Ian Fairweather Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Ian Fairweather Art Value Price Guide

Aug. 26, 2026
Ian Fairweather, Canal scene, China, 1954
Est: $70,000 - $90,000
Ian Fairweather (1891 - 1974) Canal scene, China, 1954 gouache on cardboard 37.0 x 51.0 cm signed with initials lower right: IF PROVENANCE Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Mrs J. E. A. Walkley, Melbourne, 1954 Rob Ferguson Niagara Galleries, Melbourne The Reg Grundy AC OBE and Joy Chambers–Grundy Collection, acquired in 1998 (label attached verso) The Grundy Collection, Bonhams, Sydney, 26 June 2013, lot 22 Private collection, Adelaide EXHIBITED Ian Fairweather, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 2 – 14 June 1954, cat. 8 (as ‘Harbour’) Spring Exhibition, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 15 September – 8 October 1969, cat. 31 (illus. in exhibition catalogue) Fairweather, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1 October – 27 November 1994, and touring to: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 17 December 1994 – 19 February 1995; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 March – 7 May 1995, cat. 18 LITERATURE Australia Today, October 1963, p. 72 (as ‘Aboriginal') Bail, M., Fairweather, Art and Australia Books in association with the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1995, pl. 18, p. 90 (illus.) Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, revised edition 2009, cat. 109, pl. 102, pp. 123 (illus.), 252 ESSAY In a letter to his old friend H. S. (Jim) Ede in early 1954, Fairweather detailed all the disasters that had happened to him over the past two years – the raft voyage and subsequent media circus, the strange experience of returning to England after twenty-five years, and the bushfire that had recently swept through his land at Bribie Island, destroying his tent and its contents. Notwithstanding these setbacks, he had built a hut – a frame of poles thatched with grass, with a bed padded with ferns and tables made from reeds. Around him, he wrote, ‘there is only the forest, burnt black with the fire and not a sound, not even the wind. Every new year I always listen for the first sound. It has so often a message, a sign of things to come. This year there was a stillness, a blank. Don't know what to make of it.’1 It was with this frame of mind that Fairweather returned to depicting scenes from the past, such as this gouache, Canal scene, China, 1954 which features a narrow creek and several Chinese junks with their distinctive geometric sails. ‘The symbolic junks, the crowded buildings, the twisted bridge and line of pedestrians are composed as a kind of serene haphazardness like memory itself.’2 Although the actual place was never identified by Fairweather, it is possibly Suchow Creek where it meets the Huangpu River, and where the Bund – known for its massive Art Deco buildings – begins. Here, the Waibaidu Bridge arches across the river on the right, with masses of sturdy buildings all around. Fairweather's studio was at 235 Szechuan Road (now 235 Si Chuan Bei Lu), opposite the Shanghai Post Office (the tall building with the clock tower).3 It was on ‘the top floor, spacious and quiet’ and gave him a bird’s eye view of the bustling city which he has recreated here decades later. 1. Abbott-Smith, N., Ian Fairweather: Profile of an Artist, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1978, p. 126 2. Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, p. 118 3. ibid., p. 19 DR CANDICE BRUCE © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2026
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 26, 2026
Ian Fairweather, Penelope, 1961
Est: $220,000 - $280,000
Ian Fairweather (1891 - 1974) Penelope, 1961 synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on composition board 80.5 x 60.5 cm bears inscription verso: PENELOPE PROVENANCE Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Private collection, Melbourne Menzies, Sydney, 23 June 2011, lot 37 Private collection, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Ian Fairweather Paintings, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 14 – 23 June 1961, cat. 10 ESSAY One of Australia’s most elusive and peripatetic artists, Ian Fairweather’s life encompassed periods living in Canada, China, Bali, the Philippines, India, Melbourne, north Queensland and Darwin. In 1953, he moved to Bribie Island, a small and then remote sand island in Moreton Bay, about 70 kms north of Brisbane – remaining there for the rest of his life. Despite working by the light of a hurricane lamp in a series of thatched huts that were largely open to the elements, Fairweather was to create some of the most majestic and highly regarded works of his career