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Indigenous art auction shakeoutTHE VIABILITY OF A lARGE PART OF THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ART MARKET HAS COMEU DER SCRUTINY WITH THE DECISION OF MENZIES ART BRANDS TO KISS MUCH OF ITGOODBYE REPORTS TERRY INGRAM.

Top left Exterior of MenziesArt Brands, Melbourne.

Right: Exterior of AdrianNewsteod's Coo-ee Gollery,Sydney.

Bottom: Adnan Newsteod

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At the beginning of 2008, Rodney Menziesthe proprietor of Menzies Art Brands, thesecond biggest player in the auction market.announced that the group wouldconcentrate on big-ticket offerings and nolonger offer Aboriginal art in specialisedindigenous art sales.

In making this announcement theMenzies group had threatened to go cherrypicking leaving many works - to mix ametaphor - withering on the vine

The group's Aboriginal art sales aresubstantial - they mount to $8 7 millionannually - after growing from nil in lessthan five years.

They have enabled Menzies to take on histargeted and avowed arch-rival Sotheby's inwhat appeared to be a quiet and highlyprofitable preserve

The announcement inevitably raisedquestions about whether the market was asprosperous and rewardmg as is oftensuggested by the celebratory post sale pressreleases These told of more than 40mdlvidual artists records and theIntroduction of many other artists.previously unrepresented, into thesecondary market for the first time

The architect of the seemll1gly aSloundll1g

Menzies group growth in Aboriginal ansales. Adrian ewstead opposed the moveand in doing so he decided to forego whatis believed to have been one of the mosthighly paid jobs in the Australian art worldNational Director of the Menzies' Group'sAboriginal Art Sales

In the biggest shake-up of the Abongmalart market in the ne\\. millennium, el,l,steaddeclined to drop the formula that hadhelped account for the dramatic Lawson­Menzies growth specialised sales broaderinterpretation of provenance andacceptance of lower priced \~ orks

In January he parted company with theMenzies group to continue running his Coo­ee Gallery in Sydney's Bondi and to compilea book On Australian Aboriginal art andtravel

The move by MenZies Art Brands \\111deprive many \endors with \l.orks to themiddle market of between $5 000 and$50000 of a high prollie prestige \ehlde­the big-e\ent specialised art aucltOn - mwhich IO\l.er priced \l.orks are presentedalongside big-ticket ottenngs to d ...:rlw,d l tdedicated punters kK)kll1g len bargdm,among the lower priced k'ts

For while new I) e,tdbli,hed Ie el Fme ~rt

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UPFRONT

remains committed to specialisedAbonglnal art sales - albeit only one ayear against Menzies' two - and otherauction houses, such as Bonhams andGoodman, have specialists in the field- the only other up-market Abonginalart sales are the preserve of marketleader Sotheby's

Ambitious Rodney Menzies, ownerof a large industrial cleaning enterprise,wanted to join the big boys auctionclub (he once sought to take over theworld's then third largest auction housePhillips in the 1990s1 and, in setting upthe speCialised sales of Aboriginal artunder the aegis of a specialist five yearsago, was following Sotheby's example

However, with several additionalyears experience under its beltSotheby's had commandeered much ofthis high ground and seems to havefound it much easier to turn away themore bothersome lower priced workswhich are far less profitable to handle.

The big value indigenous works areespecially desirable not only because ofthe bigger commissions Involved butbecause the top of the market ISenlOYlng boom conditions not at all aseVident In the lower reaches of themarket

The polarisation of wealth,sometimes referred to as the two-speedeconomy, has made the very rich evenmore nch and the not so rich only atoken richer

The super-rich tend to spend freelywith little haggling and often withmoney no oblect

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Tediously· for auction houses anddealers - the not·so·rich tend to taketime to make up their mind and haveset limits. With less money, every centis more important to them

Lower value sales are particularlyhard yakka for an organisation like theMenzies group which works hard onmatching every consignment with abuyer and supports buyers byencouraging syndicated purchasing andif necessary buying in the work itself forfuture stock

The extent of this most recent marketplay is not readily apparent at theauctions However, it has suggestedthat selling indigenous art at auctionmight not have been as easy as theoverall soaring sales figures suggested,

The middle market in Aboriginal artis anything but a doddIe - even forsuch a sophisticated marketingmachine as that operated by MenziesArt Brands

Figures published by the AustralianArt Sales Digest (aasd com,au) showthe Menzies group has to sell twice asmany lots to achieve the same turnoveras Sotheby's

Sotheby's last year sold 215Aboriginal paintings for a total of $9 8million The average price was $45,777lawson-Menzies of Menzies Art Brandssold 387 lots for $87 million (averageprice $22,545 eachl

Both Sotheby's and Lawson-MenZiesare approached by vendors with vastquantities of matenal for therr salesand both relect much of It

Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Earth's Creation,1995. Synthelk polymer paint on linen,632 x 275cm x 4 panels, SOlDtawson-Menzies May 2007 for $1,056,000,COURTESY MENZIES ART BRANDS

Having created the secondaryauction market in Aboriginal art,Sotheby's surely has the ability to be abit more selective.

