BARBARA WEIR

Although she began painting as early as 1992, Barbara Weir’s career began in earnest in 1997, in the company of her mother, Minnie Pwerle, and her cousin (tribal sister) Gloria Petyarre. Prior to this, she was principally considered a batik artist. Despite the origins of Utopia art in the production of silk batik lengths, these have not proved to have a resale market other than those created by Emily Kngwarreye whose 1987 Batik depicting the Site of Urapuntja sold for $19,550 at Sotheby's, in November 1998, (Lot 160). Barbara’s 1988 batik, the only one offered for sale at auction to date, failed to find a buyer in Deutscher-Menzies June 2000 sale (Lot 319) despite an estimate of just $1,800-2,500. In what is the most extraordinary case of unjustified prejudice against an artist’s work, Sotheby’s have failed to offer even one single work by Barbara Weir, despite her prominence in the primary market. Her solo exhibitions here and overseas have been outstanding successes, and her Grass Seed Dreaming paintings measuring 120 x 180 cm have sold relatively regularly in Mbantua Gallery, Flinders Lane, and Fireworks Gallery in Brisbane for around $15,000

Amongst her top 10 results, all have been set since May 2005 when Lawson-Menzies achieved a record price of $21,600 for Wild Bush Grasses 2001 (Lot 36). Since then this result has been equalled and beaten by works offered in November 2005 and May 2007 by Lawson~Menzies. Her current record stands at $31,200 for a 2003 rendition of Grass Seed Dreaming measuring 240 x 150 cm, which far exceeded its presale estimate of $20,000-22,000. Nevertheless, the last time a sale result was amongst her top 10 was 2007 and only one recorded sale since then (2009) is listed amongst her top 20. Unfortunately, her records are dominated by smaller works at lower price estimates. Her lower prices include a high proportion of works created prior to 2001. However, her early works can do well, and one of these achieved her fourth highest price to date when sold at Elders Fine Art in November 2005 for $16,650 (Lot 92). Generally, Barbara Weir's prices tend to increase with size, and there is a premium paid for more recent works, which tend to be more highly charged with colour and have greater appeal than her early paintings. Her clearance rate has been low. However, this is predictable for an artist whose work is so readily available in the primary market. Her My Mother’s Country paintings are greatly undervalued, as these works in the 120 x 180 cm size range currently sell for up to $40,000 in galleries on those rare occasions when they appear. Her more gestural Grass Seed Dreamings may currently be judged unfairly against Gloria Petyarre’s Bush Medicine Leaf works but this is unlikely to continue indefinitely. As Weir gains greater recognition and emerges as a major artist and inheritor of Emily’s and Minnie’s mantle, the very best of her paintings are set to increase rapidly in value. The widespread re-evaluation and recognition of Dacou Gallery provenance, which Sotheby’s has generally rejected when selecting Emily Kngwarreye’s paintings for sale, will also help in ensuring the other artists it has represented, including Minnie Pwerle and Barbara Weir, and will gain greater and greater recognition in the secondary market as time passes.

© Adrian Newstead