during this time, as his mature work became a highly personal, idiosyncratic mix of figuration, abstraction and calligraphic mark making. Born in Scotland in 1891, and later settling on the isle of Jersey with his family where he began to paint, Fairweather completed officer training in preparation for the Great War and fought in the Battle of Mons, but was captured on his second day of combat, becoming a prisoner of war in various camps over a four-year period. On deciding to become an artist, he initially trained at The Academy in The Hague before returning to London to enrol at the prestigious Slade School of Art. After Fairweather travelled to China in 1929, where he lived in Shanghai, the life that led him to Fairweather being popularly cast as the archetypal artist-outsider began. This famously included him attempting, at the tender age of 60, to sail from Darwin to Portuguese Timor in a makeshift raft constructed from materials he scavenged in Darwin. This near-tragic journey resulted in the artist being washed up 16 days later on Roti (or Rote), a small Indonesian island to the southwest of Timor. After being deported to Singapore and then repatriated to England, he returned to Australia and settled on Bribie: ‘I had never seen anything so lovely’, he wrote.1 As Claire Roberts and John Thompson have remarked, Fairweather ‘repeatedly return[ed] to the idea of Australia as a place where he might find a safe haven and paint undisturbed. The combination of artistic affinity, financial possibility and attractive geography – a remote island nation linked to the British Empire and yet part of the tropical south – kept pulling him back to Australian shores.’2 Despite the relative isolation of his island home (Bribie was only accessible by ferry until 1963), Fairweather maintained a strong connection to events in the major centres and was always interested in the critical reception of his work. He was a good correspondent, maintaining contact with family and friends through letters, and a keen reader. This passion was kept active through the books he received by post from the Public Library of Queensland – an ‘eclectic and opportunistic’ selection ranging from crime thrillers and science fiction to religion and philosophy – and his consumption of journals and magazines, which included The Times Literary Supplement, the Atlantic and Time magazine, and the science fiction magazine, Galaxy, to which he subscribed.3 ‘I love books’, he wrote. ‘Even when they are bad – if I have the patience they can take me out of this world.’4 As Claire Roberts and John Thompson note, Fairweather was a product of the education system of the late Victorian and Edwardian Empire, and the richness of the cultural references that appear in his writing and art reveals ‘a sensibility shaped by the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, Shakespeare and the major English poets, Dickens, the nonsense rhymes of Lewis Carroll, Gilbert and Sullivan, and popular song and literature.’5 As part of this education, the artist would no doubt have been taught, if not read, Homer’s The Odyssey, and the story of its intelligent, shrewd and endlessly patient heroine, Penelope. Indeed, it is hard not to imagine that Fairweather may have felt a personal affinity for the interiority and quiet endurance of this ancient character. In Fairweather’s painting Penelope, 1961, the blocky Cubist-inspired form of the epic’s protagonist is presented to us in several overlapping poses. Rendered with incredible economy, her body possesses a quiet solidity as she is both veiled by and seen through rich layers of brushstrokes and colour, and the assured flick of the calligraphic lines that animate the work’s surface. The complex interconnected forms, webs of curvilinear lines and division of the composition that we see in Penelope are all hallmarks of Fairweather’s later work. Penelope is classic Fairweather – she won’t reveal her secrets quickly, but will reward with extended viewing, slowly revealing (some of) her mysteries over time. As the artist himself wrote: ‘Painting is not something that must be understood. If the picture is for you, it will produce an almost physical sensation, something of joy, of wonder – a tug at the gut. Don’t go trying to understand it. Don’t expect the painter to stand and deliver his innermost convictions in other than his work.’6 1. Ian Fairweather, cited in Roberts, C. and Thompson, J. (eds.), Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2019, p. 91 2. Roberts & Thompson, ibid., pp. vii-viii. See also Goddard, A., Ian Fairweather: Late Works 1953 – 74, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2012, p. 20 3. Roberts and Thompson, ibid., p. vii 4. Ian Fairweather, cited ibid. 5. Roberts and Thompson, ibid. 6. Ian Fairweather, cited in Abbott-Smith, N., Ian Fairweather: Profile of a Painter, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1978, p. 151, cited in Fisher, T., The Drawings of Ian Fairweather, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1997, p. 17 KELLY GELLATLY © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2026
