Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 2 : French Art Exhibition and Rubin Gift, March - May 1959

'CHE MANCHESTER GUAllDIAN TBURS,DAY MAY 7 1959 I p;,.,.,a'• "L. B•II• Hall•ru/•111," ,-,int,d in 190,, which .,.,, •aid far l'1.000 •I Solhrb)l'I ,.,.,.,d.,, a I d owna ol'l!r twenty BhteP Uatlnna In ,Auatralla. lllle II an a...i&lftl wtie.-lte-lll•ln a K1••e,, rma • rant. 155,000 .,,.,. A PTZR the aale he U>lcl " me: "I reu In 10,•e with «.he Renoir and Just had to have II, H • pre, wr~tt Jiir iuYl!ei.t1lnk about It ? • t don't know much about art. but l •hall lenrn." ~he told me. 81K or the 1\lnJor'ft patntlngft wr.re bOUfl h t by the Qucmuiland Art Oallfl Y In B118bl11Cl, A-Ill them ll'U I Pica.,.., 11ude Whk>h let Ch fl d ,CAS....,_w n r Id record lll(llre for tM. wnrll of ~ c1111t,m,nrar1 artl•t. Conament,,t MAJor Rubin : " I 1111 \'Cl'}' ~IAd they arc au t 1111 Into n 111bllf: Mnllrrv. Thn t wn~ the ul1Jrc, or thr , olc." f .,....,••• ri I for 'tss,1 A l'lr "' 11nln1l11~ of • nu<I• 11'1 >Old lor .CM.000 nl l:kllhr lw'A In Londnn y1••terdny h;· MnJor I J-lnrnld dt• Vnhl llllhln, A ml!, ll011ntrr Nl1rr•p fnrmtr It wnA bnuaht hv thf' Drhihnru" Arr Oollcr\ra. l.lllrr he mnJnr •nld ho IJHendrd to hrl1> u,r RRI• I J,ry to P•Y rnr It. - £55,000 FOR AN EARLY PICASSO Sale of "La Belle Hollandaise" By our Londoa Staff For all the great expectations that had been built up around yester– day's sale of Impressionist and other modem pictures, the atmo- 111here In the large IJllllery at Sothcby'a fell strangely flat. Perhaps II waa becauae the 1ale went on too Iona, or poulbly It wa1 because of lhe lar1e number of minor works that were cataloaued with the real money spinners. The tact la tbat the hlghlilhts wore few and fell on an audience that wos virtually numbed b7 the succeulon or prolraclcd bid • that reached only hundred, where thousands wero looked for. 'fhe hl1he1t price came early In the aale-£H,OOO for an early nude by Picasso, "La Belle Hollandalee." The larae audience, 11tUed rather uncom– fortably on tbo frail gilt chain that Sotheby's provides ror these auaplclous occasion •• '11'81 uearly deprived of even 1h11 eaellemenL The GW!)er, Major H. de Vahl Rubin, v.·ho Glll'l'ls a 1hcep 1tatlon In Au1tralla. bad al one 1t11e decided to withdraw hi' twelve pl&ires from the 1ale wbeti wool prices did better lh • n be expected, He later r.h1n1ed hi• mind -a dlelllon that h11 left him £84,440 rlcllll tbln he w11 on TuOlday. The p.._ will now start the Iona Journey 111• to Auatralla 1 for It WH bouabt · b7_ t"8 Queen,lnnn OovernmenL The price paid I• nol only n record for a PICUIO but II nlso thought to be tho hl11hesl amount ever po Id for the work or u IMna 1rtl1L lnovllobly compurlson~ had been drown between this solo and the Goldachmldt sale ot lmprunlonlat picture, In Oclobar In which o total oC £781,000 w11 collected In 21 mlnut 1. Obvlou1l1 ma·,; people hod turned up .YOJlerday upec:tln11 the ume sort or thln1. rn particular II wna thoughl that, alnce the C6zonne In th Oold h– mldt collectlon had fet hf!d £220.IIOO, the same artl•t'1 1elt.portrnlt In y 1- tordl,Y'1 aale woold obvlou~ly do vury well. Harpin Ceunne The blddlmr 1tnrl11d off brl klv. I cllmhlnR quickly from £ 6.000 to I £28.0IIO In oboul one on<I a hair minute•. Then there "'n• a lon11 DOUII! While lllr Peter Wll,on, who was takln11 the aale, r(!l)llaled the n11ure !CVcral lime,. hi, 1·olca taklnll on a 1IIJ1hlly olendlna nol . One or two bidden wore touched nnd th t orl~ cllmbed hc.cllo111lv to £ 32,000. 1 but lhcro II 11\wk nrmlv. Mr WII n I lcrt II honalnll ror some time nnd . then. with nf)Oor n r 111 Inn • I brouahl hi• hnmmor ,lowu. ,a,vlm:i . " Well. 1c,ld ror .ca2.ooo." The buy •r, who nu to hn1·0 qot n bnran n u orlces 110 In the nrt wor d. woa a Swlu don er, Dr F. Nathan. The rc1t of the orlce~ were ,veil be ow this n111re. TI1e Que nf!nnd Oov rnm,~11, ". ·hlrh hntl n busy dnv. , paid .£22.000 ror n Oegu, or thr e dnncen1 ; n denier named Einstein OC\!Ulred a C&nnne •1111-111 ror .Ct7.000, nnd o Broouc •llll-llfo W<-nl to Arthur Tooth nnd Son,, th J..ondon dealer•. tor £ IS.non. Th totnl tor the inlc. at cao!l,813, wu thr ,ccontl hlllhCAt to be l>Dld nt n , al~ In thlt country,