NEW DIRECTION FOR ART DEALER ROB GOULD, $6-8 MILLION COLLECTION UP FOR AUCTION


Prominent Melbourne art dealer, Rob Gould, is making a bold career move with a shift in focus towards contemporary art. A significant portion of his private collection and gallery stock will be offered for auction at Deutscher + Hackett in Sydney on Wednesday 15 March.

Paintings by blue-chip Modern Australian artists, some of which have not been seen on the market in over 30 years, will be offered for sale ahead of the shift to new premises in Collingwood which will feature a stable of predominantly contemporary artists represented in the primary market.

Iconic paintings by Sidney Nolan, Charles Blackman, John Olsen, John Perceval, Rosalie Gascoigne and Albert Tucker are among the 72 lots from Gould’s private collection and stock from Gould Galleries with a total estimated value of $6,000,000-8,000,000.

A core group of strong figurative post-war artists is led by Ned Kelly, Outlaw 1955 by Sidney Nolan – first owned by Kym Bonython and later one of the key works of Heide’s major 2006 exhibition, Unmasked: Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly 1950-1990. This desirably fresh and well-pedigreed painting has been hanging in Gould’s lounge room at his South Yarra home and has the potential to push through the $2million mark at auction with estimates of $1,200,000-1,800,000.

Fifteen further works by Sidney Nolan reflect Rob Gould’s particular passion for this artist as well as others associated with Heide from the 1940s and the later 1950s Antipodean movement.

Rob Gould said of the collection, “After 36 years of exhibiting both historical and contemporary art in South Yarra, I feel it’s time for a change to better reflect my personal aesthetic. Our new Collingwood space will have a stronger focus on the promotion of contemporary art and the sale of this collection with D+H represents the beginning of this new chapter.”

Deutscher + Hackett’s Executive Director, Chris Deutscher said “The Gould Collection includes a particularly strong, museum quality representation of key post-war modern Australian artists, represented by iconic works with prestigious provenance and exhibition histories. It is rare to see so many important 1950s and ‘60s works offered in the context of one auction.”

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SIDNEY NOLAN
Ned Kelly – Outlaw, 1955
enamel paint and oil on composition board
91.0 x 71.0 cm
EST: $1,200,000 – 1,800,000