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 07, 2026
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974), Fascismo 1963
Est: $240,000 - $300,000
PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF RODNEY MENZIES, MELBOURNE IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) Fascismo 1963 synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on hardboard 106.0 x 70.5 cm; 112.0 x 77.0 cm (framed)
Menzies
Feb. 19, 2026
Ian Fairweather - Murray Bail
Est: $30 - $50
Ian Fairweather - Murray Bail
Lawsons
Feb. 12, 2026
Ian Fairweather - Murray Bail
Est: $30 - $50
Ian Fairweather - Murray Bail
Lawsons
Nov. 26, 2025
Ian Fairweather, The river, 1934
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
Ian Fairweather (1891 - 1974) The river, c.1954 oil on cardboard 39.0 x 53.0 cm signed lower right with initials: IF PROVENANCE Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Nicholas G. Andrews, Sydney Alan Geddes, Sydney Lawsons, Sydney, 16 May 1989, lot 88 (as ‘Youngtse River [sic]’) Private collection Sotheby's, Melbourne, 5 May 2003, lot 115 (as ‘Yangtse River [sic]’) Private collection Niagara Galleries, Melbourne (label attached verso) Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in March 2004 EXHIBITED Show of Sixes, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 8 – 20 February 1956, cat. 6 Summer Collection of Works by Eminent Australian Artists, Irving Fine Art, Sydney, 5 January – 3 February 1990 (as ‘Yangtse River [sic], c.1945 – 47’) Blue chip VI: the collector's exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 2 – 27 March 2004, cat. 15 (illus. in exhibition catalogue, p. 17) LITERATURE Irving Fine Art advertisement, Art and Australia, Fine Arts Press Pty Limited, Sydney, vol. 27, no, 2, 1989, p. 188 (illus.) ESSAY ‘…each painting asks a question, none disclose the answer.’1 Described by Murray Bail as ‘the least parochial of Australian painters, an artist of exceptional force and originality,’2 Ian Fairweather remains one of the most enigmatic figures of twentieth-century Australian modernism. An expressive fusion of abstraction and calligraphic mark-making, his distinctive visual language set him apart from his contemporaries and quickly drew widespread admiration from peers such as Russell Drysdale, Margaret Olley and Donald Friend, as well as critical recognition from leading artworld figures including Robert Hughes, who famously camped overnight outside Sydney’s Macquarie Galleries in 1962 to secure a Fairweather painting for his personal collection. As a ‘itinerant, escapist utopian’3, Fairweather’s life was defined by endless movement and solitude. His adventures through Europe, Asia, and the Pacific not only shaped his worldview but importantly, became the impetus for his art – as biographer Murray Bail observed, Fairweather’s journeys ‘wander through his art like a Chinese line,’4 with each work becoming a distillation of experience and memory rather than a literal depiction of place. Of all his travels, undoubtedly none were as formative as his years in China during the 1930s where, immersed in both the dynamism of Shanghai and the meditative calm of smaller towns such as Huzhou, Hangzhou and Suzhou, Fairweather absorbed the philosophies of Chinese painting and calligraphy. Such experiences profoundly informed his later abstraction—his brushwork echoing the rhythm and restraint of East Asian aesthetics, yet simultaneously capturing the spiritual stillness he encountered there. Nearly two decades later, after enduring many years of peripeteias and hardship, in 1953 Fairweather made his way back to Bribie Island, off the Queensland coast, where for the rest of his life, he would live in a pair of huts built with materials salvaged from the surrounding bush. Ironically, it was on this remote desolate island that he finally found a measure of stability and, for the first time since the outbreak of the Second World War, was able to establish a home (albeit austere) and dedicate himself wholly to painting. Isolated but creatively fulfilled, Fairweather worked from memory and from the sketches he had carried with him, drawing upon a mind crowded with vivid impressions of his travels. ‘I paint for myself,’ he mused, ‘and have no sense of mission, nor do I feel any compulsion to communicate, though naturally I am pleased when it seems I have done so.’5 A compelling example from this period, The river, c.1954 was