Clearly, size doesn’t matter

A painting measuring just 22cm by William Dobell has sold this week at Auction just shy of $1M, lifting spirits across the market.
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Detail of William Dobell’s painting Woman in Restaurant (1934) which sold for nearly $1 million this week; supplied

Much has been decried about the state of a struggling commercial art sector, but if we are to take this week’s results from Sotheby’s Australia,  then perhaps the interesting in acquiring Australian art is more buoyant than reported.

The iconic auction house described their first Important Australian & International Art sale of the year was faced with ‘fiercely competitive bidding resulting in world auction records tumbling’. 

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina