19,200 | 640% | Bonhams and Goodman | | 9. | Lawrence Daws | Poinsiana, Glasshouse Mountains, 1992 | Gouache on paper | $300 | $1,920 | 640% | Bonhams and Goodman | | 10. | Ida Rentoul Outhwaite | Long Long Thoughts | Watercolour | 8000 | $50,400 | 630% | Bonhams and Goodman | *Percentage represents the final price as a percentage of the high estimate for the artwork.
5. Top 20 Most Under-estimated Artists
*Works that sold above the upper estimate, as a percentage of the number of works offered for sale. Eg. 40% of the works offered for sale by the artist David Boyd were sold for an amount higher than the upper estimate.
**The average price (including buyers premium) of artworks that sold above the upper estimate, as a percentage of the upper estimate. Eg. All of the works that sold above the upper estimate by artist David Boyd were, on average, 131% of (or 1.3 times greater than) the upper estimate for those artworks.
***The score is a number derived by multiplying the above two percentages, to combine the two metrics into one. The score is the metric used for the ranking, and the score itself is only relevant for comparative purposes. 6. Top 3 News Stories
1. Global Financial Crisis and the effect on the art market
Buyers' market in the galleries , The Australian, 27 December 2008
Tough year but Australian art dealers hang in there , The Australian, 23 December 2008 2. Disclosure by Auction Houses
Four Corners story on art market causes a stir
3. Bonhams and Goodman takeover of Joel Group
Joels has been sold , Herald Sun, 28 May 2008
Bonhams and Goodman Press Release
We wish all our members and visitors a happy new year, and look forward to providing a similar update at the end of 2009.
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