Sotheby’s Australia is holding its Winter sale featuring a $1.2m Arthur Boyd work that it hopes will attract the so-called Masterpiece buyer. Boyd’s Bridegroom series is valued in a similar way within his body of work as Ned Kelly works are in for Sydney Nolan. Last year, a Nolan Ned Kelly painting set an Australian record at $5.4m:

The mid-sized board, The Frightened Bridegroom, will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s Important Australian and International Art auction in Sydney on August 23, one of a tight, 67-lot sale that includes an etching by the late Lucian Freud.

“The market right now for icons is there,” Sotheby’s chairman, Geoffrey Smith, said.

Despite the famous Boyd family name, works by the artist, who died in 1999, do not generally achieve the top prices collectors pay for artists such as Sidney Nolan and Brett Whiteley.

But Mr Smith said the provenance and rarity of this work should ensure it broke the record of $1.1m, including buyer’s premium, paid at Christies in 2001 for Boyd’s Bridegroom Waiting for His Bride to Grow Up.

Sotheby’s Grooms Arthur Boyd Work for $1.2m Sale (The Australian)