100% Sold | 130% Value
Over 3 hours of bidding sees 36 lots double their estimates 

Art Leven’s First Nations & Australian Fine Art Auction: Featuring the Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO & Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE, held on 19 May at Artspace, Woolloomooloo, marked a significant moment for the gallery’s new chapter in Woolloomooloo. Against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour and the Finger Wharf, the evening combined strong market performance with a palpable sense of occasion, drawing approximately 70 attendees from over 160 registered in-room bidders, while more than 500 viewers followed the sale online.

The auction achieved the coveted white glove status, with all 115 lots sold, delivering a 100% clearance rate by volume and 129% by value. By the close of the evening the sale had realised approximately $1.3 million including Buyer’s Premium. Eighty works sold above their low estimate, including 49 that exceeded their high estimate. While lengthy at three-and-a-half hours, the auction maintained momentum throughout, buoyed by an energetic atmosphere.

A total of 79 buyers participated, reflecting a broad and competitive collector base, though notably only four successful buyers came from overseas. The auction saw strong and remarkably even participation across all bidding channels throughout the evening. Twenty-four lots were secured by bidders in the room, 23 through telephone and absentee bidding, and 33 online, reflecting broad confidence across the market.

The undisputed highlight of the evening was the cover lot, Robert Campbell Jnr’s powerful historical painting Shooting the Blacks (Lot 6). Carrying an estimate of $35,000-$45,000, the work opened strongly before sustained bidding competition drove the final hammer to $80,000 ($100,000 including Buyer’s Premium), comfortably surpassing the artist’s previous auction benchmark of $59,000 hammer. Another standout result came from Jimmy Pike’s Untitled (Lot 37), which achieved $16,000 hammer ($20,000 including Buyer’s Premium) against an estimate of $4,000-$8,000. The result established a new auction high for the artist, exceeding the previous benchmark of $10,000 hammer. These results affirmed the growing institutional and collector recognition of historically significant First Nations works with strong provenance and exhibition histories.

Gloria Thancoupie’s Love Magic Egg (Lot 2) achieved $11,000 hammer ($13,750 including Buyer’s Premium) against an estimate of $3,000-$5,000, significantly surpassing the previous auction high for works from this series. As expected, works by Emily Kame Kngwarreye attracted fierce competition. Both works offered in the sale Untitled (Awelye) (Lot 5) selling for $28,000 hammer and Alhalkere (Lot 88) reaching $70,000 hammer, each doubling their estimates.

The most dramatic bidding battle of the evening centred on Ada Bird Petyarre’s Jurrukukuni (Boobook Owl) (Lot 84). Estimated conservatively at just $200-$300, the work ignited a prolonged bidding contest involving two online bidders, two telephone bidders and three participants in the room. After 28 bids, the 30cm figure finally sold for $5,000 hammer ($6,250 including Buyer’s Premium).

The atmosphere of the evening itself contributed significantly to the success of the sale. Artspace proved an elegant venue for the event, with harbour views providing a distinctly Sydney backdrop that complemented the significance of the Bashir and Shehadie collection. Guests enjoyed the sponsored wines from Mount Pleasant’s Love on Mount Pleasant Art Series, contributing to a convivial and celebratory tone that remained remarkably buoyant well into the evening.

Ultimately, the auction demonstrated the enduring appeal of carefully curated sales built around strong provenance, personal narratives and scholarly context. Rather than functioning simply as a conventional estate sale, the Bashir and Shehadie collection offered collectors insight into decades of deeply engaged and thoughtful collecting. The white glove result confirms not only the market strength of First Nations art, but also the increasing sophistication of buyers seeking works grounded in genuine historical and personal significance.