ALEC MINGELMANGANU

Alec Mingelmanganu’s earliest works were made for ceremonies and usually discarded after use. As such it is highly unlikely that the ochres on these early works, if even available for sale, would be stable enough to make these highly desirable as collectable works of art. However, he did produce small works for sale on canvas, boards, engraved wood and on bark that were sold through Aboriginal Traditional Arts in the late 1970s. These works are either in public galleries, or the owners do not wish to part with them as very few have come onto the market.

Only 30 of his works have come up for sale. Nine of these works did not sell, each for different reasons. One bore an estimate of $250,000-350,000 in Sotheby’s July 2005 sale. This was the largest estimate ever placed on one of his works by more than $100,000. Another, offered at Sotheby’s in July 2001 lacked the charm of other comparable works. Another was a very different story indeed. First offered through Lawson~Menzies in their November 2006 sale (Lot 9), this unusual bark painting had been discovered in the Perth home of a doctor who had worked for several decades amongst the Aboriginal people of the Kimberley. Having been authenticated as a work by Minglemanganu, it sold for $38,400. No doubt sensing an opportunity to pull the rug from under their competitor’s feet, Sotheby’s offered the buyer the opportunity to re-offer the work just eight months later with an estimate of $80,000-120,000 (Lot 31). It proved too much to resist and the bark sold for $102,000, a hefty 265% increase in value less commission. One can only guess the circumstances that induced the new owner to offer the work through Sotheby’s once more in October 2008 (Lot 51) carrying an estimate of $90,000-120,000. In any event, by then the market peak had collapsed, and it failed to sell. Similarly, the artist's record-setting work Wandjina c1980 which sold in 2002 was reoffered in 2010 with estimates commensurate with its previous sale price of $244,500. The work failed to attract a buyer, despite another Wandjina work selling in the same year for the not insignificant sum of $84,000.

Mingelmanganu began painting on canvas in 1979, producing works for his solo show in Perth in 1980 and tragically died the following year. The majority of these exhibition works are in state galleries, leaving few in the public domain. His Wandjinas are usually striking with iconic power and, being rare, generally provoke spirited bidding on those few occasions when they come up for sale at auction. His highest price is $244,500, which was paid for a 118 x 90 cm, 1980 canvas. This was double the high estimate in Sotheby’s June 2002 sale. The sale remains the record price paid for a Wandjina painting on the secondary market and sets Mingelmanganu as the most desirable artist working in this style. The following year, Sotheby’s sold a slightly smaller canvas from the same period, within its estimate achieving the second-highest price of $175,500 for one of his works at that time. This price was, however, transcended when Sotheby's sold a Wandjina on bark from the collection of Dutch supermarket owner Thomas Vroom in London in 2015. Measuring 123 x 48 cm, and estimated at GBP20,000-30,000, the work achieved GBP93,750 or $187,069.

Though other artists such as Charlie Numbulmoore fetch increasingly high prices, Mingelmanganu is unique in that, other than the Vroom bark, his most prized pieces were created on canvas. The scale that this medium allows adds certain potency to his images, recreating the vibrancy Wandjina images hold when painted in their original environment; grand scale paintings on the walls of caves in the Kimberley.

Another Mingelmanganu bark painting sold for $38,400 in 2006 and Sotheby's achieved a price of GBP62,500 ($AUD110,769) for a bark in 2018. It was for a time really canvas works that represented a 'firmly established blue-chip investment' Dedman 2006: 454), and, being rare, these remain difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, a small iconic work on canvas (50x39cm) from the estate of Lady Mary Nolan failed to sell when offered by Bonhams with a presale estimate of $40,000 – $60,000 in November 2017, later selling in June 2018 for $30,500 with a lowered expectation of $25,000 – $35,000. Conversely in 2019, Cooee Art MarketPlace sold an excellent example of a Mingelmanganu bark for $96,000 against an estimate of $60,000 – $80,000.

Minglemanganu is one artist whose works are highly desired but extremely rare and very few owners are willing to part with their prized works. Expect any work that makes it to the secondary market to garner major attention.

© Adrian Newstead