Barry Humphries’ Sydney Art Collection To Go To Auction
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98 objects from Barry Humphries’ extensive art collection kept in his Sydney home will be available for auction next month, with almost 50 of them created by Humphries’ himself.
Although Humphries is most famous for his satirical characters Dame Enda Everage and Sir Les Patterson, he spent much of his life painting. His characters feature heavily in the collection, depicted in pen, crayon, and watercolour.
“These caricatures have the closest relationship with the characters he created,” his son Oscar Humphries told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Edna is a caricature of a provincial snobby housewife; she was a living character whereas these works are all static.
“They sort of unite Dad’s two selves and are clearly by someone who is both a comic and an artist. They are spot on, sharp and funny. They are Edna one-liners in visual form.”
The items have been priced in order to be accessible for fans, with estimates starting from $250 for works on paper.
Also included in the collection are photographs featuring Marlene Dietrich, Pattie Boyd, Joanna Lumley, and Kylie Minogue, with the latter signing her image “Dear Barry, Bottoms Up! Kisses Kylie x”.
Barry Humphries: Artist and Collector auction will be held in the Woollahra offices of Leonard Joel on June 3.
A complicated legacy
Humphries died in April 2023 following complications from hip surgery, leaving behind a complicated legacy in Australian entertainment.
He attracted controversy in 2016 following an interview in the Daily Telegraph where he called Caitlyn Jenner a “publicity-seeking ratbag”.
“I agree with Germaine [Greer],” he continued. “You’re a mutilated man, that’s all. Self-mutilation, what’s all this carry-on?”
He doubled down on the comments two years later, when he said the transgender movement was “a fashion”.
“How many different kinds of lavatory can you have?” he said. “And it’s pretty evil when it’s preached to children by crazy teachers.”
The comments led the Melbourne International Comedy Festival to remove his name from their major prize in 2019, which had been known as the Barry Award until that point.
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