A GREAT DISCOVERY
DISCOVERY OF ABORIGINAL ART IN THE WESTERN WORLD
The flowering and spread of Aboriginal art took place in the 1980s and 1990s. Major galleries in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra increasingly held exhibitions inpartly or entirely devoted to Aboriginal art. Then, the first state institutions and banks started acquiring copies for their collections. This, in turn, attracted the interest of investors and international galleries. Exhibitions in major international galleries were critically acclaimed. In 1990, Aboriginal artists Rover Thomas and Trevor Nicholls presented Australia at the Venice Biennale. This was a turning point where Aboriginal art began to be seen as contemporary art rather than ethnographic, primitive, local or traditional art. During this period, many Aboriginal-led art centers – led by artists and supported by non-Aboriginal experts – were established in remote Aboriginal communities.
As the second millennium dawned, both sales and prices of Aboriginal paintings increased dramatically, peaking in 2007 when Emily Kame Kngwarreye's "Earth's Creation" sold for over a million dollars and Clifford Possum's "Warlugulong" was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for a record price of $2.4 million.
The first auctions of Aboriginal art were held on its native continent in 1997 - 2009, then in 2015 - 2018 they moved to London, and at the end of 2019 they came to the United States.
Like many other sectors, the boom years for Aboriginal art waned with the global financial crisis in 2008. Sales dropped, galleries closed and changes to superannuation - preventing Australians from investing in art - only added to the pain.
Fortunately, the second decade of the new millennium has seen a solid recovery with a steady increase in interest both in Australia and overseas. Fascinating new artists have emerged and much has also been done to reassure buyers about the origins of the art they buy and the ethics of the industry.
Aboriginal paintings have gained recognition around the world. Exhibitions in galleries in New York, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Amsterdam are constantly selling out, and the renowned auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's run special sections of Aboriginal art and devote separate auctions to it.
On December 13, 2019 in New York, Shoteby's held the first auction of paintings originating from Aboriginal traditions (not held in Australia or Europe). Of all 33 objects sold, the highest value ($596,000) was achieved by Emily Kame Kingwarreye's painting "Summer Celebration" from 1991, representing traditional Australian dot painting. It is a large-format work symbolizing the vastness and colors of Australia's constantly blooming landscape. For 475 thousand A self-portrait by Gordon Benett (an icon of postcolonial postmodernism) with the subtitle "But I Always Wanted to Be One of The Good Guys" was sold for $1,000, thus setting a new sales record for this artist.
Source: https://artbidy.com/pl/historie/aukcje-malarstwo-aborygenow