Leonard Joel 100 Years of Auction History

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IOO YEARS OF AUCTION HISTORY

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Contents

9 Introduction

– 29 Evolution 53 History 81 Collecting 121 Future

– 133 Acknowledgements

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‘Are you bidding, Madam, or simply saying hello?’

— Graham Joel, 1963

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Introduction

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The Economy of Beautiful Things and Interesting People

LEFT: A FINE AND RARE LLADRO PORCELAIN FIGURE DECORATED WITH GOLD, SILVER, DIAMONDS AND SAPPHIRES Sold for $5,856 Jewels, Objets D’Art & Asian Works of Art Auction May 2015 ABOVE: AN IMPRESSIVE YELLOW DIAMOND RING Sold for $91,500 Fine Jewellery Auction March 2014

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At the intersection of art, capital and people lies a peculiar economy where more often than not an auction house or similar market place resides. Stripped back to its essential parts an auction house is not a particularly remarkable enterprise.

It receives property from sellers, makes a market for that property and distributes it to buyers willing to pay the highest price. A fairly simple process really. But move beyond the bare bones; add the human element, the sheer breadth of mediums, subject matter, scale and provenance, that by their nature imbue every object with personality and history and you have a fascinating economy that brims with beautiful things and interesting people. It is also a very democratic market, largely unregulated and has evolved an industry around it that provides very little formal or recognised education and as such it is open, really, to anyone with some form of disposable income and a bent for collecting, decorating and learning or a mix of the three. But the auction model and the extraordinary personalities that inhabit it would be without purpose if it wasn’t for the things; the objects, the jewels, the art, the furniture and the decoration that perpetually circulate between families, homes, businesses and institutions. These things, unwanted by someone but wanted by someone else, are also what ultimately defines the auction house, its departments, its experts and its relevance and it is within these inter-war dynamics Leonard Joel set about establishing Melbourne’s first fine art and antiques auction house.

Some 70 years later, when Graham Joel, Leonard’s son, first opened the world of auctions to me I believe I was very quickly hooked but the seeds of why this auction business continues to enthral and capture me I think were sown much earlier with my first taste of discovery at the school fair. The Lucky Dip is what I remember as by far and away the most exciting thing as a very young child.

I remember the fun and slight nervousness associated with moving my hand through the shredded newspaper and trying to decide which parcel I’d select.

Those moments (and pass the parcel) are my enduring memories of the magic that is often associated with unpacking and unwrapping and it has occurred to me that a similar magic plays out at Leonard Joel every day of the week in one form or another. Just like the Lucky Dip not every reveal excites or satisfies but it is more than fair to say that within a large packing box, the contents of a truck

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ABOVE: one OF A PAIR OF FRENCH BREECH LOADING PIN FIRE GOLD PLATED NAVY MODEL REVOLVERS BY LEFAUCHEUX Price Undisclosed Classic Furniture, Objects & Design Auction November 2011

or an intact home, the law of averages dictates, that something will reveal that is either beautiful, extraordinary or historically important. I vividly remember the satisfaction that came with unpacking dozens of thin wooden metal clad tea chests in the late 1980s from estate after estate. The process repeated over and over again exposed me to every medium, every period and every region of the world and so it really often felt like I was part of a museum experience, a curatorial one and often, with the families and owners we’d meet, a deeply personal one. This process of discovery, history-sharing and story-telling with both sellers and collectors, is the career motif of the auctioneer and it is what makes our world, for me anyway, endlessly fascinating and enriching. And now with 100 years of auctions almost behind us it is this thrill of discovery, these objects and collections that we handle and those human stories that have made our journey so interesting that inspired this publication.

By the middle of 2018 I certainly had in my mind that we, Leonard Joel, would publish something to mark our centenary year. This plan was instinctive more than thoughtful; it simply felt right that 100 years of a business should be marked in time somehow.

Initially my conservatively grounded ideas of how a history about a business should be written had me on a path, I’m a little embarrassed to say, toward a lineal and conventional story. It would start with the founder, the first business site, then our first recorded auction, then an auction of merit and then follow this pattern for 100 years.

Not one to think I have remotely all the answers, I sought advice on this (both externally and internally) and what I soon realized was that such a book may be a tad predictable, historically dry and ultimately a bit boring. Having absorbed this advice I agreed that it must at least be something different.

But how should it be different?

This question then lead me to consider what in our history could be extracted, distilled if you will, that was either remarkable or interesting and sometimes hopefully both. As an auction house that essentially makes a market for things you have so many elements to play with. You have the things – the art, the objects, the jewels, the antiques – that are both bought and sold in our market place.

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You also have the people and entities that buy and sell these things and you have the prices these lots (as we call them) realize which tends to be what is ultimately remembered. Then there are the stories that infuse these lots with both history and personality; these are the ones that make for a truly memorable transaction.

At the most obvious these stories are price and celebrity-focused – our ground- breaking sale of the first $1,000,000 painting titled Une Nuit De Canicule by Rupert Bunny, a monumental impressionist work to the infamous corporate raider Alan Bond, would be a perfect example of just that. While at the less celebrated but undoubtedly most human they are deeply personal.

The elderly gentleman that in 1989 travelled by himself three hours by train in the hope that his insignificant carved wooden folding-table would realize some desperately needed dollars only to be disappointed with my estimate but would pull out of his pocket a small gold mining brooch wrapped in his handkerchief that would prove to be quite valuable at auction and literally saved his day, is exactly the story I remember that best captures how personal these stories at auction can become. In today’s money it realized $28,000 and quite literally changed his life.

And in between these moments that tend to frame an auction house’s life, the pursuit of value and the management of the very personal, are so many interesting pieces, people, histories and stories that come our way. If he were here Leonard Joel would no doubt have his stories, as would his family that followed after him and in only the last decade we shared some truly fascinating stories with the public; the privilege of managing the international decorative arts estate of the late James Fairfax, the honour of managing Ron Barassi’s historically important sporting archive and the sheer magic of Mirka Mora’s studio, an artist sacred to Melbourne. These are the moments in time we auctioneers live for and these are the stories, people and auction moments (often reflected by the sale of something extraordinary) that decided us on how our publication should celebrate our centenary.

Within these pages you will find essentially three elements. Throughout we present a feast of imagery, from established collecting categories through

ABOVE: AN AUSTRALIAN GOLDFIELDS BROOCH Sold for $8,680 Jewels Auction June 2019 – OPPOSITE: The Female Costume For Madonna in Suor Angelica/ Il Trittico [Puccini] Designed by Desmond Digby 1973 Sold for $9,920 Opera Australia Costumes & Memorabilia Auction June 2017

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to the newer ones of luxury, design and jewellery – the categories of the future, the ones we are excitedly committed to as we are to the new collectors that covet them. Each image was carefully chosen from our archive of fine, specialty and private collection auctions. Acknowledging that our world is as much about the people that collect as the objects they covet we have interspersed four unique collecting stories, all from clients and friends of Leonard Joel that to us represent a collecting spirit that is as timeless as it is new. They graciously let us in to their homes and their minds when it comes to collecting and share their approaches to collecting. The diversity of their aesthetics makes for a very personal and in my opinion interesting read as they relate in different ways how things (the inanimate) speak to them. Finally, the book is informed by four chapters produced by respected writer and editor Ray Gill who took us on a less conventional path in recording and celebrating a centenary of Leonard Joel. Ray’s observations and interviews, combined with his own deep and intimate knowledge of how Melbourne ticks, have delivered I believe very successfully interesting perspectives on not just what Leonard Joel has sold but also its evolution as an auction house in Melbourne over the decades, the collectors and stories unique to Leonard Joel and the future of collecting.

But before I leave you to the images, stories and observations within these pages, I want to briefly comment on what Ray Gill identifies as the great benefit of an auction house over the decades and that is that they not only unearth for public consumption the historical, the social and the personal but also provide a time capsule that reflects our own history, society and personality. Leonard Joel has always ultimately reflected the tastes of the collector-decorator and in our second century we remain unapologetically committed to the new collector and the spirit that challenges accepted notions of what should and should not be collected.

— John Albrecht Managing Director & Head of Collections

ABOVE: AN IMPRESSIVE FANCY INTENSE YELLOW DIAMOND NECKLACE Sold for $195,200 Fine Jewels Auction June 2015 – OPPOSITE: A Pair of Sevres Style Ormolo Mounted Porcelain Lidded Vases 19th Century Sold for $41,480 Decorative Arts Sunday Auction June 2011

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In my world you could see a 17th century Renaissance chest flirting with a Ming Dynasty Chinese warrior or a Cubist piece with a Flemish painting. A butter churn sitting on a turquoise Afghan throw next to some telemark skis.

— Collector Marie-Laure Claisse, 2019

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MARIE-LAURE CLAISSE

Marie-Laure Claisse has been buying at Leonard Joel’s The Thursday Auction for more than 20 years. She was working near its South Yarra premises when she was introduced to Leonard Joel during a lunch break. She immediately fell under its spell.

Growing up in Lille in her native France, her childhood was spent with her brother and parents driving from antique and art fairs to museums and exhibition openings, and more often than not ending the day by sharing a meal with artists.

“I used to love that, so I think the day I was introduced to Leonard Joel I knew this would be a long-lasting relationship.”

She describes entering Leonard Joel on a Wednesday evening viewing as like visiting the cave of Ali Baba or tumbling into Alice in Wonderland. It’s about the thrill of the discovery of the rare, unusual and beautiful, but she does not consider herself a collector.

“What I buy is totally random. My shopping list is more about the catch of the day.”

Those catches have turned the home she shares with her husband and two children into its own kind of wonderland.

A miscellany of finds is placed on stripped floors painted white. Paintings, sculpture, lamps, birdcages, sofas and sideboards create a rich and detailed stage set for living. A bronze of a female torso sits on a table next to a ceramic lifesize tortoise next to an Art Deco metal flying plane, behind which sits a Japanese doll, a crystal decanter behind which sits a stark Modernist painting flanked by landscapes in richly gilded frames.

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BELOW: FRANKART STYLE ART DECO LAMP Sold for $549 The Estate of Colin Lanceley Auction November 2015

“It’s quite eclectic and maximalist so anything can fit. It’s a matter of finding the right piece. In my world you could see a 17th century Renaissance chest flirting with a Ming Dynasty Chinese warrior or a Cubist piece with a Flemish painting.

A butter churn sitting on a turquoise Afghan throw next to some telemark skis. It’s about finding a synergy and a sense of aesthetic.“ Marie-Laure made one of her first acquisitions at Leonard Joel with a customary triple purchase – bright orange pulleys from a boat, a ship’s lantern and a wooden propeller with a deeply-aged patina. “It’s an invitation to travel,” she says of these evocative objects that come together to tell a story.

“I can be at the seaside of Chile or Havana.”

But the romance of these objects is not just in the imagination, but in knowing that the work has endured beyond the lifespan of the artists and craftsmen who created and fashioned it. The joy of living with these objects is not about ownership but in honouring their rich past, she says.

It’s a pleasure that is becoming rare in the age of anonymous mass production. However, in 20 years of acquiring work from Leonard Joel she has learnt to make absentee bids rather than in the auction room. It’s her way of disciplining herself and limiting what she describes as her “addiction”.

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Evolution

LEONARD JOEL THROUGH TIME 1919 – 51

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— 1919

Mr. Leonard Joel left his employment at Arthur Tuckett & Son and established his own business, Leonard Joel.

— 1920

“Mr. Leonard Joel formerly of Messrs. Arthur Tuckett and Son, has opened an Art Salon at 362 Little Collins Street, where some beautiful examples of art, including pictures, ornaments and antiques, are now being displayed.”

(Table Talk, Thursday 16 December 1920)

— 1923

Auction: The W.H.D. Le Souef Collection of Curios

W.H.D. Le Souef (1856–1923) was Secretary (1870–82) and Director (1882–1902) of Melbourne Zoological Gardens.

His collection of curios included the head of a 3,600 Egyptian Princess (the sister of Ptolemy) and the petrified bones of a plesiosaurus.

— 1924

The Millions Club, a private members’ club in Sydney, acquired Australian art from Leonard Joel for the walls of their lounge.

