OTTO PAREROULTJA

The comparison between the paintings of Albert Namatjira and Otto Pareroultja in recent art criticism has raised Pareroultja’s profile as a key figure in ‘transitional’ Aboriginal art (that is art presenting both Indigenous Australian and European influences). The surge of interest since the late 1980s is imbued with certain politics. Both Pareroultja and Namatjira have been the subject of a ‘re-Aboriginalisation’.

In 1986 Daniel Thomas, director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, initiated a project to posit Namatjira as an intermediary on the road to the emergence of the Papunya movement rather than the producer of anomalous kitsch, as he had been treated during the previous decade. Interest in this new perception of Namatjira also reflected on Pareroultja, who, in comparison would, more overtly, incorporate Aboriginal elements in his watercolours. The study rekindled an appreciation of the artistic merit in Namatjira’s work and this was reflected in rising market values for his, and concurrently, although not as dramatically, the works of Pareroultja.

The average sale price of Otto's work has steadily increased at auction since the mid-1970s and his success rate at auction is now a very respectable 74%. This should be considered high for an artist that has had over 517 works offered for sale over a very long period. Prices in the early eighties were generally under $100 but increased gradually to around $300 by the late 80s and $750 in the late nineties. By 2002 the artist’s career average price was $1,500 and reached $2,800 in 2005 even when omitting the spectacular result achieved for a work in July 2003, which would have skewed the average significantly.

In that year Sotheby’s sold Central Australian Landscape c. 1956 for $24,000, against an estimate of $7,000-10,000 at its July Sydney auction. Prior to this, no work by Pareroultja had commanded more than $10,000 in the secondary market. However, three years later, Central Australian Landscape 1950’s attracted $84,000, well above market estimates of $30,000-50,000 at Sotheby’s July sale in Melbourne (Lot 29). ‘A very similar looking painting’ was the wry remark in The Australian Art Market Report (2006/7:19). The two works are indeed similar. Like so many paintings in Pareroultja’s oeuvre, both of these works depict the white ghost gum. In fact, in the entire body of Pareroultja’s work, very few paintings vary from this theme, a uniformity that might appear obsessive, even farcical, to a non-Indigenous eye, until we realise that what is being painted are not actually trees, but rather spirits; or, should I say, the representational motif of a spirit. It is only in this light that the repetition begins to make more sense. Tim Strehlow observed that the ‘tiger like rings’ looping the trunks of the ghost gums were referential to the practice of painting black and white rings on the trunks of totem poles, an Aranda ritual.

Although his top two prices have been for works painted in the 1950s, across his entire oeuvre, there is little difference in price according to when the painting was created. Many works are undated, and his style varied according to whim, as brightly coloured expressionistic works were painted in the same years as more subdued realistic versions. In general, the market has favoured the former, with the subtler pale and the less complex imagery fetching lower prices.

In 2007 no less than four of his top ten records were displaced by new results. These included the $48,000 paid for a 1960s Aranda landscape sold by Sotheby’s in July (Lot 68), which carried a presale estimate of $40,000-60,000. An estimate of this magnitude would have been unthinkable just two years earlier, such has been the growth of interest in the artist’s work. Another Central Australian Landscape sold at Joel Fine Art in June for $18,750 (Lot 61), and a lovely rendition of Haast’s Bluff snuck into the artist’s top results at number 11 when sold for $6000 against an estimate of just $1,500-1,800. The overall result of this highly successful year for the artist was that his average price rose from $1,836 to $2,187 per work, surely remarkable for an artist who has had so many works presented over more than three decades. In 2008 however, his works were far less successful. Only nine of 17 works offered found a new home, and his highest price was a poor $5,400. This lowered his career clearance rate from 81% to 79%. The upward trajectory seen previous to 2008 was regained in 2009 with all but one of the 16 works on offer finding a buyer, whilst setting new third, fifth, ninth and tenth records. The third and fifth record sales eclipsed expectations by a significant amount as exemplified by an image simply entitled Ghost Gums, which fetched $32,400 against a presale estimate of just $15,000-20,000. This gain was consolidated in 2010 amidst intense interest in the Hermannsburg water-colourists. Otto was the 12th most successful artist in 2011, hot on the heels of Albert Namatjira. This saw him become the 28th most successful artist of the movement, a status he continued to hold at the end of 2019.

The one notable sale of 2017 was an uncharacteristic watercolour on a wood panel, which more than tripled its high presale estimate of 3,000, ultimately selling for $9,660. But sales have flatlined since that time. 2019, for instance, was a disappointing year. While 21 works sold out of 26 offered, the highest price achieved was just $3,480, incl. BP at Eder Fine Art in Adelaide, and his average price was just $1,122.

Otto Pareroultja’s works have a strong appeal, and his finest works should continue their steady growth in value over the next decade. We are, however, unlikely to see any but the very best achieve the dizzying heights of his two highest results. While his works are expected to steadily grow in value, recent sales are of concern. With records for sales going back to the mid-1970s, it is remarkable that his success at auction has been as high as it is. Still, Otto Pareroultja was a most important Australian landscape painter who imbued his works with inherent spiritual presence. Amongst the artists of the Hermannsburg school, his oeuvre is likely to remain second only to that of Albert Namatjira for a very long time into the future.

© Adrian Newstead