most likely inspired by the artist’s recollections of Huzhou, in the Yangtze River delta north of Hangzhou. As was his custom, Fairweather sent the painting to Macquarie Galleries devoid of notes, leaving the choice of title to be assigned by the gallery’s directors when it was exhibited in the annual Show of Sixes in 1956. Though abstracted in part, the composition retains an overall connection to landscape representation with its pale, winding river moving sinuously through a network of loosely drawn mountains and amorphous forms, evoking not one specific place but arguably, a composite memory of several —Huzhou, Suzhou, and possibly even Queensland. Thus, fusing memory, place and spiritual inquiry, indeed such paintings from this period unfold over the support’s surface like a stream of consciousness or ‘way of meditation’6 – betraying distant impressions of Chinese calligraphy, Aboriginal rock painting, and European Post-Impressionism. For, as Murray Bail elucidates, Fairweather’s paintings are ‘essentially ‘written’ by his own experiences’7 – each a rich palimpsest of textured surfaces and allusions that inevitably reveals the inner depth or spirituality so fundamental to his highly idiosyncratic vision. The culmination of a lifelong quest to attain or comprehend some deeper existential meaning, such contemplative creations of Fairweather’s maturity powerfully transcend time or circumstance to elucidate emotions universal to all human experience. As Laurie Thomas, appreciating the originality of Fairweather’s legacy, reflected at the time: ‘He paints what he sees. But what he sees nobody else had seen until now.’8 1. Ian Fairweather, cited in Fisher, T. , The Drawings of Ian Fairweather, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1997, p. 4 2. Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, p. 220 3. Fisher, op. cit., p.5 4. ibid. 5. Ian Fairweather, cited in Abbott-Smith, N., Ian Fairweather: Profile of a painter, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1978, p. xi 6. Hughes, R., The Art of Australia, revised edition, Penguin Books, Victoria, 1970, p. 290 Veronica Angelatos 7. Bail, op. cit. 8. Thomas, L., ‘Ian Fairweather’, Art and Australia, Sydney, vol. 1, no. 1, May 1963, p. 35 © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2025
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 26, 2025
Ian Fairweather, Jetty, 1962
Est: $200,000 - $300,000
Ian Fairweather (1891 - 1974) Jetty, 1962 synthetic polymer paint on cardboard on composition board 70.0 x 98.0 cm bears inscription verso: "JETTY" / BY IAN FAIRWEATHER bears inscription verso: JETTY / Res for Mrs D Carnegie PROVENANCE Perth Galleries, Western Australia Margaret Carnegie, New South Wales, by 1963 Private collection Sotheby's, Melbourne, 30 April 1995, lot 68 Private collection Niagara Galleries, Melbourne (label attached verso) Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in March 2008 EXHIBITED 7th São Paulo Art Biennial, Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, Brazil, 28 September - 22 December 1963, cat. 11 (label attached verso) Blue Chip X: The Collectors' Exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 4 March - 5 April 2008, cat. 8 LITERATURE Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, p. 243 Roberts, C. & Thompson, J. (eds.), Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2019, p. 326 ESSAY In mid-1953 at the age of sixty-two, Ian Fairweather settled on Bribie Island, off the coast of Queensland, where he lived in a pair of self-built huts for the rest of his life. Despite the lack of creature comforts which most people take for granted, the relative contentment that Fairweather found in this environment was reflected in his artistic output which, over the following two decades, witnessed the production of many of his finest paintings. In 1962, a solo exhibition at the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney saw buyers camp out overnight in order to secure one of his recent works. The Sydney Morning Herald headline hailed Fairweather as ‘Our Greatest Painter’ and more than half of the sixteen paintings in the show were acquired for public collections, including Epiphany, 1961 – 62 (Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art); Mangrove, 1961 – 62 (Art Gallery of South Australia); and Shalimar, 1961 – 62 (National Gallery of Australia) which was purchased for the then-developing national collection. Among the determined collectors who waited outside the gallery in driving rain was the art critic, Robert Hughes, who bought Monsoon, 1961 – 62 – later acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia – describing it as ‘a pure example of ecstatic motion.’1 The critical and commercial success of this exhibition built on the