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May 14th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
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‘Goat Girl’ – Painted in the early 1950s when Artist Arthur Boyd visited Alice Springs. The newly discovered art is expected to fetch up to $1.2m at auction. (Supplied: Sotheby’s Australia)
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Arthur Boyd’s ‘Woman in a Bath’ is estimated between $200,000 – $300,000. (Supplied: Sotheby’s Australia)
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The 1981 painting will go under the hammer at auction by Sotheby’s Australia. (Supplied: Sotheby’s Australia)
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The 1891 John Russell ‘ In the Afternoon’ painting, is estimated between $200,000 and $300,000. (Supplied: Sotheby’s Australia)
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Brett Whiteley’s White Sacred Baboon is estimated between $100,000 – $150,000. It was painted in 1964/65.
The market for Australian art will face its first major test of the year tonight.
Almost 70 pieces, some of which had been lost for decades, will go under the hammer at an auction house in Melbourne.
One of the prized collections is a newly discovered Arthur Boyd painting.
Geoffrey Smith, chairman of Sotheby’s Australia, says he was surprised when The Goat Girl surfaced.
“(It’s) a painting I’d been looking for, for over 20 years,” he said.
Mr Smith says the painting turned up when a client contacted the Melbourne office and showed them a picture on their iPhone.
The 1952 painting is one of two depicting Aborigines that Boyd was inspired to paint after a trip to central Australia, during which he had been shocked to observe their living conditions.
“The only other artist depicting Aborigines at the time was Russell Drysdale,” Mr Smith said.
“(Goat Girl) is the most extraordinary image of plight of indigenous Australians, painted at a time when Aboriginal people could not vote in this country.
“The painting marked a stylist turning point for Boyd, which led to his breakthrough series, Love, Marriage and Death of a Half-Caste and his Bride.
In total, 69 paintings will go under the hammer, valued between $7m and $10m.
Brett Whiteley’s Woman in a Bath is among them. It was lost for years before being found in a Texan family’s collection, along with White Sacred Baboon,
“In a way it’s like one huge jigsaw puzzle, there are missing pieces, and those pieces are scattered, far flung around the world,” Mr Smith said.
“It’s wonderful to interact with pictures that haven’t been seen in my lifetime.”
Topics:
arts-and-entertainment,
art-history,
contemporary-art,
business-economics-and-finance,
markets,
melbourne-3000
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-14/a-newly-discovered-australian-painting-expected-to-fetch-2412m/4688976
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