25 May 2015
Queensland artist Hugh Sawrey's famous canvas, the Four Deuces, soared beyond expectations to make a new record for his works at auction in Adelaide this week.
Its hammer price was $146,000 and, to auctioneer Jim Elder's great satisfaction, the Queensland painting is going back to Queensland. It has been purchased by a private collector.
The last time this work came onto the market, some 30 years ago, it sold through the same Adelaide auctioneer for $42,000. Sawrey's action record, however, was $105,000 for a work sold in Melbourne ten years ago.
The Four Deuces was always expected to break the record, but Mr Elder had tipped about $120,000 as the anticipated price.
Hugh Sawrey was one of Australia's most beloved outback painters and also, with R.M. Williams, one of the men who founded the Stockman's Hall of Fame.
A decade before his death in 1999, he was awarded a C.B.E. for his contribution to art.
This record-breaking work is a big, sprawling 137x132cm oil painting of hot and languid Queenslanders gathered in the pub, some drinking at the bar, others grouped around a round table playing poker. And there is that winning hand, The Four Deuces, being presented right there on the table.
A moment is magically captured and this well-wrought oil has become acclaimed as one of the artist’s great masterpieces.
Samela Harris
