Capon’s anniversary gift to himself

BY NICOLE COOPER
The Art Gallery of New South Wales is set to part with two iconic pieces of Australian art in order to pay for Paul Cézanne’s Bords de la Marne.
The acquisition will coincide with the 30th anniversary of Edmund Capon’s appointment as director of the gallery.
Sotheby’s sale of Important Australian Art, to be held in Melbourne next Monday, will contain two paintings from the Art Gallery’s collection. The highlight, Brett Whiteley’s Balmoral, is estimated at $700,000 to $900,000. The second painting is John Perceval’s Pleasure Craft.
The suggestion to sell the works came from the original benefactor who bequeathed the paintings to the gallery 20 years ago.
“He was really interested in helping us acquire the Cézanne. We were not going to display this work and the donor suggested that we sell it,’ Mr Capon said. ‘[It was] very logical and very generous.”
The gallery has more than 50 Whiteleys in its collection. With the passage of time and with access to the Whiteley studio, Mr Capon said they have become of less use to the gallery.
“It is rare to sell Australian works of art to buy a French painting, having said that, every Australian artist would love to see a Cézanne on the wall,” he said.
Sotheby’s head of Australian paintings, Georgina Pemberton agrees.
“It’s terribly important to have a work of Cézanne,” Ms Pemberton said. “I think it’s something that Whiteley as a young artist would endorse, the fact that it’s so important for young Australian artists to go to galleries and look at this first hand and not have to look at reproductions.”
The current economic climate has made it tougher to raise the $16 million price tag for the French masterwork.
There has also been a correction in prices achieved in the past six months at art auctions. As a result, Pemberton said Sotheby’s estimates are significantly less than they would have been six months ago.
“The more conservative the estimate the more likely you’re going to get some more competitive bidders,” she said.
When asked if the Whiteley will fetch its asking price, Pemberton had this to say: “We’ve had a lot of interest already and we haven’t even opened our Sydney viewing.
‘We are certainly all behind it here, the team at Sotheby’s. It’s a great picture and it’s also going to a great cause which I think motivates us even more.”