momentum that had been growing for some years, and the ensuing decade saw Fairweather’s art acknowledged in significant ways. Although he was geographically isolated from the contemporary artworld, his work was well known – primarily through commercial exhibitions at Macquarie Galleries, as well as occasional visitors to the island – and highly regarded by critics, collectors and curators alike. During these years his paintings were included in the landmark exhibition Recent Australian Painting, curated by Bryan Robertson at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (1961); the European tour of Australian Painting Today (1964 – 65); and in 1965, a major travelling retrospective of his work was mounted by the Queensland Art Gallery. In 1963, Fairweather was one of seven artists including John Perceval, Albert Tucker and Leonard Hessing selected to represent Australia at the VII Bienal de São Paulo. Although he was more than twenty years older than all his fellow Australian exhibitors – and the only one who was born in the nineteenth century – his work was utterly contemporary and very at home in such company. He showed four paintings: Shalimar, Portrait of the Artist, 1961 – 62 (National Gallery of Australia); Night Life, 1962 (private collection); and this work, Jetty, 1962 which was lent from the collection of Douglas and Margaret Carnegie.2 This selection reflected the tension that exists between representation and abstraction in Fairweather’s art. While the portrait and Night Life clearly reveal their figurative subjects, Shalimar, composed of at least seventy layers of paint, appears completely abstract.3 At first glance, Jetty also seems like an all-over composition of brushstrokes in vivid shades of blue, applied on top of a lively ground of linear and painterly marks. The title of the work provides a clue of course and closer inspection reveals that the sequence of black lines in fact describes a simple jetty, its support structure depicted in the lower left of the picture and its long narrow form roughly dividing the composition in half. Like much of Fairweather’s art, Jetty emphasises the act of painting and the physicality of his expressive style. It also reflects the notion proposed by Murray Bail that Fairweather ‘articulated mood’4, here, artfully conjuring up the sight, sound, smell and calming effect of water rhythmically lapping against a wooden jetty. As Fairweather explained in 1962, ‘I started as a traditional painter, but I was always interested in abstract, and for a long time I worked on abstract lines. But I’ve decided that pure abstract doesn’t suit me, and I’m trying to get back in my work to some representation… To me, painting is a personal thing. It gives me the same kind of satisfaction that religion, I imagine, gives to some people.’5 1. Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Millers Point, 2009, p. 176 2. The Carnegies also lent a painting by Perceval to the 1963 São Paulo Biennial. 3. Bail, op. cit., p. 178 4. ibid., p. 161 5. Ian Fairweather, Interview with Murray Bail, op. cit., p. 268 KIRSTY GRANT © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2025
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 26, 2025
Ian Fairweather, Figure group I, 1969
Est: $250,000 - $350,000
Ian Fairweather (1891 - 1974) Figure group I, 1969 synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on composition board 76.0 x 104.0 cm bears inscription verso: FIGURE GROUP I (1969) / NO 10. PROVENANCE Estate of the artist, Queensland Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Christie’s, Melbourne, 28 April 1976, lot 500 Private collection, Melbourne and Victoria EXHIBITED Recent Paintings by Ian Fairweather, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 28 October – 9 November 1970, cat. 10 (label attached verso) Ian Fairweather, A Posthumous Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 3 – 15 September 1975, cat. 1 (labels attached verso, signed by Mary Turner) LITERATURE Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, cat. 225, pp. 230 (illus.), 260 ESSAY Ian Fairweather has been described as ‘the least parochial of Australian painters, an artist of exceptional force and originality’1 and he is undoubtedly one of the most singular artists to have worked in Australia during the twentieth century. Although he is claimed as an Australian and spent many years living here, he had a restless spirit, and the story of his life reads like something borrowed from the pages of an adventure book. Born in Scotland in 1891, Fairweather undertook his formal art education at London’s Slade School of Fine Art, studying under the formidable Henry Tonks and in 1922, being awarded second prize for figure drawing. As a prisoner of war in Germany during