— 1934

Auction: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. George Lansell, of Fortuna, Bendigo

George Lansell (1823–1906) was born in Kent, England and set sail for Australia with his brother, William in 1853. He settled in Bendigo and made his fortune in gold-mining.

His mansion, Fortuna Villa, represents the wealth of the gold-rush era and is now open to the public for tours.

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— 1942

Auction: The Howard Collection of Ceramic Art

Auction Catalogue Foreword: “The late Mrs. A.J. Howard was a keen collector of the ‘Old’ as well as the ‘Modern.’ In this Antique Collection will be found Fine and Rare examples dating from Dr. Wall period Worcester to mid 19th century.”

A WEDGWOOD BLACK JASPERWARE PORTLAND VASE Sold for $3,720 Decorative Arts Auction October 2018

Evolution

— 1943

The National Gallery of Victoria engaged Leonard Joel to disperse porcelain and objects from the state collection.

— 1946

Auction: 100 Pairs of Binoculars

— 1947

Auction: The Gordon T. Robinson Collection of Antique Glass

Auction Catalogue Foreword: “The Collection is probably the largest and most comprehensive private collection of authentic antique glass in the Commonwealth.”

— 1949

Auction: 35 Two Gallon Tins of Finest Lucca Italian “Mercury”

Olive Oil

— 1949

“High Prices: Roman, Greek and Egyptian antiques sold like hot cakes at Leonard Joel’s auction rooms.”

(Herald Melbourne, Friday 29 July 1949)

— 1951

Auction: A Russian Czarist Jewel

“Czar Nicholas I gifted the jewel to Dr. David John Williams, a Victorian surgeon, for services onboard the Imperial Yacht Queen Victoria in 1847. It is set in gold and diamonds with an amethyst centre.”

(Argus, Melbourne Vic 1848–1957, Tuesday 19 June 1951)

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GEORG JENSEN (1866–1935) A STERLING SILVER FIVE LIGHT CANDELABRA, MODEL 224 DESIGNED BY JOHAN ROHDE (1856–1935), POST-1945 Sold for $48,800 Classic Furniture, Objects & Design Auction June 2014

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Evolution

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The Evolution of Collecting

OPPOSITE: PAIR OF ITALIAN LOUNGE CHAIRS c. 1950s Sold for $4,464 Modern Design Auction April 2019 – ABOVE: A RARE YONEZAWA MR ATOMIC ROBOT Japanese 1962 Sold for $2,480 Collectables Auction December 2017

— Every auction at Leonard Joel is a snapshot of the zeitgeist as tastes change and fads and fashions come, go and often return. Items long discarded become interesting or useful again, while others fall out of favour and are left waiting in the shadows. The magic of visiting an auction is the tingling anticipation of discovery.

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When Leonard Joel Auction House opened its doors in 1919, the Bolsheviks were still executing far-flung Romanovs in the wake of the Russian Revolution, Modernism was born at the Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture in Germany, and Prohibition was introduced in the U.S. In Australia, Billy Hughes was prime minister; J. F. Archibald, the founding editor of The Bulletin bequeathed money to create the Archibald Prize for portraiture; and Sidney Myer’s Myer Emporium had only recently opened on Melbourne’s Bourke Street and was set to dominate how Australians shopped for the rest of the century.

Times are just as uncertain now as they were in 1919, but in fractious times there are constants. Our homes are the sanctuary in which we express our relationships with each other and make sense of our world, places of refuge, rest and renewal. How we live; what we place on our walls or place on our shelves, the furnishings we choose, the objects we collect or display, the jewellery we wear, are not just expressions of our personal tastes and interests, but the physical objects through which we express our own creativity. They tell of our discoveries, inspirations, and our way of marking our place in history. We become the temporary caretakers of these objects, which, with the creeping patina of time are passed on to others who treasure them anew.

Few clients would ever approach a visit to Leonard Joel with a list of items they need. Instead, a Clement Meadmore sculpture or chair, a Victorian diamond pendant, or a rare Japanese Yonezawa Mr Atomic Robot finds them. Leonard Joel auctions between 1919 and 2019 allow us a prism with which to look at an extraordinary century. From opulence to asceticism, Romanticism to Brutalism, Arts and Crafts to Post-Modernism, these periods of art and design movements have manifested in the objects that vendors have entrusted to the auction house to find their next owner.

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The excitement on auction day is heightened by the theatre of the auction.

The ticking of the clock, the auctioneer’s seductive lilt, the hunger in other bidders’ eyes compels us to declare our passions out loud. Some bidders, too superstitious or fearful of exceeding their limits, participate off-stage by written, phone or online bidding. When the decisive thud of the hammer punctures the tension in the room, at least two people are left either elated or shattered by disappointment. Each item and object at Leonard Joel has a history, some may be more lustrous and burnished by a distinguished provenance, but part of the joy of acquiring them is participating in that object’s history and story.

We then tell how we came to own it, and this becomes our story, and is one to be gifted to others.

Rod North, a long-time Leonard Joel client (he has the permanent bidding number 31), describes his building exhilaration when he glanced a discarded plate buried in a collection of other china in the Leonard Joel cabinet room in 2011. He saw its White Star Line imprint and bought it for next to nothing.

His hunch that it was a dessert plate from the RMS Titanic was proved correct seven years later when he visited Belfast and met with a Titanic expert.

Wondering who might have dined from that plate on the Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage, he answers, “I guess we will never know… but having it in my possession is an amazing experience.”

Palaeontologist, Associate Professor Jeffrey D. Stilwell, describes himself as a treasure hunter of antiques and antiquities. After successfully bidding fiercely for a miniature portrait on copper, later research revealed it was an original painting of Countess Stanley circa 1636. She was famous for her defence of Lathom House during the English Civil War in 1644 and an almost identical 1810 copper engraved portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

“These miniatures, along with an important Philippe Terrot clock dated 1767 in the same auction represent a highlight in my collecting career of early objects and the best sale I have ever attended in Melbourne.”

ABOVE: Collector, Rod North with framed White Star Line dessert plate – BELOW: FREDERICK BUCK (1771–1839) Portrait of William Cox (1764–1837) miniature Sold for $46,360 Fine Art Auction June 2015 – OPPOSITE: THE FAMOUS NED KELLY BOXING MATCH PHOTO, TAKEN AFTER HIS 1874 MATCH AGAINST ISAIAH ‘WILD’ WRIGHT (August 8, 1874) Albumen paper photograph Sold for $68,200 Collectables Auction March 2018

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OPPOSITE: THE 1909 SILVER ASHES URN Presented to Australian captain Monty Noble on his team’s victory over England.

Sold for $80,600 The Monty Noble Collection Auction December 2017 – ABOVE: ANGUS O’CALLAGHAN (b. 1922) Newspaper Vendor archival print on rag paper 1/15 Sold for $682 The Angus O’Callaghan Photographic Auction May 2013

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— Leonard Joel has also had an inestimable impact on wider Australian cultural life and identity. Its auctions provide a forensic record of our changing interests, priorities and tastes.

Public galleries, state-run institutions and corporate bodies are regular buyers (and occasionally vendors) at Leonard Joel. They jostle and compete with private collectors for rarities to complement their collections, which can reveal missing chapters in our shared history. Captain James Cook’s travelling chest, John Batman’s original deed of purchase of Melbourne, the 1909 Ashes Urn and the warrant for the arrest of Ned Kelly have all passed through Leonard Joel auctions along with countless other examples of rare Australiana, art, furniture, jewels and collectable books, armoury, medals, mementos and ephemera from our history.

Collector Stephen Mould tells of his acquisition of works at Leonard Joel by post-war European refugees. Works by Eva Kubbos, Henry Salkauskas, Stan Ostoja-Kotkowski, Wladyslaw Dutkiewicz, Maximilian Feuerring, Danila Vassilieff, Franz Kempf and Dusan Marek and brother Voitre Marek have formed his collection. He has gifted many of his acquisitions to public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia and has published a book on these artists (The Birth of Love). Private passions such as this Leonard Joel regular bidder of 15 years add to our public understanding of artists and artistic movements. In turn, our knowledge and tastes are shaped by the scholarship, prestige and attention the state galleries bring when they stage shows that have grown in scale and ambition, in particular in the past 25 years.

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— The belongings of many of the post-war immigrant generation found their way to Leonard Joel in the 1950s to late 1980s. Many of these clients had been World War II refugees and fled Europe with little more than a suitcase. They built successful lives in Australia and furnished their homes with the best of contemporary design by local designers and furniture makers such as Schulim Krimper. When their art and décor was later divested by their children and heirs it had become unfashionable. The prices fetched at Leonard Joel can seem like bargain prices now, given the unstoppable rise in popularity in mid-century design since the late 1990s.

The retro-futuristic look of the distinctive furniture designs of Grant and Mary Featherston was picked up easily at auction and from second-hand dealers in the 1980s and has slowly entered the public consciousness. The greatest form of flattery has arguably been in how frequently the Featherston style has been imitated and replicated. A Featherston chair has become visual shorthand for a kind of sly cool; a knowing nod to post-war optimism combined with an appreciation of the brilliant simplicity of its design.

They, along with the impact of wider education and of popular culture whether it be through television programs such as Grand Designs are elements in the mysterious alchemy forming the passions and tastes that dictate the style, and even the look of the time in which we live. The sheer breadth of art and objects that pass through Leonard Joel mean that the auction house offers a peek into the future too; it’s a bellwether of design and trends to come.

Leonard Joel client, collector and artist, William Luke appreciated the Modernist period ahead of most. He began collecting pieces at Leonard Joel from 1980 until 2000 when he would find them “hidden amongst the mass of antiques”.

“The Leonard Joel team at that time were not consigning unfashionable modern works and usually these items were consigned to the darkest corner of the rooms. I filled every space in my studio with modern art and furniture until it became too much, which is when I opened Luke Design gallery in Richmond to display and sell my collection.”

ABOVE: A SOFA/DAYBED

BY HANS BELLMAN Switzerland, c. 1952 Sold for $4,636 Modern Design Auction May 2012 – OPPOSITE: A RARE GRANT FEATHERSTON 51 EASY CHAIR c. 1955 Sold for $11,780 Modern Design Auction November 2016 – Following: The Magical Studio of Mirka Mora Auction at Leonard Joel

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— While Leonard Joel has never acted like an art gallery in selling or supporting the work of a particular designer or artist, its auctions have helped catapult individuals’ work to wider attention. A large tranche of work by the photographer Wolfgang Sievers from the 1960s was auctioned in 2010 setting new world record prices and uncovering a new appreciation for his distinctive black and white images of industrial machinery. Sievers’ themes have struck a chord in the current age of technology, the way the great American industrialists and robber barons did in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Similarly, photographic work of hitherto unknown photographer Angus O’Callaghan of neon-lit downtown Melbourne in the 1960s has found favour with contemporary buyers. First exhibited at the legendary Kozminsky Gallery run by the Albrecht family, his works have since sold at Leonard Joel’s Fine Art auctions.

O’Callaghan’s large colour photographs capture the change in attitudes to the city since then. Melbourne of the 1970s and 1980s was regarded as mostly dull and earnest and its creative communities were either underground or on the fringes.

Since then however, the city’s renewed embrace of civic design and the reinvention of anonymous back laneways as beacons of bohemian creativity, has contributed to a pride and interest in its recent history. Melbourne may not be called Marvellous anymore, but its serial inclusion on the best city in the world to live lists has reinvigorated an appreciation of the city, its built environment and the artists, designers and artisans who contribute to its reputation as a creative centre.

Anne-Marie Kiely, the Melbourne editor of Vogue Living agrees that the city is having a moment again. Although technology has made everyone a global citizen to some extent, Australia’s geographical remoteness from traditional design and fashion hubs gives its artists a liberating space to create.

“I’ve found that photographers from overseas, for example, seem to look at Melbourne for ideas where trends and ideas are reinterpreted and created.”

But like the pieces that come through Leonard Joel, a city has its cycles.

