Brett Whiteley’s ceramics are among his rarest and most delicately lyrical works of art. Here the artist has hand-painted and glazed upon a ceramic dish fine sprigs of blossom, possibly peach or plum. The artist’s signature indigo blue sings against the minimal ceramic background and the circular, almost calligraphic composition is beautifully resolved.

These exquisite watercolours from the early 1820s were painted by an unknown artist, ‘M.H.’ and were executed most likely in England from specimens brought back from the early days of the Sydney colony. Works associated with Australia from the first quarter of the 19th century are extremely rare. 

Blackbox is a small version of the installation “The Other Side of Midnight” a circle of 300 cm diameter where the front side features over 2000 hand painted stainless steel butterflies and the other side features insects. The installation is viewed in a dark room, lit by ultraviolet light projectors. Blackbox makes the circle glow in the dark and gives to it an impression of 3 dimensions. 

Zadok Ben-David is an internationally acclaimed London-based artist. Born in Yemen and raised in Israel, he studied at London’s St. Martin’s School of art, where he also taught from 1977-1982. In 1988 he was selected to exhibit as Israel’s representative at the Venice Biennale.

Private collection, Sydney

This image was originally printed by Max Dupain as the templates for a set of limited edition photographs which were reproduced in a folio for the Royal Blind Society. These three original works were among the artist’s favourites. Blue Gum Forest, Grose Valley, a highly evocative and gentle image of the Australian landscape demonstrates Dupain’s abilities at capturing mood with the use of raking, cinematic light.

Gentle images of the Australian landscape, such as Blue Gum Forest, Grose Valley, capture the atmospheric effects of evocative, cinematic light. Dupain believed that Australia should pursue its own modern culture of photography, rejecting outdated ideas about style and content. He wanted his country to preserve its rich cultural heritage through pictures, while incorporating new techniques and approaches to imaging.

Aubery Gibson Collection, Melbourne; Private collection, Sydney; Sotheby’s Australia, Fine Australian and International Paintings, Sydney, 26 August 2003, Lot 245; Private collection, Sydney

This fine James Gleeson dates from the early 1950s, a period when the artist was at the height of his surrealist skills. Blue Mosaic was originally in a famous private Melbourne collection prior to it’s auction several decades ago by Sotheby’s.