An article by Peter Fish in the Sydney Morning Herald discussing the highlights of the November 2007 auction season.
Quoted from the article:
For its part, Sotheby’s has not let much out of the bag on its Aboriginal art sale, although for the first time in a while there is a sprinkling of Oceanic works as well as a host of dot paintings. But, while there will undoubtedly be some important works by the big names, Sotheby’s generally focuses on its annual July sale to show its best works.
Despite a Victorian court case over fake Rover Thomas paintings allegedly produced by a Melbourne couple, Lawson-Menzies is apparently confident of the bona fides of a Thomas work that is a highlight of its sale. The work, Bungullgi, from 1989 – just before the artist’s triumphant inclusion in the Venice Biennale in 1990 – has expectations of $500,000 or more. Provenance includes it being commissioned by the dealer and Aboriginal arts patron Mary Macha and exhibited at the Centre Cultural Caixa de Girona in Spain in 2004, the auctioneer says.
The painting depicts countryside near the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia. While the work may draw on Argyle for inspiration its groundings are in the iron-oxide-rich Pilbara region – where BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto scoop massive bites of iron-ore-rich rock into trains that rumble up to the coast for export.