Melbourne has a rich history built on Wurundjeri land. From the 1850s

Above left: WOLFGANG SIEVERS (1913–2007) Gears for Mining Industry, Vickers Ruwolt, Burley Melbourne 1967 silver gelatin photograph © National Library of Australia Sold for $20,740 Important Australian & International Photography Auction May 2010 – Above right: WOLFGANG SIEVERS (1913–2007) Rayon Loom Tuner, Bruck Mills, Wangaratta Victoria 1950 silver gelatin photograph © National Library of Australia Sold for $1,054 Specialist Prints Auction September 2018

ABOVE: SIDNEY NOLAN (1917–92) Untitled (Girl with Flowers) c. 1942 © The Trustees of the Sidney Nolan Trust/Bridgeman Images Sold prior to auction The Magical Studio of Mirka Mora March 2019

Gold Rush through to the impact of post-war immigration, its people, civic leaders and philanthropic families have been staunch observers of rules and tradition. But they have also been determinedly progressive in embracing new approaches to art and design.

It’s probably no coincidence that the city where Leonard Joel founded his auction house is also the city that has spawned the country’s major artistic movements – the Heidelberg School of ‘Australian Impressionism’ in the 1880s and 1890s; the Boyd family artistic dynasty at Murrumbeena from 1913 to the 1940s; the Angry Penguin movement at Heide in the 1940s and 1950s, where a generation of artists experimented with Modernism. There, Sunday Reed, a child of one of the city’s establishment families, and her husband John Reed nurtured Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, John Perceval, Danila Vassilieff and the talents of the art dealer and restaurateur Georges Mora and his wife, the artist Mirka Mora.

“The newly devised Linnaean taxonomy brought science, reason and order to museum collections. Private collectors began to follow the same course and by the late 19th century when museums of science began to separate from museums of the natural world, the concept of taxonomy had become firmly

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— Since the 1950s, the formal attitude to collecting and decorating has changed in Australia as it has elsewhere in the world. Strict societal dictums, customs and expectations of how we should live have slowly eroded. Once, the usual middle-class Australian family home was dominated by formal living and dining rooms where the best furniture, silverware, dinner services and decorative curios were displayed, but only occasionally used. Order, symmetry and compliance to a particular style was common practice, with dark Victorian-era décor still ubiquitous.

This taxonomy, as art advisor and former Director of the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Mark Fraser describes it, had reigned since the Age of Enlightenment when museums were founded. Both the natural and creative worlds were carefully categorised, unlike the Wunderkammer or cabinets of curiosity that preceded that time.

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embedded,” he says. “Art museums, however, retained a taxonomic system that was actually devised for the natural world. This, in my view, limits the way we view and perceive art. Taxonomies are now being redefined both in science and art; the pleasure for contemporary collectors is the freedom to create their own evolving taxonomies.”

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— The 21st century is radically different to how we lived in 1919. Different social values, different methods of communicating and evolving tastes in design, architecture and art, and the materials and tools to create work has changed how we live our lives. In the age of mass-production and throwaway culture there is a renewed appreciation for the unique, the rare, the beautiful and the bespoke.

It is a need, a search for authenticity in a world drowning in too much information and too many choices. This form of self-nourishment recognises the wonder of narrative of human inventiveness and is an emphatic rejection of treadmill consumerism.

Collectors and lovers of the unique and extraordinary – particularly younger generations – are hyper-aware of, and receptive to, visual culture. They embrace eclectic maximalism; the contents of the Wunderkammer have been let out of the closet. Those in tune with the Millennial generation have an appreciation of an artisan’s excellence but have combined it with pop culture-informed whimsy to curate their own environments. They acquire classic examples of haute fashion or radical and luxurious design and dress it up or down. They decorate their homes with an inter-play of the old and the new; objects and styles from a range of periods.

There is an acceptance that nuanced contradiction is a constant in history, just as it is in our own human natures. Leonard Joel embraced that idea in 1919 when he opened an auction house that welcomed the beautiful and the rare, the formal and the unconventional, the prosaic and the bizarre – all beneath one roof.

Our choices are an expression of our individual creativity. They reflect the excitement of being alive. They allow us to play our part in giving colour, texture, originality and personality to our homes, our city and our times. In 2019, Leonard Joel continues to inspire and inform how we express ourselves.

ABOVE: A THOMAS WEBB CAMEO GLASS SWAN SCENT BOTTLE 19th Century Sold for $14,640 Classic Furniture, Objects & Design Auction November 2011 – OPPOSITE: The Tori Dixon-Whittle Collection at Leonard Joel

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You are a custodian for all the beautiful things that come through your life.

— Collector Richard Barassi, 2019

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RICHARD BARASSI & BRENDAN DAVIES

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ACHILE CASTIGLIONI SNOOPY LAMP FOR FLOS Designed 1967 Limited addition green shade, marble, glass and plastic Sold for $1,736 Modern Design July 2017

Visiting Wednesday evening viewings at Leonard Joel has been a ritual for Richard Barassi and Brendan Davies for more than a decade. It’s here that they come to wind down at the end of the day and to chat and banter with other Leonard Joel regulars. However, they keep their comments to each other sotto voce lest they alert the others to a potential treasure they might bid for the following day.

The men’s tastes lie in late 20th century design. Richard’s primary field of interest is in 1980s decorative arts but in recent years has expanded to the 1970s. This might be due to Brendan’s influence. He is a collector of late 1960s and early 1970s Italian design with a particular interest in lighting and lamps of that era.

“With the right lighting people reveal things about themselves,’’ says Brendan. “No one’s going to tell an intimate story under a fluro overhead light. But if you get the lighting perfect people share stories, connect and come together.”

Richard had begun buying at Leonard Joel after he had exhausted Melbourne’s op shops and discovered the pleasure of coming across the unexpected and the unknown. As he puts it, a visit to Leonard Joel is about “looking for something I don’t need”, but when he comes across that something “it speaks to me” and he knows exactly the spot for it at home.

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His and Brendan’s apartment is painted in calming shades of white and provides a background for ignitions of colour provided by glass objects and the sculptural forms of Modernist furniture, lighting and lamps. During the years, their tastes have tended to meet in the middle with each convincing the other of the beauty of a design or object.

One of their favourite acquisitions is a set of signed, unframed prints of Florence Broadhurst studies for wallpaper designs from the early 1970s. The couple had recently watched a documentary on the famed Sydney designer’s eventful life – and unsolved murder – which Richard describes as a “design mystery”. “I love their colour; I love their palette and I love their design. They are of their time, and I hate the word, but I think they are quite iconic,” says Richard.

He had seen them at auction after he had come into a small cash windfall and could have gone on a holiday but opted to try and buy the prints instead. He bid and bid and bid until a rival bidder on the phone from Sydney eventually gave up.

“You are a custodian for all the beautiful things that come through your life,” says Richard.

“And I’m a caretaker for these,’’ says Brendan pointing to his collection of late 1960s, white sculptural lamps whose fluid plasticity evoke the futuristic era of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

“They probably had two owners before me and there’s no reason they can’t survive a few hundred years more.”

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Florence Broadhurst (1899–1977) one of three geometric wallpaper designs, screenprint Sold for $2,806 The Sunday Fine Art Auction October 2011

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History

LEONARD JOEL THROUGH TIME 1952 – 74

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— 1952

Auction: Household Furniture with Angelus Player Piano and Electric Refrigerator

The electric refrigerator made several appearances at auction during the 1950s; a time when fridges were a luxury item for the new middle-classes of Australia.

— 1952

Auction: The Emanuel Phillips Fox and Ethel Carrick Fox Collection of Paintings

Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865–1915) was an Australian impressionist painter. He married English born artist, Ethel Carrick, in 1905 and they lived together in Paris until 1913, when they relocated to Melbourne. Emanuel died in Melbourne in 1915, at which point Ethel embarked on two decades of travel through the Middle-East, Asia and Europe.

She returned to Australia regularly to exhibit her work.

Ethel died in Melbourne in 1952.

— 1958

Mr. Leonard Joel died and his grandson, Warren, was born the same year.

— 1959

Auction: Antique Furniture, Farming Plant

This auction included a Ferguson tractor, a plough, sheaves of hay, a muck spreader, two lawn-mowers, meat safes, milk buckets and ‘a host of sundries too numerous to itemize.’

— 1965

Auction: The Contents of Nareeb

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The Contents of Nareeb, one of the most lavish and impressive mansions in Toorak, included furnishings, pictures, art, china, silver, gas lights, two pianos and carpets.

The contents were sold following the death of the last heir to the Simmons family, Gertrude Alice Simmons (1884–1964).

Nareeb was demolished shortly after.

History

— 1966

Auction: The Charles Ruwolt Collection of Australian

Paintings

Charles Ernest Ruwolt (1873–1946) was a German born engineer and industrialist who emigrated to Australia with his family in 1878. He settled in Victoria and opened his own iron foundry in Wangaratta in 1902. During World War II, he began to manufacture armaments, employing over 2,000 workers.

He owned several racehorses and was also a keen collector of Australian paintings.

— 1968

Model Maggie Eckhardt is photographed by high profile fashion photographer, Bruno Benini. His wife and stylist, Hazel Benini, borrowed a table and kettle from Leonard Joel for the photo shoot.

— 1970

Auction: The Hans Heysen Collection

One of the country’s most celebrated painters, Germanborn artist Hans Heysen (1877–1968) redefined Australian landscape painting. His estate, which included many of his own works as well as paintings by Streeton and other Australian artists, was sold over two days at Malvern Town Hall.

— 1973

Auction: Antique Paintings, China, Silver, Rugs etc.

This auction featured two ‘Fine Double Barrel 12 Gauge Shot-Guns’.

— 1974

This auction comprised a large collection of howdahs (carriages) from the palace of The Maharaja of Mysore, India.

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Auction: The Maharajah of Mysore Collection

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ABOVE: Melbourne Art Dealer, Ed Clark (age 28) at the Maharajah of Mysore Auction in 1974 Australasian POST

COVER: Bruno Benini Maggie Eckhardt 1968 Photograph

History

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The History of Leonard Joel

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ABOVE: Hawksburn School, built in 1874 Current home of Leonard Joel, Melbourne

Since 1919, the unwanted objects, furniture, art and other heirlooms of what were once called establishment families have found their way to Leonard Joel’s auction rooms. Its premises have moved from its first home in Little Collins Street to McKillop Street, Melbourne, and then to both Inkerman Street, St Kilda and High Street, Armadale. Its current home is at an imposing and vaguely Gothic former primary school on Malvern Road, South Yarra and at its Sydney premises within the renowned building, The Bond on Queen Street, Woollahra.

The company has always had deep roots within generations of Australian families who buy and sell in good times and bad. Founded in Melbourne, Leonard Joel was synonymous with the names of the great and good who formed part of the city’s establishment until about the 1970s when that nebulous term fell from fashion.

Vendors from families, often bearing honorifics before their names, would dispatch treasures to Leonard Joel for auction. Melbourne’s daily newspapers regularly reported sales of seemingly anything and everything at Leonard Joel.

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The focus of their reports was often on which Melbourne establishment family was selling which extravagance they no longer had need for. The auction results acted as de facto social pages. Imperious looking women and stern looking men were photographed admiring their possessions as the dailies recorded how many guineas, pounds or dollars a rare book, manuscript, medal, weapon or Oriental vase had achieved.

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— From the 1950s to 1970s many of the grand 19th century buildings and private mansions were demolished to make way for skyscrapers and car parks or sold off by their families. The grand mansions Homeden, Nareeb, Cliveden, Elm Tree, Hazeldene and Rippon Lea, the Savoy and Menzies Hotels and scores of large family homes in the broad sweep of wealthy neighbourhoods from the east to south of Melbourne had their contents sold by Leonard Joel. Although the number of auction houses in Melbourne numbered about 40 in the early decades of the company, Leonard Joel became the only choice for the establishment after the war.

Headline-grabbing auctions included F.G Cole’s book collection in 1965, Dame Mabel Brookes’ maps, manuscripts and John Batman’s deed of ownership of Melbourne in 1968, the 1970 collection of the late artist Hans Heysen, and in 1974, the splendour of the Maharajah of Mysore sale in which ten truckloads arrived at Leonard Joel bearing sedan chairs, carriages, chandeliers and other treasures. The auction was necessary, apparently, to ease the Maharajah’s tax burden. That same year, the extravagant personal possessions and chinoiserie of Freddie Asmussen, the designer who created Myer Melbourne’s famed Bourke Street window displays, were auctioned after his death.

