Question Marks over Rover Artwork

Interesting article below about the withdrawal of a Rover Thomas Painting from a recent Auction. Any time this happens it will always make the national press due to the hysteria regarding possible fake paintings in the industry.


I think it is important to remember that this by no means means the painting wasn't a Rover Thomas artwork and I also believe there is an enormous amount of unfounded scaremongering regarding fake artworks within the industry, regardless of the legitimacy of this individual case
I plan to expand on this further in the near future but I think it is important for people within the Art industry to not fall victim to the sensationalism the same way many other people do with more mainstream industries or issues.

Auctioneers withdraw Rover painting over concerns at listing

Corrie Perkin

AUCTION house Lawson-Menzies yesterday withdrew from sale a painting by indigenous artist Rover Thomas after concerns that important information had been overlooked in the auction catalogue.

The 1983 painting, Bedford Station, was to have been auctioned last night at Lawson-Menzies's sale of contemporary Australian and Aboriginal art in Sydney. As reported in The Australian yesterday, art experts have expressed unease that a reference to Melbourne art dealer Neil McLeod's ownership of the work did not appear in the L-M catalogue.

This was despite an entry in the June 2000 auction catalogue of L-M's sister auction house Deutscher-Menzies that stated the painting was "acquired directly from the artist by Neil McLeod at Connie's wash house (Rover's sister- in-law) at Warmun in 1985".

The L-M catalogue entry for Bedford Station - estimated at between $60,000 and $80,000 - states: "Painted in 1983 at Warmun, one of three works acquired from Connie's wash house (Rover's sister-in-law)."

Mr McLeod, a photographer, artist and collector, has worked with Aboriginal artists for years. Some, like Thomas, stayed with him at his studio in the Dandenongs in Melbourne's outer east, including Jack Dale and David Mowaljarlai.

Over the past 18 months, The Australian has reported industry concerns about some artworks painted by Thomas in June 1995, during a visit believed to be of between one and two weeks' duration to Mr McLeod's studio.

Art specialists say they are unsettled by brush strokes and painting style, colours, and details of how some works were acquired. Mr McLeod could not be contacted. It is believed he befriended Thomas in the 1980s when the artist first started painting on boards and canvas.

Last night's auction reaped $2,715,600, including buyers' premium, with 122 of the 137 lots sold. This brought in $15,153,480 to the auction house this week when combined with Wednesday's Deutscher-Menzies Galleries auction which included the $6.9 million sale of Pablo Picasso's Sylvette (1954).

In total, the two auctions sold 231 of 263 works catalogued.

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