auction ABORIGINAL WORKS OF ART | JUNE 2019
From 25th May to 4th June 2019- AUCTION | GALA PREVIEW | PADDINGTON 30th May 2019 6:00 - 8:00pm
- AUCTION | VIEWING | PADDINGTON 31st May to 4th June 2019 10:00am - 5:00pm
- VIEWING The Michael Chandler Estate — 1st June 2019 2:00 - 4:00pm 31 Lamrock Avenue, NSW, 2026
- AUCTION 4th June 2019 7:00 - 9:00 pm 326 Oxford Street Paddington NSW 2026 Australia
Welcome to the first Cooee Art MarketPlace Aboriginal Fine Art offering for 2019. Our June 4th multi-vendor auction features 105 lots including 36 works from the estate of collector and art enthusiast Mike Chandler. The estimated value is $750,000 - $1.4 million.
Mike Chandler was a close friend and client who patronised Cooee and other prominent galleries around Australia. For more than 2 decades Mike, and his delightful wife Barbie were welcome additions to any event or exhibition. Though Barbie’s death two years ago affected him deeply, he still made an effort to visit galleries, exhibitions and to champion Aboriginal art amongst his family and friends. We will miss him greatly. The paintings from his estate are offered as Lots 46 – 75 preceded by a short tribute. These artworks will be on display in our Bondi showroom with a special preview on Saturday 22nd May at 2pm.
Sale highlights include a highly significant early Papunya board by Johnny Scobie Tjapanangka (Lot No. 16) that has been returned to Australia from the US. Women’s Dreaming, 1972, 63 x 72.5 cm, estimated at $40,000 - 60,000, is believed to be the only painting that Scobie created during the Bardon years. An illustration of this work and accompanying notes including a copy of the original field note and drawing is reproduced in Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon’s magnum opus on the origins of the Western Desert Painting Movement.* An even earlier Papunya board, Lot No.15, is a genuine sleeper. Created in 1971 it was just the fourth painting ever created by Johnny Warrangkula Tjupurrula and carries the very conservative estimate of $8,000 - 11,000.
Contemporary urban works by Lin Onus and Richard Bell stand out in this offering. Major works by Onus have been hotly contested in recent sales. Smaller works on illustration board are very tightly held by their owners as they are both beautiful and exceedingly rare. Gumurring Garkman, 1994 is a delightful image in Lin’s most successful style. Used as the template for one of Onus’s most enduringly popular fine art prints, this original work is estimated at $50,000 - 60,000 (Lot 21). A treasure awaiting any discriminating collector.
Richard Bell’s, A White Hero for Black Australia, presents one of the most iconic sporting images of all time in the artist’s signature graphic style. The subject is the medal ceremony for the 200-metres at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Peter Norman, Australia’s five-time national champion stands with African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos. More than just a compliant bystander, it was Norman who procured the Human Rights badges they wore, and Norman who suggested the black athletes share the same pair of gloves. The work measuring 100 x 150 cm is estimated $25,000 - 35,000 (Lot 20).
Other works worthy of note are the stunning pair of Mokoy Spirits by Telstra Art Award winner Nawurapu Wunugmurra(Lot 24) (Est $10,000 - 15,000), a lovely offering of 10 small boards depicting aspects of the Old Texas cattle station by Queenie McKenzie ( Est $15,000 - 20,000), and a magnificent major work by Minnie Pwerle with a very contemporary edge (Lot 36, Est. $25,000 - 35,000), and a number of fine works by Emily Kame Kngwarreye.
The sale is peppered with a number of lovely old bark paintings by Arnhem Land masters and a number of 19th and early 20th century artefacts.
We look forward to hearing from you or seeing you in person in the lead up to the auction. The quality of the artworks on offer is exceptional and our buyer’s premium is only 20% - less than that of other auction houses. You can discover a wealth of information on all of the major artists whose works are included in this catalogue as well as detailed information about the content and subjects of the artworks.
Best regards,
Adrian Newstead OAM
*Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon Papunya, A Place Made After the Story, The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement,
The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2004, p372
Artworks
Queenie McKenzie Nakarra
Set of 10 images depicting aspects of Old Texas - 1997
natural earth pigments on canvas boards
20.0 x 30.0 cm
EST. $15,000 - $20,000
LOT #35
Provenance
Narrangunny Art Traders, WA Cat Nos. QM101-110
Private Collection, WA
All 10 works bear catalogue number and artist's signature verso.
Image of the artist holding each artwork
Artworks 20 x 30 cm each : Frame 30 x 40 cm each
In this lovely set of 10 small works Queenie McKenzie has painted sites in the country of her childhood and early working life on Old Texas Station where the rocky hills are seen as separate forms on the edge of the desert plain. The sites depicted are Bililyerinbee, Buffalo Hole, Boonjoorji, Woolwoolji, Wooljing, Diamond Mine, Boolmowen, Top Country, Eagle Hawk Dreaming, and Eagle Hawk Hill.
'I bin born Old Texas, dat called Salt Pan country. Salt water you gotta drinkim'. No more goodfella water, all salt – bitter. I bin born la dat country.'*
Queenie spent her childhood and much of her adult life working as a goat herder and later as a cook in the mustering camps of Texas Downs. Cattle were mustered at the station and driven across to the abattoirs at Wyndham. The hills of Old Texas are a good place to collect the white quartz used for spearheads,
'Dat white stone from the hill, they break 'im up for spear. Good spear dat one.'*
She died in 1998, the year the Warmun art centre was formerly established. In an interview towards the end of her life she reminded us that the only word she had ever learnt to read and write was her own name, as it was required to sign her paintings. Yet she was, in her lifetime and is still to this day, recognised as a spiritual and cultural icon, whose commitment to art has left an indelible impact on Australian history and culture.
*Jennifer Joi Field, Witten in the Land, The Life Of Queenie McKenzie, Melbourne Books, 2008