Despite the society gloss the media attached to the Leonard Joel name, it has always been a family business. It provides its services to individuals, families and business owners of any means across the country. A story in the Melbourne Herald in the 1970s tells of an elderly woman selling the “last memento of her dead daughter”– a dessert set valued at $30 – at Leonard Joel to raise $10 to redeem the trumpet pawned by her son before he went to prison. (The company, incidentally, did not charge commission.)

ABOVE: Details from the Auction Catalogue for The Maharajah of Mysore 1974 – OPPOSITE: HANS HEYSEN (1877–1968) A Lord of the Bush 1920 watercolour © Hans Heysen/Copyright Agency 2019 Sold for $12,400 Fine Art Auction September 2017

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The three generations of the Joel and Dwyer families who ran the auction house for the best part of 90 years, carried generations of clients with them and attracted new clients as time changed. What endured, and what remains with the company with John Albrecht as its managing director, is its commitment to its clients. He and his department heads, each with a specific expertise and passion for their specialist category – and often others – guide every interaction with their sellers and buyers.

— David Thomas, a client of many years recalls some of the 1960s auctions at the McKillop Street premises. The atmosphere was informal and collegiate amid the “often outrageous jollity of Graham Joel”.

“In those days there were no paddles and buyers’ numbers. The bidder’s initials were used instead – and there lay the fun. I still recall an auction in the (Melbourne) Lower Town Hall when I was bidding for a major national institution.

Almost every time I was outbid by a person sitting behind me, up the back.

Graham Joel called out the buyer’s initials of ‘JB’. Later, I found out that it was the future doyen of Australian dealers, Joseph Brown. He outbid me so completely that I had to telephone my authorities to seek higher amounts for what was to come.”

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Mr Thomas recalls Frederick McCubbin’s oil painting, Childhood Fancies, 1905 selling for 190 guineas at a 1962 auction. “I still remember the excited look on the face of the successful buyer. He could scarcely believe his luck. Neither could I. In September 2007, the painting re-sold for $1,920,000.”

At the same auction, a well-known collector, Jack Manton continued his record-breaking buying spree of Heidelberg School paintings when he outbid the Art Gallery of New South Wales for Arthur Streeton’s Lyrical Blossoms, Box Hill, 1890. (The painting is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria).

PREVIOUS: TOM ROBERTS (1856–1931) Winter morning after rain, Gardiner’s Creek 1885, Melbourne oil on canvas 47 � 66 cm Sold for $190,000 Australian & Overseas Paintings April 1984 M.J.M. Carter AO Collection through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation to mark the 130th anniversary of the Gallery 2011 Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide – ABOVE: Auction of Rupert Bunny’s (1864–1947) Une Nuit de Canicule in 1988 – BELOW: AUGUSTE RODIN (1840–1917) Head of Eustache de Saint-Pierre bronze Sold for $186,000 The Collectors’ Auction March 2019

ABOVE: FREDERICK MCCUBBIN (1855–1917) Childhood Fancies 1905 Sold for 190 guineas Art Salon Auction August 1962

— The adage that auction houses thrive on death, divorce and debt is undoubtedly accurate, but glib. Leonard Joel directors and staff have always held a trusted – even close – relationship with many of their clients. Leonard Joel himself visited Zelma Warne’s mother-in law in Hawthorn and shared his time-proved method of how to divide family treasures with minimal acrimony.

“He was a lovely gentleman drinking tea from the best cups. He gave such sage advice that it has helped stop many, many family disputes about dividing up deceased estates amongst my family and friends for ever after.” He said, “On the day of sharing the treasures only direct legatees mentioned in the will are to be involved. List all the treasures to be divided, draw short straws to see who chooses first, second, third and keep choosing till it’s all decided.

When all the choosing has been done and recorded it can be evaluated and the equivalent cash price deducted and adjusted against the value of other assets to make it fair.”

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— In the 1980s, the auction house market changed somewhat as a consequence of the economic changes brought about by the deregulation of markets and the floating of the Australian dollar. Art prices were rising around the world and international fine art auction houses in Melbourne and Sydney arrived to compete with Leonard Joel. This was a new market led by high-profile businesses competing for highly prized examples of Australian art. Until the stock market crash of 1987, entrepreneurs including Alan Bond, Robert Holmes à Court and Christopher Skase became the headline names bringing a passion for art as investment to mass attention.

They were also bringing mass attention to the names of artists. Eugene von Guérard, virtually anyone from the Heidelberg School with Frederick McCubbin, Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton leading the pack; Nolan, Tucker, Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman; and artists from the following generation – Fred Williams, John Brack and John Olsen were sold and re-sold at auction. In keeping with the times, women artists were kept waiting in the shadows, although artists including

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OPPOSITE: CHARLES BLACKMAN (b. 1928) Trumpeter 1954 (detail) enamel paint on board © Charles Blackman/ Copyright Agency 2019 Sold for $179,800 Fine Art Auction June 2018 – ABOVE: JOY HESTER (1920–60) Girl with Cocky c. 1957 oil on paper on board © Joy Hester/Copyright Agency 2019 Sold for $322,400 Fine Art Auction June 2018 – FOLLOWING: ARTHUR STREETON (1867–1943) Settler’s Camp 1888 (detail) oil on canvas Sold for $800,000 Australian Paintings Auction July 1985

Margaret Preston, Clarice Beckett and Heide’s Joy Hester were garnering more attention, if not as high prices, as the men.

Art auction results and analysis became mandatory in the news and finance pages of the broadsheets. Columns on buying art and collectables were regular features in personal finance publications. In this heyday, Leonard Joel sold many works of art for record prices. In 1985, Arthur Streeton’s Settler Camp (Tent) painted at Box Hill in 1888 sold for a world record price at the time of $800,000.

In 1988, Rupert Bunny’s Une Nuit de Canicule sold at auction for the Australian art record price at the time of $1.25 million. It was the first painting transacted for more than $1 million in Australia.

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— The 1980s was a time of big egos, big shoulder pads, big sales and big furniture.

Antique dealers, such as Melbourne’s famous Graham Geddes, were selling extravagant pieces to a hungry market. In the age of television’s Dynasty, no table or garden urn could be too big, too baronial or too classical for the entry halls of the Toorak, Vaucluse and Peppermint Grove mansions of the new titans of industry. Leonard Joel was where antique and second-hand dealers came to bid against each other for stock.

After the stock market crash of late 1987, money was re-directed by investors into property, antiques and art until a recession set in by 1990. Leonard Joel was busy handling the sale of large collections of art offloaded for financial liquidity and auctioning first-rate quality antiques that had only been bought in the previous few years when the antique dealer strip of Armadale High Street was booming.

The media, which had once cheered on the audacious corporate moves of the entrepreneurs and their purchases of glamorous assets for record prices, turned scornful. A report on a sale of Skase assets in 1990 bought by his company Qintex for his luxury Mirage resorts in Queensland and in Los Angeles where he had bought MGM studios was not short of schadenfreude. The Skase fire sale, it was reported showed that the entrepreneur had paid 30 times too much for his collection of antiques which included Spanish fountains, Flemish tapestries and French fireplaces.

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LEFT: A BRIEFCASE BY LOUIS VUITTON Styled in monogram canvas with C.C.S initials Sold for $8,370 The Pixie Skase Collection November 2018 – BELOW: A RETRACTABLE LIBRARY LADDER, RETAILED BY HERMÈS Styled in tan leather on wood frame with brass fittings and studs Sold for $27,280 The Pixie Skase Collection November 2018 – OPPOSITE: EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (c. 1910–96) Yam Dreaming 1996 (detail) acrylic on canvas Sold for $34,720 The Alan Boxer Collection May 2016 © Emily K Kngwarreye/ Copyright Agency, 2019

“An Early-Roman marble torso from the Skase office, for which Skase paid $95,000 to an exclusive Melbourne antique dealer two years ago, is likely to bring no more than $3,500,” The Age reported.

The Leonard Joel auction of possessions of his widow, Pixie Skase in 2018 – received widespread and similar media coverage as it marvelled at the extravagance of an era which now seems long gone. This auction received a miraculous 100 percent clearance rate as the public yearned to secure fragments of a bygone era of opulence.

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— In the following 28 years, a period without a recession in Australia, the demand for the rare, the unusual and the beautiful continues. The difference between this generation and the previous is that there is more attention on scholarship and provenance as well as media exposure to design culture. Buyers are more educated about their purchases, aided by formal education or instant access to and influence from technology.

Interest in Indigenous art has also grown in this period with regular auctions in this category introduced by Leonard Joel several years ago. “I’m not sure whether I should be thanking Leonard Joel or blaming them for setting me on a path of collecting indigenous paintings. Since then I have acquired more than 220 contemporary Indigenous works,’’ says client David Hinchcliffe, “I’m addicted. It was the auction of The Vroom Collection back in 2017, which started it all. I discovered the rich seam of modern Indigenous paintings and the ancient history that lies beneath its surface.”

“I am humbled to say that I now own paintings by such legendary artists as Emily Kngwarreye, Minnie Pwerle, Walangkura Napanangka, Jorna Newberry, Paddy Japaljarri, Charmaine Pwerle, all the Petyarre clan and lots more. I have so many now that I lend them out to family and friends.”

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PREVIOUS: The Thomas Vroom Collection February 2017 © Muntja Nungurrayai, John Mosquito, Eunice Napanangka Jack, Paddy Kumantjayi Jupurrurla Nelson, Una Tillmouth, Betsy Napangardi Lewis, Paddy Japaljarri Stewart, George Yapa Tjangala, Alice Nampitjinpa/ Copyright Agency 2019 – OPPOSITE: A group of wooden and hand painted KOKESHI dolls Sold for $512 The Bromley Collection November 2011 – ABOVE: A 19TH CENTURY AUTOMATON, PIERROT SERENADING THE MOON GUSTAV VICHY, PARIS, FRANCE, c. 1890 Sold for $19,520 Asian Art, Classic Furniture & Objects Auction October 2015

— In the past 10 years, Leonard Joel has witnessed an increase across all of its categories, not only for The Thursday Auction, but also for its Fine and Speciality Auction categories. And, specialist department heads, keen to remain one step ahead of the market, have also introduced new auction categories in areas of emerging interest – Modern Design and Luxury Accessories, as well as sub-categories of Fine Art, with auctions devoted to Prints & Multiples and Photography and the recently introduced Women Artists Auction, with a focus on female Australian artists who were perhaps not justly recognised or celebrated during their lifetime.

During the same time, Leonard Joel has also welcomed new clients through its own online presence where every item at auction can be bid on in real time anywhere in the world. Nothing, of course, compares to the tactile thrill of discovering the rare, the unusual and the unexpected as all manner of human invention, ingenuity and creativity from anywhere in the world or any period in history is displayed, jostling for our attention in one room.

The frisson at a Leonard Joel auction is about finding something that we feel is meant for us, and then seeing another client looking at the same object with the same voracious intent. The anticipation of the auction is as much a part of the theatre and drama as the auction itself, and that has not changed at Leonard Joel in 100 years.

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I used to wag school on Thursdays to visit the auctions. It was like a wonderland to me. You’d see so many treasures; and the characters that used to go there – the dealers, the collectors – they were as interesting as the pieces they bought.

— Collector Norman Rosenblatt, 2019

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NORMAN ROSENBLATT

The walls of Norman Rosenblatt’s home are crowded with paintings, but a large portrait in the entrance hall draws particular attention. The subject is the late, famed Melbourne art collector Dr Joseph Brown who was Norman’s uncle.

Painted by Rick Amor, Brown sits in an armchair and his intense gaze seems to challenge the viewer to blink first.

Brown was a formidable art collector and dealer, but his early day job was a rag trader in Flinders Lane from which he sold women’s fashions as well as art from his office wall.

Norman was a frequent visitor, and it was his uncle who introduced him to the Leonard Joel auction house when it was located in McKillop Street, just off Bourke Street. Soon, the young Norman was skipping school and heading to town on his own to absorb the intoxicating atmosphere of banter and deal-making – and unwittingly training his collector’s eye.

“I used to wag school on Thursdays to visit the auctions.