the First World War he had access to books about Japanese and Chinese art, and later, studied these languages at night. In 1929, he sailed to Shanghai where he lived for several years – the unique art, culture and philosophy of China exerting a lasting influence on his art. Peripatetic by nature, or perhaps reluctant to establish roots and commit to ongoing relationships, Fairweather travelled extensively – from London, to Canada, Bali, Australia, the Philippines, India and beyond – ‘always the outsider, the nostalgic nomad with a dreamlike memory of distant places and experience.’2 In the early 1950s, Fairweather settled on Bribie Island, off the coast of Queensland, where, for the rest of his life, he famously lived and worked in a pair of huts built with materials salvaged from the surrounding bush. Conditions were primitive – no running water, sewerage or electricity – and Fairweather’s handmade bed and chairs were reportedly upholstered with fern fronds.3 Black and white photographs show him working in the dedicated studio hut – often with a pipe in one hand and a paintbrush in the other – where paintings in progress are tacked up on rudimentary, handmade easels. Nearby, tins of paint stand open with brushes ready and waiting to be used. Surfaces are covered with random spatters and dribbles of paint, colours layered one on top of the other creating a visual trace of the pictures that were made there. In these images we see the artist once described as someone who ‘needed to paint like one needs to breathe’ and understand the spontaneity and energy with which he worked.4 Despite the rudimentary nature of his surrounds however – or perhaps because of it – the next two decades witnessed the production of many of Fairweather’s finest paintings and the 1960s saw his art acknowledged in significant ways, with works being included in the landmark exhibition Recent Australian Painting at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (1961), the European tour of Australian Painting Today (1964 – 65), acquisitions for important public and private collections, and in 1965, a major travelling retrospective of his work being mounted by the Queensland Art Gallery. Being interviewed in 1965, Fairweather described painting as ‘something of a tightrope act’, saying it was ’difficult to keep one’s balance.’ He went on to explain that for him, painting sat ‘between representation and the other thing – whatever it is.’5 The ‘other thing’ was abstraction and while he made his first foray into purely non-representational art in the late 1950s, this tension in his art is evident in much of the work that followed including the large-scale masterworks Monastery, 1960 (National Gallery of Australia) and Monsoon, 1961 – 62 (Art Gallery of Western Australia). Figure group I, 1969 is one of a series of paintings made between the late 1960s and early 1970s in which the outline of human forms and other recognisable subjects emerges from a complex and elaborate ground, here a combination of brushstrokes and dribbles of paint in a muted palette of black, brown, grey and white with touches of pink and purple. If it was not for the title of the painting itself, it would be easy to miss the figures within the dynamic tracery of Fairweather’s mark-making which Murray Bail identifies as a reinvention of a mid-1950s image of boys playing with a ball.6 Returning to pictures again and again over an extended period of time, Fairweather developed painted surfaces which vibrate and shimmer with movement, directing our view from top to bottom and side to side. As the final layer to be applied however, it is the figurative element of this painting that prevails, introducing structure and stability to the rhythmic energy of the layers below. Driven by a need to paint and charting his own unique path, Fairweather produced paintings that made a profound contribution to the development of Australian art. Combining varied influences and balancing figuration and abstraction, he created some of the most distinctive and important works of the twentieth century. 1. Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, p. 220 2. Bail, M., ‘The Nostalgic Nomad’, Hemisphere, Canberra, vol. 27, no. 1, 1982, p. 54 3. Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Millers Point, 2000, p. 119 4. Ryckmans, P., ‘An Amateur Artist’ in Bail, M., Fairweather, Art and Australia Books in association with the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1994, p. 18 5. Ian Fairweather, interviewed by Hazel de Berg, 1965, cited in Bail, 1994, ibid., p. 139 6. Bail, 1981, op. cit., p. 224 KIRSTY GRANT © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2025
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 25, 2025
