Rare painting by Russell Drysdale could sell for more than $3m at Melbourne auction
Maggie Raworth, Nine News, 5th November 2020
A rare Australian painting - one of just a handful in existence - will soon go under the hammer, with the Melbourne auction house selling the work estimating it will fetch millions.
Painted by Russell Drysdale in 1941, artwork Going to the Pictures is up for sale for the first time since it was purchased almost 80 years ago. With an estimated value of between $2.5-3.5 million, it is expected the art will set a new Drysdale record.
"I went very weak at the knees and I couldn't believe it...it's a very rare thing to appear on the Australian art market and it has been recognised by top end collectors," Chris Deutscher, from art auction house Deutscher and Hackett told 9News.
The painting shows an old car at the ready and a dressed-up family posing in drought-affected Albury. Mr Deutscher said Drysdale's inspiration for these outback subjects came very much from being a jackaroo on the land and working in Albury in the early 1940s. In 2017, the much later Grandma's Sunday Walk fetched $2.98 million at auction.
Going to the Pictures was initially purchased in 1942 by well-known art critic Clive Turnbull and it stayed in the family ever since. However, it was regularly hung in major galleries including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of NSW. Now it is the most expensive item up for auction at Deutscher and Hackett. But those "in the know" claim a slice of history like this really is priceless.
"It's just one of those searing images that's very hard to forget once you've seen it," Mr Deutscher said