It was like a wonderland to me. You’d see so many treasures; and the characters that used to go there – the dealers, the collectors – they were as interesting as the pieces they bought.”

He bid for his first painting with one guinea of his pocket money at only age 14. The work was by an unknown artist whose identity is still a mystery after more than 60 years of ownership.

“It just spoke to me – it had innocence about it – and the way it was painted, it’s just beautiful. I still love it now as much as I did then. “ Mr Rosenblatt has worked as a customs agent all his adult life but his love of art and researching artists and their work has been an abiding passion.

“I spend around two hours a day looking at catalogues (from) all over the world. I find it so fascinating. I do a lot of research on well-known and not so well-known artists, in Australia and overseas – I like to support artists whose work I believe should be more recognised – and these are the works I am often drawn to.”

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Among the hundreds of works lining the walls of every room of his family home are many by friends including Rick Amor and the late Howard Arkley whom he met through collecting. Most of his collection is work by Australian artists.

Among his most coveted possessions are works by an artist he never met – Danila Vassilieff – the Russian émigré painter and sculptor who was part of the Heide circle. “No other artist in Australian art history has painted the woman they loved so much over a period of a year,” says Mr Rosenblatt who has doggedly pursued and assembled Vassilieff‘s suite of eight wedding paintings the artist made of his wife.

He says that the thrill of buying art at auction is about discovering beauty.

“I listen to French and Italian music – I don’t speak a word of French or Italian, but the music speaks to me. For me, it’s the same with art. When you hear or see something, or discover something of beauty, it’s a sensation – your eye speaks to your brain.”

His rules for buying art come down to essentially two questions: “’Do you love it, and does it mean something to you?’ and ‘Can you afford it?’. And even if you can’t afford it, you can if you love it.”

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DANILA VASSILIEFF (1897–1958) Mother and Child oil on board Sold for $1,708 Fine Art Auction March 2016

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Collecting

LEONARD JOEL THROUGH TIME 1978 – 2012

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— 1978

Auction: The John M. Glen Collection of Oriental Effects

This auction included two swords from colonial India, the first of which was presented by H.R.H. Queen Victoria to the reigning Maharajah of Mysore, Krishereya Wodiar III in 1861 and the second by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales to Chamarajendra Wodiar Bamadur VII in 1875.

— 1981

Auction: The Claire Adams MacKinnon Collection of Jewels

Claire Adams was a prominent movie star during Hollywood’s silent film era. She met and married Donald John Scobie MacKinnon (Scobie), the son of a wealthy Australian newspaper manager, in London in 1937. The couple later settled in Melbourne and led a glamourous life.

Adams died in 1978 and left generous bequests to family, friends, animal welfare charities and the National Trust of Victoria. Her jewellery collection was, at the time, the most significant of its kind ever to appear at auction in Australia.

— 1984

AUCTION: Winters Morning after Rain, Gardiner’s Creek

by Tom Roberts sold for $190,000.

— 1985

AUCTION: La Salute, Venice by Arthur Streeton sold for $42,000. The painting was previously sold by Leonard Joel in 1946.

— 1985

Auction: Settlers’ Camp by Arthur Streeton sold for $800,000.

— 1987 LEONARD JOEL 100 YEARS

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Treena Joel joined Leonard Joel and became the first female auctioneer in Melbourne.

— 1988

Auction: Une Nuit De Canicule by Rupert Bunny sells for $1.25 million (the first painting in Australia to sell for over $1 million).

Collecting

— 1995 Final auction at Inkerman Street.

— 1996

First auction at 333 Malvern Road.

— 1998

Auction: The Rogowski Collection

Danuta and Ted Rogowski were European post-war immigrants. Their collection was said to include some of the finest art and antiques ever seen in Australia.

On her death in 1997, Danuta Rogowski left $100,000 to The University of Melbourne ‘to establish scholarships for students enrolled or to be enrolled in the Faculty of Music.’

— 2009

John Albrecht became proprietor and Managing Director of Leonard Joel.

— 2010

Auction: The Dinesh Parekh Collection of Cameras

A retired psychologist, Dr. Dinesh Parekh grew up in Rajasthan, India.

His passion for art and photography led him to acquire an outstanding collection of cameras and photography by some of the world’s most renowned makers and photographers from the 19th century to the present day.

— 2011

Auction: QANTAS Medals

A group of eight WWI DFC, DCM Medals awarded to McGinness sold for over $256,200.

— 2012

Auction: The David Bromley Chapel Street Studio Collection

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Lieutenant Paul Joseph McGinness (1896–1952) was an Australian flying ace of the First World War, credited with seven aerial victories. He was also co-founder of Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (Qantas).

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COVER: DAVID BROMLEY (b. 1960) Children sailing oil on board Sold for $4,960 The Tori Dixon-Whittle Collection October 2018

ABOVE: Claire Adams MacKinnon, Courtesy of National Trust of Australia

Collecting

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Collecting

The unpredictability of human behaviour is one constant in the business of auctions and auctioneering over 100 years. Ownership, and more specifically, claims of ownership, can bring out the best, and less so, in all of us.

Staff at Leonard Joel are blessed to regularly witness the serendipitous: when a collector comes across a long sought-for treasure, a family member stumbles across an ancestral belonging, or when a visitor unearths an identical keepsake to one that has been lost or destroyed.

“My first experience with Leonard Joel was in the Books and Objects auction.

I’d come across the website the day prior to the auction and began scanning the lots available that week. As an avid vinyl record collector, one of the last lots stood out to me – several yellow boxes of Japanese records.

I drove straight to Leonard Joel to take a closer look. Inside I noticed several records I’d been searching for, for years, but hadn’t been able to find anywhere – even in Japan. Along with them were hundreds of other records that looked interesting, also Japanese. I knew I had to buy it and the estimated range was very fair.

I was unfamiliar with the auction process but happily managed to win the item for a good price. It was a fantastic experience and one I’ve repeated many times since that day. Best of all, I got to take the records home with me that day and had those several records (I’d spent years looking for) playing that evening”.

– Bryce Adams Passion for an obscure or arcane field of collecting can be contagious. When staff see the extraordinary dedication of a collector for whom no distance is too far and no cost too great to acquire a rarity, such as was the case in The Szental Collection of Radios and Toys at Leonard Joel which sold for over $1 million in total.

Although it’s an occurrence often witnessed when working at an auction house, staff can still be astounded by a bidder’s unstoppable need to bag their quarry. A client once left a $10,000 absentee bid on a painting that sold for $400.

“I just really wanted it and knew if I left an absentee bid for $10,000, I couldn’t possibly miss out.’’

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OPPOSITE: A RARE ITALIAN MURANO GLASS TWELVE BRANCH CHANDELIER Sold for $18,600 The Stock in Trade of Capocchi Auction March 2018 – ABOVE: A RARE PRE-WAR TRADE BOX FOR SIX DINKY 28/1 DELIVERY VANS Sold for $14,640 The Toy Auction May 2010

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When prospective vendors approach Leonard Joel for expert advice on provenance or value, both client and staff can be gobsmacked by their discoveries. In 2013, a client’s request for a valuation of “a few medals in a box,” revealed a group of six war medals, including a Distinguished Service Order (G.V.R.) medal and a fascinating account of Gallipoli in the handwritten, personal diary of Major R. Rankine. These capsules of significant wartime history went on to sell for over $30,000.

In 2014, a hitherto unknown painting by Eugene Von Guèrard was found in a tin shed. The oil on board, View of Mt Sturgeon and Mt Abrupt from the Crater of Bald Hill 1856, 1869 sold for over $300,000, a record for a work of that size.

Leonard Joel staff have also seen their share of the craven and the con artists.

Warring family members, divorcing couples and bitter business partners have lied and tussled over possessions. At times, the sentimental or financial value of an object becomes irrelevant. Instead, its worth is measured in the pleasure it gives one party to deprive the other of it. Valuables have suddenly gone missing, only to turn up at Leonard Joel years later. Court orders and injunctions have halted auctions only hours before schedule as ownership is contested.

In a 2011 fraud scandal in Brisbane, Joel Morehu-Barlow, who also went by the name Hohepa Morehu-Barlow and claimed to be a Tahitian prince, was exposed as having stolen over $16 million in funds from Queensland Health which were meant for supporting charities and other community groups. Barlow had bought luxury cars, a $95,000 Bang and Olufsen television, a life-size replica of a black stallion, works of art by Brett Whiteley and Jeffrey Smart and a $5.5 million riverfront apartment. All of these items were later sold at auction for the Public Trustee in Brisbane by Leonard Joel. The auction attracted an extraordinary 4,000 absentee bids, all of which had to be forensically and laboriously verified by Leonard Joel staff (all of the absentee bids were later outbid in the auction room).

The police have attended the auction rooms at least once. In 2018, a replica of Al Capone’s machine gun was scheduled for auction. However, its presence was a little less dangerous than when a collectable wartime grenade was found among goods waiting to be catalogued and presented at auction, and promptly placed in a safe.

ABOVE: THE HIGHLY IMPORTANT GALLIPOLI D.S.O. GROUP OF SIX MEDALS OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROBERT RANKINE 14 BN. A.I.F. Sold for $36,600 Classic Furniture, Objects & Collectables Auction May 2013 – BELOW: A BVLGARI DIVA’S DREAM TURQUOISE, DIAMOND AND PINK SAPPHIRE WRISTWATCH Sold for $99,200 Jewels Auction November 2018 – OPPOSITE: EUGENE VON GUÈRARD (1811–1901) View of Mt Sturgeon and Mt Abrupt from the Crater of Bald Hill 1856, 1869 Sold for $329,400 Fine Art Auction March 2014

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ABOVE: AN ANTIQUE PEARL AND DIAMOND PENDANT Sold for $146,400 Jewellery Auction June 2011 – OPPOSITE: Leonard Joel’s Decorative Arts and Asian Works of Art Department

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— Buyer beware is a basic tenet of any commercial transaction, but the emotion that can surround buyer’s remorse can be palpably felt in the auction room. When an auction is conducted properly, the sale still stands. The sale is binding even though the buyer might have got carried away in the bidding, overshot their limit, or simply changed their mind once the auction was over.

In 2011, a rare, antique natural pearl arrived at Leonard Joel, found by staff hidden in a box of otherwise nondescript jewellery. The pearl was researched by specialists and an estimate was set at between $2,000 to $2,500.

In one of those electrically charged scenarios in which two parties simply must have the object, the price climbed astronomically amid increasingly frenzied bidding. The pearl was bought by an overseas dealer for an Australian record price of $146,400. When it arrived in the U.S. however, the dealer complained of its lustre, questioned whether it was a natural pearl, and then argued the sale should be rescinded. Finally, it was admitted in a tense conference call between Melbourne and New York that the buyer “just didn’t want it”.

Leonard Joel’s reputation was built on three generations of the Joel family (and three generations of the Dwyer family who managed its Fine Art department). All six men were known for their good humour, discretion and diplomacy.

Graham Joel, the son of Leonard Joel, died at age 90 on January 19, 2019.

Writing in Australian Art Sales Digest, the veteran Fine Art auction writer Terry Ingram described Graham’s “homely approach, his dry sense of humour and asides to regular auction goers.” The “unquestioned loyalty of its staff and Melbourne buyers (was) largely due to Graham’s ability to get along with common folk,” he wrote.

Leonard Joel staff now counts 45 with specialist heads of departments including Fine Art, Jewels, Decorative Arts and Modern Design, all of whom conduct the auctions in their field of expertise. Standing at the podium, gavel in hand, the auctioneer needs the poise, clarity, confidence, speed and observation skills of a United Nations peacekeeper. They take measure of emotions, field bids, and even predict behaviour in the auction room, all while simultaneously

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OPPOSITE: A CHINESE TWELVE SYMBOL EMPEROR’S SEMI-FORMAL COURT ROBE, JIFU, QING DYNASTY (1644–1911), c. 1850 Sold for $96,100 The Decorative Arts Collection of James Fairfax AC August 2017 – ABOVE LEFT: A GERMAN 800 SILVER FIGURAL EWER AND COVER, Late 19th century Sold for $1,984 The Fine Art of Dining Auction February 2019 – ABOVE RIGHT: A JAPANESE NAMIKAWA YASUYUKI CLOISONNÉ COVERED VASE MEIJI PERIOD (1868–1912) Sold for $39,040 Decorative Arts Sunday Auction June 2011

registering bids coming in via telephone, online and on their auctioneer’s sheets.