It must be a lot harder for AdrianNewstead, than it would be forSotheby's Tim Klingender, to tellvendors that he would take their valueditems but not their also-rans. Putting itmildly it does not go down at all wellwith vendors, Newstead told Auslralia"Art Collulor,

Newstead also pointed to instanceswhere even Sotheby's appeared to havedifficulty in keeping up the value ofindividual lots It sometimes offers twoor three items such as clubs or spearstogether

The most recent announcement byMenzies Art Brands was especially hardon public perception of the viability ofthe secondary market in middle pricedindigenous art in that it was thesecond time Menzies had droppedspecialised Aboriginal art sales

Menzies is very much a businessmanwith, alongside half a dozen of his topexecutives. a university degree inbusiness studies

He first dropped the 'ales very,hartly after setting up the Menzie,

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auction group in 1998. The relatedtribal art sales which were inheritedwith the takeover of the Lawsongroup were also abolished althoughlater making a short-livedcomeback

Menzies, with a worldviewconstantly reinforced by visits andstudies of the overseas scenario. issaid to have taken stock of theAustralian art market in the light ofthe latest trends and is tighteningup in the light of what most peoplein the industry expected to be atougher year.

It makes more sense to offer1,000 Aboriginal art works of ahigher value per year than between2,500 and 3,000 of high, mediumand lower-value works, wasMenzies' only additional commenton the announcement

With so much material ofvarying quality (due to the unevenselection of works by different artscommunities anxious to raisewelfare funds) lower down the foodchain the household goods salesoften held by suburban auctioneerson a Friday. now seriously beckon.

Auctioneers such as Shapiro's inSydney have moved away fromauctioning aboriginal art altogether"in specialised sales" and preferinstead to hold seiling exhibitions.

Cherry-picking top items wouldseverely limit the ability to maintainor improve auction turnovers.

There were in practice only eightor 10 Aboriginal artists with worksselling for between 5100,000 and5200,000 each and Newstead saidhe had no intention ofcommissioning high value worksfrom the communities to makeup the shortfall A move whichwould make auctions the primarymarket, Newstead told AustralianArt Collector.

Meanwhile, the dismai fate of15 good-quality Emily KameKngwarreye paintings that wentunder the hammer in a mixedDeutscher and Hackett auction inSydney in December 2007 suggeststhat even if the auction houseswere not already cherry pickingcollectors were and that. as theysay, is the nub •

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Gih horsesTHERE ARE MANY WHO AREDEVOTED TOENCOURAGING OURFLEDGLING CULTURE OF ARTSPHILANTHROPY IN AUSTRALIAAND FEW WHO LOOK THEGIFT HORSE ... BUT CARRIEMILlIER QUESTIONS THEMOTIVATIONS AND THEBENEFITS OF ARTPHILANTHROPY, IF ONLYBRIEFLY

In a world where the sexiest thingAngelina Jolie can do is become aGoodwill Ambassador to the UN,there's no doubt that philanthropy is. inthe words of that other famous altruistParis Hilton, "hot" at the moment.

This modish impulse to benevolenceappears to have finally taken root inAustralia. Allan Myers OC. president ofthe National Gallery of Victoria, and hiswife Maria have iust announced a $6million cash donation to the NGV's newAsian Art acquisition fund. A fewmonths ago two big money privatedonations to public art museumsattracted a flurry of attention in thepopular media. In August last year, theArt Gallery of New South Walesannounced that the famiiy of the lateFranco Belgiorno-Nettis - one of thiscountry's most significant arts patrons­had gifted 54 million towards thecreation of a contemporary art annex.The next day, Sydney's Museum ofContemporary Art (MCAI revealed thattwo of that city's wealthiestbusinessman - David Coe and SimonMordant - had ioi ntly pledged 5I0million for the purpose of fundingsubstantial extensions.

The Coe/Mordant gift was widelyreported as the largest ever single

Jeff Koons, Puppy, 1996. Installation view, Museumof Contemporary Art, Sydney. PHOTO: HEIDRUN lOHRCOURTESY; MUSEUM Of CONTEMPORARY ART, SYDNEY

private donation to an Australian artsorganisation. As MeA DirectorElizabeth Ann Macgregor said at thetime, "This ievel of philanthropy forcontemporary visual arts isunprecedented ... These two leadingphilanthropists are demonstratingvisionary leadership in Australian artsphilanthropy."

The MCA gift may be a beliwether forthe dawning of the age of Australianarts philanthropy. But while it may notbe well-known, Australia does have ahistory of significant private support ofthe visual arts. Besides Belgiorno­Nellis, one of the pioneers of thistradition over the past 50 years is thenotoriously media-shy John Kaldor.Kaldor began his life-long commitmentto contemporary art advocacyprecociously, at the age of 33 helaunched Kaldor Art Projects bysupporting Christo and Jeanne­Claude's wrapping of Little Bay. Andhe's continued in this avant-gardespirit, most notably in recent times byfinancing Jeff Koon's Puppy installationat MCA.

Kaldor's influence on the Australiancontemporary visual arts scene isundeniable and is reflected in hirecent roie as Commissioner of the

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