A collector's guide
How to assess and build the value of an Aboriginal artwork
Provenance is the documented life of an artwork: the record of how it was made, who has owned it, where it has been shown, and the attention it has received from galleries, museums, and scholars. It is one of the most important factors in establishing both authenticity and value in the Aboriginal art market, and one of the least understood.
Provenance is not a fixed attribute. It is built. The Index of Provenance below was developed by Adrian Newstead as a scoring framework for assessing where a work sits and identifying where its provenance can be strengthened. It has been refined over forty-five years of practice and is the tool Adrian uses in his own collection advisory work.
| Marker | Points |
|---|---|
| Bought directly from the artist with documentary evidence prior to 1985 | 2 |
| Bought through an art centre | 3 |
| Bought through a recognised established wholesaler | 1 |
| Marker | Points |
|---|---|
| Certificate of authenticity from an art centre | 2 |
| Certificate of authenticity from a recognised established wholesaler | 1 |
| Photograph of the artist with the painting | 1 |
| Photograph of the artist working on the painting | 2 |
| Folio of photographs or video showing the painting being created | 3 |
| Marker | Points |
|---|---|
| Sold and documented by an exhibiting gallery | 2 |
| Sold and documented by a retail non-exhibiting gallery or wholesaler | 1 |
| Included in a documented and curated group exhibition prior to sale | 1 |
| Included in a solo exhibition of the artist's work | 2 |
| Illustrated on the invitation or in a gallery catalogue | 1 |
| Marker | Points |
|---|---|
| Included in a regional touring exhibition | 1 |
| Included in a national touring exhibition | 2 |
| Included in an international touring exhibition | 3 |
| Illustrated in a touring exhibition catalogue | 2 |
| Marker | Points |
|---|---|
| Illustrated in a book | 2 |
| Illustrated in a magazine article or review | 1 |
| Marker | Points |
|---|---|
| Lent to or de-accessioned from a regional gallery or equivalent institution | 1 |
| Lent to or de-accessioned from a State gallery or equivalent institution | 2 |
| Lent to or de-accessioned from a National gallery or equivalent institution | 3 |
| Marker | Points |
|---|---|
| Sold from an important private collection | 2 |
| Currently offered for sale or purchased from an elite gallery | 2 |
| Previously offered for sale by a major auction house | 1 |
| Currently offered for sale by a major auction house in its premier specialist sale | 2 |
| Currently offered for sale by a major auction house in its Tier Two or mixed sale | 1 |
The maximum score for a work of the highest provenance is approximately 20 points. Major auction houses include Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonham's internationally; Deutscher and Hackett and Menzies in Australia.
A work bought directly from the artist, or from a dealer without recognised standing, and not bought through a reputable gallery or art centre, will not interest the secondary market unless it has considerable age and genuine aesthetic quality. Works created after 1985 sitting in this category are extremely difficult to sell.
Works in this category should be well documented and may have been purchased through a recognised gallery or dealer. They represent a reasonable investment if held long enough to appreciate. Any improvement to provenance will enhance value.
A good collector or sophisticated investor will seek to ensure the majority of their collection sits at this level or above. Works here are far more readily accepted by the secondary market.
Works of high pedigree. Art in this category will always sell for a premium and will be highly sought after by serious collectors.
Works of museum quality. Even a collector of considerable means and ambition will be fortunate to own one.
In the mid-2000s, a collection of Wandjina paintings was offered to Adrian for valuation by the sister of a terminally ill doctor who had worked in Kimberley Aboriginal communities for more than twenty years. Among them was a large bark painting in a style soon identified as the work of Alec Minglemanganu, an artist whose small number of surviving works are now highly sought after.
Rated against the Index when it was first offered to auction in November 2006, the work would have scored just two points. Cold. The painting sold at Lawson-Menzies for $38,400. Having entered a Tier One auction and sold to a serious collector, it was nominally worth four points. Now Tepid. Persuaded to consign to Sotheby's less than a year later, the work sold for $102,000 in July 2007 — a profit of nearly $50,000 after costs. Now well into Warm. The new owner subsequently lent the work to an institution. The painting is now Hot property, and it is only a matter of time before it enters a major collecting institution.
Another work in the same Lawson-Menzies auction was an early Papunya board, purchased for ten dollars at a garage sale in Beaumaris in the early 1980s and sitting at the back of a bric-a-brac shop in Mentone, Victoria, ever since. The work was almost identical to several recorded in Geoffrey and James Bardon's definitive book on the Western Desert art movement.
Given the absence of provenance, the owner commissioned an examination by conservator Robyn Sloggett of the Ian Potter Centre for Conservation in Melbourne. Under UV light, concealed iconographic imagery was revealed, consistent with work created between 1971 and 1972. The 71 by 43 cm painting sold for $72,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. Featured in newspapers and art periodicals, it then toured in Masterworks from the Lawson-Menzies Collection through regional galleries in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Its provenance is no longer in question.
Adrian applies this framework in his valuation and collection-advisory work. For the wider picture, read A Dealer's Guide to Buying Aboriginal Art, or browse the stockroom.