Their understanding of human behaviour is central to this multi-tasking. Staff say they know when a bidder is about to bid even before they move a hand or raise an eyebrow. When the lot they are interested in comes up for sale, a light passes over their faces.

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— Decorative Arts auctions at Leonard Joel present furniture, sculpture, sterling silver, clocks, ceramics and glass that span decades of design and taste. These auctions offer superior and carefully curated pieces, meticulously arranged in a viewing exhibition open to the public up to a week prior to auction. This auction category also includes Asian Art and other, speciality auctions such as Epicurean-themed dining and interior auctions as well as Australian ceramics from the 20th and 21st centuries.

One of the charms of Leonard Joel auctions is that history can be seen repeating itself in the most surprising and delightful ways. The passion for the unique, the idiosyncratic or the historic can be built up over decades through an individual’s passion for a particular field of interest or through the achievements of a life well-lived.

The legendary Australian Rules Football player and coach Ron Barassi chose Leonard Joel in 2016 to sell his collection of trophies, medals, jerseys, books, pamphlets and other paraphernalia that represented his illustrious career. The media interest in the Barassi auction reflected Melbourne’s obsession with football history. Just days before the highly publicised public auction, businessman Paul Little AO bought the entire collection. The buyer’s intention is to create a lasting tribute to the AFL hero with a dedicated, permanent display of the collection honouring Barassi as a titan of Australian football in the second half of the 20th century.

It’s moments like these where one person’s passion becomes part of a collection’s legacy. Ron Barassi’s curated collection will now offer future generations a look back into the football of yore as seen through an icon of the game.

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ABOVE: A PAIR OF RON BARASSI BRANDED FOOTBALL BOOTS The Ron Barassi Collection of Football Memorabilia September 2016 – OPPOSITE: Ron Barassi wearing his number 31 guernsey

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What motivates a person to amass or acquire a collection is one of the more intriguing aspects of the auction business. What some might consider arcane is what excites others. In 2018, an 83-year-old Melbourne man and former car mechanic, Ken Hose, sold more than 130 clocks from his privately amassed collection for $775,000 at Leonard Joel. What began as a hobby for Hose in the 1950s with a small American alarm clock grew into an obsession that saw him travel the world and restore rare, novel and astounding clocks. Among the many cuckoo, grandfather, singing bird and ships’ clocks for auction was a circa 1735 George II musical organ clock that sold for $62,000.

In 2017, Leonard Joel was also entrusted with the decorative arts collection of the late James Fairfax AC. The collection featured superb Asian works of art and textiles, fine European furniture, porcelain, silver and photography that reflected the wealth, taste, passions and travels of the collector. Enthusiastic bidders, from Sydney to London, competed over two days for decorative arts and furniture from his former residences and the auctions totalled over $1.74 million.

The impressive financial figures of the Fairfax auctions were only eclipsed by the legacy they left behind. Proceeds from the auction were invested into The James Fairfax Foundation, an organisation set up to provide continual support to the charities that James Fairfax supported during his life.

One of the most consistently popular periods among bidders across many categories is Art Deco. However, despite being a crowd-pleaser, it too, has had its spikes in demand with the 1980s and early 1990s being its most recent resurgence. In 2008, the blockbuster Art Deco 1910-1939 from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum was exhibited at the NGV in Melbourne. It revived a glimmer of interest at auction, possibly because the exhaustive show added numerous Australian examples of Art Deco’s metallic-edged, neon-tinged style.

Now, more than 30 years since its last revival, Art Deco is back on fashion’s radar. Its influence is beginning to be seen among interior designers internationally. Soon enough, it will be back in demand at Leonard Joel, just as the 1980s Memphis Anti-Design movement that was famous for breaking the rules in its riot of colours and forms is having a revival in Modern Design auctions now.

ABOVE: A SET OF FOUR VICTORIAN NOVELTY KANGAROO SALTS BY JOHN SAMUEL HUNT FOR HUNT & ROSKELL, LONDON 1856 Sold for $86,800 The Decorative Arts Collection of James Fairfax AC August 2017 – BELOW: AN ART DECO OPAL, CONCH PEARL AND DIAMOND BROOCH Sold for $31,720 Jewellery Auction October 2010 – OPPOSITE: A GEORGE II MUSICAL ORGAN BRACKET CLOCK CHARLES CLAY, LONDON c. 1735 Sold for $62,000 The Hose Collection of Clocks June 2018

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GUIDO DROCCO & FRANCO MELLO ‘CACTUS’ COAT STAND FOR GUFRAM LIMITED EDITION, 1303/2000 Designed 1972–86 Sold for $5,952 Modern Design Auction April 2018

CASTIGLIONI BROS RR226 RADIOPHONOGRAM FOR BRIONVEGA Designed 1966 Sold for $4,960 Modern Design Auction July 2017

GERRIT RIETVELD ‘ZIG-ZAG’ CHAIR FOR CASSINA Designed 1934 Sold for $2,356 Modern Design Auction July 2018

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— Once, the Decorative Arts auctions included mid-20th century and post-war design furniture and objects, but in the last decade, due to increasing demand, Leonard Joel has established a dedicated Modern Design department. These specialist auctions are held three to four times a year where they showcase high-end examples of Modernism on a platform which attracts increasing interest and investment.

The global passion for this post-war period has not only seen an interest in objects and furniture by the famous Scandinavian, Italian, American and Australian designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Poul Henningsen, Gio Ponti, Charles Eames and Grant Featherston, but also in recently manufactured examples. These are not the shoddily built replicas that fill online trading sites and bargain bin shops but are made under strict licence by approved and revered manufacturers.

Its clean, simple and thoughtful aesthetic seems attuned to the homes we live in now. This is not so surprising given that when these designs were introduced, from the 1950s to the 1970s, they were often described as futuristic and Jet Age. The popularity of Modernism is part of the zeitgeist. Its most iconic examples are collected and inevitably copied. These influence new designers whose reinterpretations of classic looks trickle into mainstream consciousness through the media, chain stores, hotel and restaurant design. Meanwhile, prestigious public galleries add lustre and value to the reputation of, and appreciation for, the stars of Modernism in stylish and scholarly exhibitions dedicated to designers such as Clement Meadmore and Grant and Mary Featherston.

The impact of Modernism in interiors and architecture has had a worldwide countereffect on so-called brown furniture. This now pejorative term refers to anything that isn’t – or doesn’t look – even vaguely Modernist or Scandinavian.

Brown can include a prosaic, dark wood table from the 1940s through to a magnificent 19th century mahogany dining table. Antique dealers have felt the pinch – and many have closed their doors – as demand has plummeted and prices have tumbled. The effect has been seen at Leonard Joel too, where such brown pieces are sold for a quarter of what they sold for in the previous decade – a phenomena nothing short of a profound change in taste.

PREVIOUS: Modern Design Auction Viewing at Leonard Joel – ABOVE: ARNE JACOBSEN EGG CHAIR AND OTTOMAN FOR FRITZ HANSEN Designed 1958 Sold for $6,100 Modern Design Auction November 2012 – BELOW: MICHELE DI LUCCHI LAMP FOR MEMPHIS MILANO Designed 1983 painted ceramic Sold for $976 Modern Design Auction October 2012

ABOVE: OSCAR NIEMEYER ‘RIO’ CHAISE MANUFACTURED

BY TENDO BRAZILIERA Designed 1978 Sold for $10,980 Modern Design Auction November 2014

But the return of brown furniture is inevitable. Fashion is dictated by the random, but in a world more aware of the damage of disposable consumption destined for landfill, there will be renewed interest in, and appreciation for, pre-Modernist periods. The change seems to be coming sooner than anticipated given the renewed interest in re-purposed Victorian furniture. Fluted leg hall tables are rehabilitated with modern finishes and are finding their way into open-plan interiors as a statement piece. They are selectively set amid Modernist and contemporary designs, or squeezed into a maximalist look. Their ownership signals an interest in story and an understanding that art, design, and indeed fashion, is part of a continuum.

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— Luxury is what you make of it. Technology means more of us work from home, and it means more of us are entertained within the home than without. Hygge, once a word known only to the Danish for cosiness, has become a universal term to communicate simple pleasures; the tactile joy of surrounding ourselves with the things that make us feel secure, loved and at peace. Objects don’t have to be practical or hold value, they don’t need to be a statement or talking point, through Hygge an object just has to be inviting.

In the past decade, Leonard Joel has conducted specialist auctions of personal luxury accessories. While the prices paid for Hermès, Chloe, Givenchy, Prada, Colette, Dries Van Noten or Ann Demeulemeester handbags or accessories are almost always lower than what people can buy them brand new, there are exceptions. That yearning for authenticity; the feel of the patina of time on leather, silk or brass, the imagining of an object’s glamorous past, has seen bidders pay more than what the accessory would cost new. In 2017, a client paid more for a pre-owned, rare Hermès Birkin handbag than a similar – but not so rare – example bought new.

Large fashion houses are now reissuing many of their classic designs from recent decades, particularly the 1950s, to entice customers with the allure of history, experience and mystery. That is something an auction house has always excelled at.

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A KELLY 28 BAG BY HERMÈS Styled in orange Togo leather with silver metal hardware Sold for $11,780 Luxury Auction April 2019

A MINI BAG BY CHLOE Styled in green suede with gold metal hardware Sold for $620 Luxury Auction April 2019

A JUMBO FLAP BAG BY CHANEL Styled in quilted black leather with gold metal hardware Sold for $5,208 Luxury Auction November 2017

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A KELLY FLAP BAG SET BY CHANEL Styled in blue quilted lambskin leather with gold metal hardware Sold for $8,060 Luxury Auction April 2019

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OPPOSITE: AN IMPORTANT DIAMOND SET ENAMEL AND GOLD RUSSIAN IMPERIAL PRESENTATION BOX WITH MONOGRAM OF TSAR ALEXANDER II (1855–81), Sold for $124,000 The Ray Schlager Collection of Jewellery December 2017 – ABOVE: A RARE PANTHER CUFF BY CARTIER Sold for $41,480 Jewels & Objets D’Art Auction August 2014 – BELOW: AN IMPORTANT SOLITAIRE DIAMOND RING

BY TIFFANY & CO. Sold for $229,360 Fine Jewels Auction September 2015

— Leonard Joel’s jewellery auctions have increased two-fold in the past decade.

This is partly the result of the decline in estate jewellery shops and dealers, but also in the rise in its clients’ search for the authentic and rare.

While jewellery stores have closed, Leonard Joel presents a new range every week at The Thursday Auction, and also at its quarterly fine Jewels Auctions. The designs that charge the atmosphere at the latter auctions often feature luxury brands – Van Cleef & Arpels, Bvlgari, Cartier and pre-1970s Tiffany. As with nearly all fiercely contested auctions, the rarity of an object fuels bidding, such as it did in the auction of a Suffragette Brooch in 2018, a diamond tiara in 2019, and in the case of the antique natural pearl, mentioned on page 87.

Jewellery sales are driven by constants – engagements, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and christenings and some stones and eras have always been more desired than others. The sparkle of diamonds has never not been popular, and fine and rare examples of elegant Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco settings are always in demand.

“I have very fond memories of the time my (now) husband bought my engagement ring. It was a Christmas auction on December 5th, 15 years ago. My husband had viewed the solitaire diamond ring circa 1910, an old European cut, earlier during the week. We had Mr. Joel senior sit with us for a private viewing. He also conducted the auction. We were very nervous. We had the winning bid.

— Angelina Barber

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When the hammer fell, Mr Joel said: ‘Congratulations, aren’t you supposed to propose to her now?’ There was a round of applause from the crowd and a few shrieks of delight. I wasn’t proposed to that day but it came later the following year. We both knew the right day would come. I remember the events very clearly and when I attend the auctions now, I can’t help but think of that very special occasion.”

