Wieneke Archive Book 4h : Art Sales Presscuttings

Art prices dive at auction The final leg of Christie's auction last night was a ste n lesson to vendors that the asking prices for Australian art are too high. Between 30 and 50 per cent. of the evening lots remaining unsold demonstrate that vendors' values are inflated. Collectors are still fixing their boom levels. On the whole bidding was tem- perate to the point of being Lhstemious: Too much of what is being off- loaded by collectors at present By MAUREEN GILCHRIST, our Art Critic represents the mediocre in Aus- tralian art. Yesterday's auction, held in the Southern Cross ballroom was even more sobering than last year's sale in Sydney. Sir William Dobell's Sydney Opera House sketch, which fetched a top price $16,000 in the 1971 auction but failed to sell at $25,000 last year, was passed in at $12,000 - $8000. below its cur- rent estimated worth: Sali Herman's Original Qantas Office, Longreach, Queensland, sold at $7000 and was one of the very few works sold above esti- mated price. John Perceval's Arthur Boyd Pottery Shop, of 1948, matched its estimated price at $16,000. John Peter Russell's handsome Belle -lie En Mer matched its re- serve and sold for $9000. The highest bid for the night was $19,500 for Dobell's The Student, which fell about $4000 short of its estimated price and was passed in. The sale of this painting is now under negotiation, 1 :)) ^Jo/