LONG JACK PHILLIPUS TJAKAMARRA

As a formative member of the desert painting movement who began painting as early as 1970 you would expect the early boards created by Long Jack Phillipus to be highly prized by collectors. Yet his best results are relatively modest compared to those of many of his contemporaries from the early Papunya period and, given the growth in market values since the beginning of the new millennium, it is surprising that they were set as long ago as 1998. Deutscher Menzies began holding specialist Aboriginal art sales in the following year, no doubt emboldened by records set for this artist in both their April and August sales. While the $90,500 record set for Kangaroo Story 1971 in April and the $63,000 for Children's Kadaitcha Dreaming 1972 that followed seem modest by today’s standards, they were very impressive results at the time. They stood in fact as the 11th and 21st highest prices ever achieved for any Aboriginal paintings at the end of 1998.

In June of the following year Possum Man and Possum Woman Travelling c. 1973 from the collection of Faye and Gordon Nelson was offered for sale, again through Deutscher Menzies (Lot 56). This very large work on board measuring 122.5 x 93 cm, only just achieved its low presale estimate of $50,000 when sold for $52,900 yet this and the two results the preceding year stand still as the artist’s 3 best results to this day and make 1998, during which 8 works were offered of which 7 sold, and 1999 when 5 sold of 7 offered the artist’s highest grossing years with total sales of $226,410 and $105,225 respectively.

It was not until 2006 that his paintings would fair anything like as well in the secondary market. In the intervening six years his clearance rate was a very poor 50% with 17 works of 34 offered selling for a total during the period of just $185,551. However while total sales were low at just $67,317 in 2006 nine sold out of ten offered thereby vastly improving his overall success rate at auction.

This improvement continued in 2007 when nine works were offered and, although only five sold, Hunting 1971 went for $38,400 achieving his 4th highest result to date and Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa 1974, a mammoth 197 x 171 cm. canvas, achieved his 5th highest at $36,000. Both were offered in Sotheby’s July sale (Lots 43 and 46). Long Jack’s third best result in 2007 was for Waru (Rock Wallaby) at Tjunti 1973 which sold for $13,200. The work was sold through Sotheby’s in July (Lot 180) with a presale estimate of $10,000-15,000 having failed to sell at Sotheby’s in 2005 while estimated at a higher $15,000-18,000. These results brought his total sales in 2007 to $726,043 with 49 paintings sold of 81 offered, and saw his average price increase by 5% from $14,098 to $14,817. 2008 however was a different story altogether. With only 3 works on offer, the failure of the only major work, a 60.5 x 51 cm. early board with a Stuart Art Centre consignment number, left his sales for the year at just $5,246 thereby resulting in his rank amongst all artists of the movement dropping from 39th to 42nd. Long Jack is still alive and is therefore still listed as the 12th most successful living artists despite the fact that he has not painted for several years.

Looking at all of his works that have been offered for sale since they first appeared in 1994 provides a very salutary lesson for those with a poor grasp of the market. Overall 17 of the 18 paintings sold for more than $10,000 were works produced between 1971 and 1974, the only exception being an uninspiring untitled work produced in 1983 for Papunya Tula measuring 150.5 x 90cm. This surprisingly sold for $14,340 against a presale estimate of $8,000-12,000 at Christies in August 2005 (Lot 7). Yet the point is made. The market has shown supreme disinterest in Long Jack’s more stilted and iconographic 1980’s and 1990’s works and even amongst his early to mid 1970’s paintings many have failed to excite serious collectors.

Long Jack Phillipus deserves recognition as a formative influence amongst the desert painters at Papunya. Although relatively prolific throughout a painting career that has lasted well beyond three decades his most desirable works are limited, and only rarely appear for sale. I would expect these to fluctuate in value in line with the market however. Unless some really spectacular early paintings are unearthed, his record prices are likely to remain unchallenged despite having been set more than a decade ago. That is unless these same works appear once more at auction some time in the future. His later works fail to satisfy and have missed the market aesthetic which has driven sales of Papunya men’s art throughout the 1990’s and in to the new millennium. These are unlikely to value significantly and are better avoided by collectors more concerned about the value of their investment than their attraction to the work itself.