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AN ANTIQUE BROOCH c. 1899 Sold for $2,976 Fine Jewels Auction November 2018

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A PAIR OF GOLD AND DIAMOND CHANDELIER EARRINGS Sold for $8,680 The Ray Schlager Collection of Jewellery December 2017

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The Everest-sized, diamond ring clusters of the Dynasty infused 1980s might have fallen out of favour to wear, but buyers still want them. More women are bidding for them to re-set the diamonds in bespoke rings to wear every other day, rather than to denote their marital status.

But the revival of another favoured adornment from that period is yet to come. The late 1970s to early 1980s’ post-Punk, New Romantic era ushered in a generation of 20-something women dressed for work and study in Peter Pan collars festooned with a crew neck string of pearls. Lady Diana Spencer was the personification of the Sloane Ranger style and it was quickly replicated in Australia. The look, like her marriage to Prince Charles, didn’t endure.

The demand for strings of pearls at Leonard Joel has long declined, though the supply is strong as mothers and grandmothers make their bequests. Now, fine examples of Mikimoto cultured pearls sell at auction for a fraction of the price paid at retailers.

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— No artform at Leonard Joel has seen more fashions, styles, fads, schools and movements than the Fine Art department. The Art Salon, a regular in The Thursday Auction – and an auction which has retained its name at Leonard Joel since the 1920s – acts as a barometer for what artists have been excited about and influenced by in the previous decades as works transition from living room walls to the next generation. From Still Lifes to Macramé wall-hangings, from Op Art to Assemblage Art, a visit to the Wednesday evening viewings is a window to the infinite ways in which artists create.

Finer examples of artistic endeavour make their way to Leonard Joel’s quarterly Fine Art auctions, as well as the calendar of specialist auctions, private collections or auctions of a single artist or art movement. In 100 years of Fine Art auctions, the company has seen the booms and busts in the prices people have been prepared to pay for Fine Art. It has also seen the evolution of tastes and interests as buyers – both private collectors and public institutions – moved from a Eurocentric bias to embrace radical changes in Australian art and develop a passion for modern Australian and Indigenous Australian art.

ABOVE: A SOUTH SEA PEARL NECKLACE Sold for $5,456 The Kozminsky Collection March 2017 – OPPOSITE: The Thursday Auction May 2019 © Fred Williams, Mick Kabaku, Gloria Petyarre, Mignonette Jamin / Copyright Agency 2019

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WALTER WITHERS (1854–1914) The Trysting Place c. 1891 oil on canvas Sold for $97,600 Fine Art Auction June 2015

JOHN GLOVER (1767–1849) Windsor Castle 1824–26 oil on canvas Sold for $91,500 Sunday Fine Art Auction June 2012

“I have a collection of art and I have been buying from Leonard Joel for at least 15 years, initially in Melbourne. I have since that time been assembling an art collection, I would nominally call it post-war modernist but I have come to specialise particularly in the works of European artists, primarily refugees who made their home here in Australia after 1940.

I have works by Eva Kubbos, Henry Salkauskas, Stan Ostoja-Kotkowski, Władysław Dutkiewicz, Maximilian Feuerring, Danila Vassilieff, Franz Kempf.

I also have some work by some Russian Suprematist artists from the 1920s.

The focus of my collection is work by Dusan Marek – generally surrealist and also abstract in style. In addition to these émigré artists, my collection is supplemented with works by Margot Lees, Robert Klippel, Godfrey Miller, Fred Williams, Merric Boyd, Roger Kemp. Most of my collection has been acquired through the secondary art market, which continues to be my main means of sourcing more works for my collection.”

— Stephen Mould

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TOM ROBERTS (1856–1931) Elizabeth “Lillie” Williamson, Phillip Island c. 1886 oil on wood panel Sold for $59,520 The Frank & Jill Jones Collection December 2018

While Australian art still has a relatively modest monetary value compared to the stratospheric prices paid for the work of the art stars abroad, great examples of Australian art are often out of reach for our public galleries. Although they do buy at auction, state institutions are increasingly adapting to rising art prices (and their stagnant purchasing budgets) by banding together with philanthropic supporters and even crowdfunding, as happened at The Magical Studio of Mirka Mora auction in March 2019 when Heide Museum of Modern Art managed to raise over $200,000 through crowdfunding (with the Victorian State Government matching contributions).

While Leonard Joel can only sell what its vendors consign for auction, its staff of art historians and valuers are constantly looking for works which they know are in demand, and that can be presented in specialty auctions. In recent years, these have included auctions of work by the photographer Wolfgang Sievers, painter Hans Heysen and sculptor Patricia Piccinini as well as three significant works of art recently sold as part of The De Stoop Collection; two paintings by Charles Blackman and a seminal Joy Hester, which sold for a world record price $322,400.

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I can’t know what this week or next week will bring. They’re someone else’s treasures so it’s an alignment of the moment of someone releasing and me coming and acquiring that is so special.

— Collector Jaci Foti-Lowe, 2019

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JACI FOTI-LOWE

Those familiar with Hub, the high-end furniture Melbourne and Sydney retailer, might be surprised to learn that its director, Jaci Foti-Lowe, is a habitual visitor to Leonard Joel’s weekly Thursday Auction previews.

Hub specialises in directional furniture, flooring, lighting and home accessories created by the world’s most celebrated contemporary designers who include Patricia Urquiola, Vincent Van Duysen, Nendo, John Pawson and Hella Jongerius. The designers’ pieces are invariably included in the world’s leading interiors magazines where they are photographed in stylish apartments and grand houses and paired with furnishings, art and exotica from other periods.

The swift lines of their ultra-contemporary creations are enhanced by the contrast with objects and collectables that carry the patina of age and the alluring mystery of owners from earlier times.

Foti-Lowe possesses a curator’s appreciation of form, shape, and colour that finds her looking for the “magic of the unknown” as she describes her visits to Leonard Joel to uncover the rare and surprising. “You don’t know what you’re going to find when you look through the catalogue or turn up on site. It’s that thrill of what could be… being open to acquire anything (or) nothing in particular,” she says.

“I can’t know what this week or next week will bring.

They’re someone else’s treasures so it’s got to be that alignment of the moment of someone releasing and me coming and acquiring. That whole process is a really enjoyable one because it’s always a surprise.”

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PATRICIA URQUIOLA ‘FJORD’ CHAIR FOR MOROSO Italy c. 2000s Sold for $2,356 Modern Design Auction April 2018

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One serendipitous discovery was her acquisition of a Wedgwood basalt pot at The Thursday Auction.

“I’ve stopped trying to decide whether it (an object) is good or has a place, or has any merit, and I’ll just look at it for the beauty of the object in the moment. So that’s how my passion with the basalts started; it was just a beautiful form, a pot. It was perfectly balanced, pure black and decorative.

It was absolutely not aligned with anything I have ever considered before. But once I then had that piece in my hands it opened my eye to every other black basalt piece that came through on a Thursday.”

She describes creating a collection as finding an object and adding “the thread of an idea’’ to a setting.

“I love that about the process at Leonard Joel because I get this rush of satisfaction, like I know what this is going to become or, I know that I’m going to collect this, or I’m going to pair this with something else.”

In addition to Hub, Foti-Lowe also owns The Hub General Store which is situated in a quiet side street in Collingwood in Melbourne. Virtually every object in the store, from the utilitarian to the decorative has been carefully curated and displayed to invite contemplation of the simplicity or beauty of form.

“Everything that we use in the General Store for display is a found object or acquired through the auctions. That’s created an environment that is really special and comfortable, homely, welcoming and warm. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that the only pieces we have used to display in there are old and found pieces.”

RIGHT: A KEITH MURRAY BLACK BASALT WEDGWOOD VASE Signed Keith Murray, c. 1950 Price Undisclosed Classic Furniture, Objects & Design Auction November 2012

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OPPOSITE: The Hub General Store

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Future

LEONARD JOEL THROUGH TIME 2012 – 2019

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1

— 2012

Auction: The Davis Family Collection of Phar Lap Memorabilia

This collection, which came from the family of David Davis, an American businessman and the co-owner of Phar Lap, included an inscribed album of thirty-six black and white photographs of all of Phar Lap’s race wins in Australia.

The album sold for over $90,000.

— 2012

Auction: The Graham Geddes Collection (the largest stock in trade antiques auction in Australian history)

— 2012

Auction: The Andy Mac Collection of Street Art (Freeze Muthastika, a mural by various artists, sold for $68,320, a record price for a piece of street art at auction in Australia).

— 2013

Auction: The Joel Barlow Collection

— 2013

Leonard Joel Sydney opened in Woollahra.

— 2015

Auction: The Estate of Colin Lanceley

New Zealand born artist Colin Lanceley (1938–2015) studied painting at the National Art School under John Passmore. He taught at Chelsea School of Art, London in the 60s and his works were acquired by the Tate and the V&A. Throughout this time he exhibited regularly in Australia and returned to live in Sydney in the 80s.

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2

His eclectic collection featured prints by 20th century masters including Henri Matisse, Sonia Delaunay, Joan Miró and Fernand Léger and sold for over $500,000.

— 2016

Auction: The Ron Barrassi Collection of Football Memorabilia The collection of Australia’s most celebrated AFL player sold to businessman Paul Little AO for a record price prior to auction.

Phar Lap Horse Shoes (2 of 4) Sold for $31,720 Horse Racing & Sporting Memorabilia Auction October 2012

Future

— 2017

Auction: The Kozminsky Collection

When renowned jewellery house Kozminsky closed its doors in 2017, it was the end of an era for many and the stock in trade auction became the most expensive of its kind in Australia.

— 2017

Auction: The Opera Australia Collection of Costumes & Memorabilia

— 2017

Auction: The Decorative Arts Collection of the Late James Fairfax AC

An extraordinary collection which reflected the travels and passions of the man behind it. The auction attracted bidders from all over the world and sold for over $1.75 million.

— 2017

Auction: The Ray Schlager Collection of Jewellery

This auction of antique jewellery featured an important diamond set enamel and gold Russian imperial presentation box with monogram of Tsar Alexander II (1855–81) which sold for $124,000.

— 2017

Auction: The 1909 ‘Monty Noble’ Ashes Urn

The 1909 Ashes Urn, which was presented to Australia’s cricket Captain Monty Noble on his team’s victory over England, sold for over $80,000.

— 2018

— 2019

Auction: The Magical Studio of Mirka Mora

The studio contents of much-loved Melbourne artist, Mirka Mora, sold for over $1 million and attracted over 1,500 bidders as crowds flocked to acquire a personal memento of Mirka.

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Auction: The Hose Collection of Clocks (the most important collection of its kind to appear at auction in Australia).

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COVER: MIRKA MORA (1928–2018) Good Morning Angel 1979 soft sculpture doll, acrylic Sold for $77,500 The Magical Studio of Mirka Mora Auction March 2019

ABOVE: MIRKA MORA’S PAINT BOX, INSCRIBED ‘MIRKA BOUGHT IN PARIS, 1946’ Sold prior to auction March 2019

Future

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DAMIEN HIRST (b. 1965) Souls I, II, III and IV 2010 (detail) 4 x foil block print on Arches paper © Damien Hirst/Copyright Agency 2019 Sold for $18,300 Fine Art Auction September 2015

The Future

LEONARD JOEL 100 YEARS

Technology has been the disrupter of many industries and businesses in the past 20 years. But Leonard Joel is one of those enterprises that has continued to grow by simply doing what it has always done: auctioning collections alongside Fine Art, Jewellery, Decorative Arts, a wealth of curios and now, Modern Design, Prints, Photography and Luxury to those who seek the thrill of an auction, the unusual and the authentic. This has expanded however to embrace modern communications, allowing bidders from all over the globe to participate in a live auction.

Integrity is becoming scarce in an environment where so many of our daily interactions are anonymous transactions online. And while the auction market becomes increasingly like retail in so many ways – items are photographed and presented online for scrolling and viewing from the comfort of your sofa or kitchen table – it’s still very different. There’s an element of discovery at auction that is rarely found in retail and while only the very highest end retail stores offer an in-depth knowledge of their product, this is an intrinsic part of the auction house selling and buying experience.

A myriad of online second-hand trading and selling sites have emerged in recent years offering art, antiques, design, fashion and household accessories.