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Public Relations (1963) synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on board 88.5 x 66 cm frame: origina
Est: $200,000 - $300,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Public Relations (1963) synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on board signed 'IF' lower right 88.5 x 66 cm frame: original, maker unknown, Sydney PROVENANCE Ian Fairweather, Bribie Island Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in August 1964 Private Collection, Sydney, by descent from the above EXHIBITED Exhibition of Paintings: Ian Fairweather, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 5-17 August 1964, no. 12, 225 gns Fairweather, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1 October – 27 November 1994; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 16 December 1994 – 19 February 1995; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 March – 7 May 1995, no. 54, illustrated LITERATURE Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, cat. no. 188, plate 101, pp. 191, 194, 195 (illustrated), 247 Robert Smith, 'Ian Fairweather: Artist of Cosmological Figuration', Art and Australia, Fine Arts Press, Sydney, Autumn 1984, p. 342 (illustrated) Murray Bail with contributions by Martin Armiger, Joanna Capon, Mary Eagle, Drusilla Modjeska, and Pierra Ryckmans, Fairweather, Art & Australia Books in association with Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1994, plate 54, pp. 126 (illustrated), 143 Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. no. 197, plate 170, pp. 200, 201 (illustrated), 258
Smith & Singer
Aug. 20, 2025
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974), African Family 1963
Est: $260,000 - $360,000
PROPERTY FORMERLY FROM THE HOLMES À COURT COLLECTION, WESTERN AUSTRALIA IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) African Family 1963 synthetic polymer paint and gouache on board 67.0 x 97.0 cm; 82.0 x 112.0 cm (framed)
Menzies
May. 07, 2025
IAN FAIRWEATHER, TOMBS IN PEKING, 1936
Est: $400,000 - $500,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) TOMBS IN PEKING, 1936 oil on thick paper on compressed card 51.0 x 54.0 cm PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London Lady Strathcona, London, acquired from the above 1936 Thence by descent Private collection, Sydney Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 17 November 2010, lot 8 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Recent Paintings by Ian Fairweather, Redfern Gallery, London, 7 – 30 January 1937, cat. 15 (label attached verso) ESSAY We are grateful to Brenda Martin Thomas, wife of the late David Thomas AM, for kindly allowing us to reproduce David's writing in this catalogue entry. Ian Fairweather has long been admired for the fusion he achieved between Chinese and Western ideas and techniques, with his early Chinese works being rightly regarded as among the great achievements in Australian art. This is seen as much in the philosophical and universal within his art, as in his brilliant use of line drawn on the delicacy and power of Chinese calligraphy. Artist and critic James Gleeson once described his paintings as being ‘infused with the living spirit of Chinese art.’1 Fairweather himself remarked, ‘I took on, unconsciously I believe, many Chinese attitudes...’2 It was also commented on when this painting was shown in Fairweather's exhibition of Chinese paintings at the Redfern Gallery, London in January 1937. It was his second exhibition at this prestigious gallery, following on from that, also held in January, of 1936. The critic for The Times wrote with warmth and admiration: ‘There seems to be more than a chance connection between the subject matter and the general effect of the paintings because, though he is completely Western and, in the broader sense, Impressionistic, in his methods it is evident that he has temperamental affinities with Eastern artists. His colour schemes remind one of Chinese frescoes, in which every tint is subdued and away from its name. With this taste in colour he combines a free style of drawing, avoiding sharp definition, and inclining to the calligraphic in character...’3 Fairweather made two visits to China, the first from 1929 to 1933, when he studied Mandarin and travelled widely. After spending some time in Bali, Australia and the Philippines, he returned early in 1935, staying until April of the following year. Painting fulltime, he lived in Peking (modern day Beijing) away from European people and influences. Here he made a special study of the work of the master calligraphers, their presence being as much felt in Tombs in Peking, 1936 as in such accompanying works as Temple Yard, Peking, 1936 and Tethered Horses Outside Gate, Peking, 1936 – both painted the