As Menzies Art Brands Prepares to Auction a Warhol;

A New South Wales Museum Buys a Cezanne

The first phase of Australian art auctions held in late August suggested a softening market at least for works of Australian art. Now Menzies Art Brands will shoot for A$12-16 million in a September sale taking place Thursday and Friday that features a Warhol portrait of Picasso, a Bonnard and major work from an indigenous artist. Menzies Tim Abdallah describes the importance of the Bonnard:

“Pierre Bonnard has been highly influential to artists all over the world including a number of prominent Australian artists including William Robinson and Margaret Olley,” Mr Abdallah said.

In other signs that the Aussie art market is far from dormant, The Art Gallery of New South Wales just bought a A$16.2 million Cezanne landscape. The picture is one of only three Cezannes in the country.