The appeal of these platforms is usually based on convenience and a lack of time. What is missing in these transactions that are not conducted with a person, but an algorithm, is passion. Passion for the historic, the unusual or the rare; for something you didn’t know you wanted until you encountered it. Younger generations who grew up in a digital world and the instant visual appeal of Instagram have become new buyers at Leonard Joel.

If the cliché about the Millennial generation is true; that they demand instant gratification; well, then that demand is met at Leonard Joel; an entirely new cornucopia of goods appear each week that can be bought at auction and taken home immediately. If a client tires or changes their mind on their purchase, even a few years later, they re-sell or re-style.

But that is not the reason they are turning to Leonard Joel to express themselves through Modern Design or Luxury Accessories. Anne-Marie Kiely, Melbourne editor of Vogue Living, says that this generation, who make up over 30 per cent of the market for luxury purchases, are looking for authenticity in

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what they buy. And like integrity, authenticity is increasingly difficult to find in a global market place dominated by gargantuan corporations selling the prosaic and the mass-produced.

This generation, far more environmentally cognisant than their parents and grandparents’ generations, are foraging for unique items with a story, rather than adding to a world drowning in waste by buying the newly manufactured.

Once, younger generations searched for the quirky in the city’s opportunity shops. While discoveries can still be made, most of these stores have been tilled of the rare and unexpected. Speciality vintage clothing shops for instance, are importing stock from Eastern Europe.

New generations of Leonard Joel clients have adopted the new Maximalism with alacrity, but subtlety. Kiely notes that the brown, mostly Victorian-era furniture that has been out of fashion since mid-century modernism took hold around 2000, is being re-worked. Tables and sideboards are re-painted, ebonised or stripped with their tops replaced with marble or metals. Sober-looking chairs are re-animated with Missoni, Marimekko or Florence Broadhurst designs.

Interior decorators, who increasingly frequent Leonard Joel auctions for rare and interesting finds for their clients are among those now repatriating brown furniture. In a decade’s time, it will be due its resurgence – just as modernist design did 20 years ago.

In the meantime, the savvy are using these designs as singular statement pieces in the contemporary, open-plan houses and apartments we are living in. No longer do we have walls, window coverings and even dining rooms to install sets of matching furnishings. Like the walls, the rules about décor and adornment have come down. We are responding to how we live more ‘organically’ in response to our times, our own needs and our moods.

And despite the fewer walls, the demand for art is stronger – but more nuanced than ever. Millennials are purchasing the more affordable prints, multiples and photography. Their visual acuity sees them looking not for work by famous-named artists, but for artworks with tonality, shape and mood. The artist’s name or the artwork’s provenance is often incidental as these buyers curate and design their interior spaces.

above: A BROOCH BY CHANEL Styled with paste gems and faux pearls in gilt metal Sold for $868 Luxury Auction March 2017 – OPPOSITE: David Bromley Auction

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VARIOUS ARTISTS Set of 26 collaborative panels ‘FREEZE MUTHASTIKA’ 2004 (detail) acrylic and enamel on coreflute panels Sold for $68,320 The Andy Mac Collection: Street & Fine Art Auction May 2012

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DAVID BAND (1959–2011) Happiness 2010 acrylic on paper © The Estate of David Band Sold for $3,224 Fine Art Auction June 2019

LEONARD JOEL 100 YEARS

MELINDA HARPER (b. 1965) Untitled (Abstract) 2012 oil on canvas © Melinda Harper/ Copyright Agency 2019 Sold for $11,160 Fine Art Auction November 2016

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OPPOSITE: JOSEF ALBERS (1888–1976) Homage to the Square 1970 screenprint © Josef Albers/Copyright Agency 2019 Sold for $4,960 Prints & Multiples Auction April 2019 – ABOVE: MICHELE DE LUCCHI ‘OCEANIC’ LAMP

BY MEMPHIS MILANO Designed 1981 Sold for $5,456 Modern Design Auction November 2018 – BELOW: WARREN MCARTHUR CHAISE c. 1950s Sold for $2,976 Modern Design Auction April 2019

Societal shifts such as these inform what, when and how we collect or acquire objects for ourselves, our friends and families and our homes. Any auction at Leonard Joel acts as a barometer for changing tastes, flirtations with fads, and is often a harbinger of styles and fashions to come.

The rapid changes in our national make-up continue, given over half the Australian population was either born overseas or are the children of those born overseas. The panoply of passions, interests and tastes that each wave of arrivals bring with them, mingle and inform those of the migrants before them to create an even richer societal soup.

Leonard Joel continues its role as a sort of democratic meeting place for generations past, present and future. Possessions are disposed for a myriad of reasons and there are a myriad of reasons a buyer will want to be the next owner.

Leonard Joel is where the prosaic, the rare, the functional and the luxurious are celebrated week in, week out. It is where those who believe that objects – no matter their monetary value – tell the ongoing story of our cultural evolution.

It’s where pieces of our history – from an advertising sign from a 1950s suburban milk bar to a rare jewel once worn by a Romanoff – can emerge from the shadows to shine anew for their next custodian.

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Acknowledgements

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A CHINOISERIE STYLE LACQUERED CABINET ON STAND 20TH CENTURY Sold for $11,590 Classic Furniture & Objects Auction May 2015

Thank You

The Joel Family, in particular, Warren Joel.

Interviewees: Richard Barassi, Marie-Laure Claisse, Brendan Davies, Jaci Foti-Lowe, Norman Rosenblatt.

And Bryce Adams, Angelina Barber, Mark Fraser, David Hinchcliffe, Anne-Marie Kiely, William Luke, Roger McIlroy, Stephen Mould, Rod North, Professor Jeffrey D. Stilwell, David Thomas, Zelma Warne.

All Leonard Joel staff past and present, with special thanks to Chiara Curcio, John D’Agata, Julie Foster, Olivia Fuller, Anna Grassham, Toby Lennox- Hilton, Summer Masters, Claire Mazzone, Bethany McGougan, Hannah Ryan, Maria Rossi, Kim Soep, Sophie Ullin.

– Writer: Ray Gill Publication Editor: Nicole Kenning Editor: Christian Cox – Designer: Liz Cox, studiomono.co Photographers: Adam Obradović, Joe Hammond, Andrew Burn Researchers: Olivia Mazzone, Kim Soep © Leonard Joel 2019. All rights reserved.

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Image Credits

Title Page A FRENCH PORCELAIN TEAPOT Late 19th Century Sold for $15,860 Classic Furniture, Objects & Design Auction June 2012 Contents Page (Left to Right) A SILVER HORIZONTAL SUNDIAL-COMPASS MICHAEL BUTTERFIELD, Early 18th century Sold for $6,200 Asian Art, Classic Furniture & Objects Auction October 2016 GEORGE LAMBERT (1873–1930) Figure Drawing c. 1910 (detail) pencil on paper Sold for $1,736 The Decorative Arts Collection of James Fairfax AC September 2017 A LARGE CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE VASE WITH RUYI LUGS Sold for $15,860 Classic Furniture, Objects & Collectables Auction June 2014 AN IMPORTANT 19TH CENTURY FLORENTINE MARBLE STATUE DEPICTING ARIADNE ON THE PANTHER SIGNED F. VICHI, FIRENZE AFTER THE ORIGINAL

BY JOHANN HEINRICH VON DANNECKER (1758–1841) Sold for $34,160 The Graham Geddes Collection September 2012

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AN ETRUSCAN REVIVAL GOLD SUITE Sold for $26,040 Jewels Auction November 2017

A LOOSE KASHMIR BLUE SAPPHIRE Sold for $51,240 Fine Jewels Auction June 2016 AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY FRENCH FLOCKED PAPIER MÂCHÉ BULLDOG Sold for $1,098 The Objects & Collectables Auction November 2012 GUIDO DROCCO & FRANCO MELLO ‘CACTUS’ COAT STAND FOR GUFRAM LIMITED EDITION, 1303/2000 Designed 1972–1986 limited edition, 2000 Sold for $5,952 Modern Design Auction April 2018 Page 8–9 FORNASETTI ‘ADAM & EVE’ SET OF TWENTY FOUR PLATES (detail) Designed in 1954 Sold for $9,150 Modern Design Auction April 2016 Page 20 A FRENCH SINGING BIRD CLOCK c. 1900 Sold for $8,680 The Hose Collection of Clocks June 2018 Page 21 Spanish School (possibly early 18th century) Portrait of a Lady (detail) oil on canvas (1 of 2) Sold for $36,600 Sunday Fine Art Auction October 2011

GRANT FEATHERSTON EXPO MARK II SOUND CHAIR Designed 1967 Sold $14,640 Modern Design Auction June 2014 PAGE 28 WORLD MAP, ORBIS TERRAE COMPENDIOSA DESCRIPTIO. RUMOLD MERCATOR (1545–99), DATED 1587 (c. 1619) (detail) Sold for $2,976 Australiana & Exploration History Auction May 2019 PaGe 29 MIRKA MORA (1928–2018) Untitled Mural (detail) mixed media Sold for $96,100 Courtesy William Mora Galleries The Magical Studio of Mirka Mora Auction March 2019 PAGE 44 A LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE MEISSEN SCHNEEBALLEN EWER c. 1870 Sold for $17,080 Classic Furniture, Objects & Collectables Auction June 2014 PAGE 45 A TIBETO-CHINESE GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A BODHISATTVA QING DYNASTY, c. 18th century Sold for $31,720 Asian Art, Classic Furniture & Objects Auction May 2017 The David Bromley Auction

PAGE 52 Wei Dong (b. 1968) Spring Outing I 1999 (detail) watercolour Sold for $12,200 Sunday Art Auction May 2011 Page 53 Rupert Bunny (1864–1947) Une Nuit de Canicule (detail) oil on canvas Sold for $1,250,000 Australian, British, New Zealand & European Historical Paintings Auction November 1988 PAGE 72 JOHN BRACK (1920–99) The Umbrellas 1977 conté on paper Sold for $18,600 © Helen Brack Fine Art Auction March 2019 PAGE 73 A VICTORIAN LOCKET BY HARRY EMANUEL OF LONDON Sold for $6,710 The Fine Jewellery Auction March 2014 The David Bromley Auction PAGE 80 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (c. 1910–96) Desert Flowers 1995 (detail) acrylic on canvas © Emily K Kngwarreye/ Copyright Agency, 2019 Sold for $29,760 The Thomas Vroom Collection February 2017

PAGE 81 ANGUS O’CALLAGHAN (b. 1922) Princes Bridge, Evening (detail) digital print on archival rag paper A/P Sold for $11,590 Modern + Traditional Auction July 2013 PAGE 109–110 RICK AMOR (b. 1948) The Night 1995 (detail) oil on canvas © Rick Amor/Copyright Agency 2019 Sold for $35,380 Fine Art Auction December 2013 PAGE 112 POUL HENNINGSEN (1894–1967) AN ARTICHOKE LIGHT (detail) Designed 1958 Manufactured by Louis Poulsen, Denmark c. 1990 Sold for $13,420 Modern Design Auction October 2012 PAGE 113 PATRICIA PICCININI (b. 1965) Cyclepups: Firestarter 2005 (detail) fibreglass, automotive paint, leather and stainless steel Courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney Sold for $29,760 Fine Art Auction September 2016

PAGE 121 BANKSY (b. 1974) Love is in the Air 2003 (detail) screenprint 76/500 Sold for $23,560 Prints & Multiples Auction April 2019 PAGE 132–133 JACOB MARREL (1614–81) A Vanitas Still Life With Parrot (detail) oil on canvas Sold for $48,800 Fine Art Auction December 2015 Pages 138–139 A COMPLETE MAP OF THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT EMANUEL BOWEN (1693–1767), LONDON, 1744 (detail) Sold for $4,216 Australiana & Exploration History Auction May 2019 Pages 140 A PAIR OF WEDGWOOD JASPER WARE CANOPIC JARS c. 1866 Sold for $14,880 International Design & Applied Arts Auction October 2017 All sold for prices are inclusive of buyers’ premium at the time of auction.

The David Bromley Auction PAGE 116–117 The Hub General Store

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PAGE 120 Michael Zavros (b. 1974) Springfall White 2006 (detail) Courtesy the artist and Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane Sold for $24,400 An Important Collection of Contemporary Art May 2014

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