same year. Fairweather followed the Chinese masters who, ‘with a few strokes of the brush, dramatic, delicate’ were able to achieve ‘tremendous power of suggestion and imagination.’4 The ancient city of Peking surrounded by its great walls provided Fairweather with endless opportunities to capture the exotic passing scene in its various moods and moments. Back in his studio, he translated about twelve into paintings, the remaining sketches being used over the years for Chinese subjects painted while in the Philippines, India and Australia. Tombs in Peking is one of the precious few painted in China, seen in the freshness of the imagery and the immediacy of its realisation. The shallow depth of field adds to the tapestry-like effect of the painting. He was also inclined to reduce some of his paintings, as in Temple Yard, Peking, almost to pure colour, full of lively movement and visual engagement. The most striking features of Tombs in Peking are certainly colour and harmony. Applied with swift touches of the brush, colours dance across the picture plane, definition sometimes aided by the line drawn in the pigment with the other end of the brush. Overall, the images are effectively generalised as form echoes form distinguished by colour. Unity of technique is similarly achieved in figuration, with humans, animals, trees and temples all as one. In this masterpiece of felt observation, the past is in living harmony with the present, both in its subject and in Fairweather's realisation of it. 1. Gleeson, J., ‘Fusing art forms’, Sun-Herald, Sydney, 16 May 1965, p. 82 2. Ian Fairweather, cited in Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, p. 19 3. ‘Paintings Of China: Exhibition in London’, The Times, 22 January 1937, p. 17 4. Ian Fairweather, cited in Bail, op. cit., p. 46 DAVID THOMAS © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2025
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 07, 2025
IAN FAIRWEATHER, MARKET SCENE, PEKING, c.1945
Est: $90,000 - $120,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) MARKET SCENE, PEKING, c.1945 gouache and pencil on paper 38.0 x 39.5 cm (image) 48.0 x 50.0 cm (sheet) signed lower right: I. Fairweather PROVENANCE Isabella Griffiths, London Thence by descent Private collection Christie’s, Melbourne, 3 May 2004, lot 85 Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED Probably: Paintings by Ian Fairweather, The Redfern Gallery, London, 28 October – 20 November 1948, cat. 23 (as ‘Market Foochow’) LITERATURE Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, cat. 63, fig. 29, pp. 75, 76, (illus.), 235 – 236; revised edition, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. 57, pl. 44, pp. 70, 71 (illus.), 249 (as ‘(Market Scene, China)’) Smith, R., ‘Ian Fairweather: artist of cosmological figuration’, Art and Australia, Sydney, vol. 21, no. 3, Autumn 1984, pp. 337 (illus.), 341 ESSAY In October 1947 Fairweather sent 130 gouaches to the Redfern Gallery in London, the second such consignment.1 They were painted while he was living at Lina Bryans’ house in Darebin which was a stable and productive time for the artist. The works were ‘ghosts’, Fairweather wrote to Jim Ede in the December, painted ‘in ten different ways’; he knew he could not move on with other subjects until they were put to rest. They were memories of the past, and Chinese market and street scenes of differing sizes – some according to Bail, ‘mixed with clag [and] very thickly painted.’2 Market Scene, Peking, 1945 – 47 depicts a crowded jumble of terracotta pots and bowls in stark browns and blacks over a background of creamy whites and greys. It hums with the chatter of stall holders and street sellers and is a work of such vividness and immediacy that it is hard to believe it was painted from memory. The gouaches, which were packed by Fairweather, subsequently arrived at the Redfern Gallery ‘in one solid congealed mass’, not one being able to be saved, according to Redfern director, Rex Nan Kivell.3 They were bundled up and sent to Isabella Griffiths, Fairweather’s cousin whom he called Ella. She had married the distinguished gynaecologist and musician Walter Spencer Anderson (1854 – 1946) as his second wife, was close to Fairweather’s sister Ethel and lived at 19 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. It was here that Fairweather stayed after being shipped back to London by the British Government following his disastrous raft voyage to Timor in 1952. He was destitute and accused Ella of storing the paintings so inadequately that they were riddled with mould and eaten by silverfish. In spite of this, Fairweather had little hesitation in accepting Ella’s hospitality. Nor did it stop him from criticising her food and lifestyle, or dropping cigarettes and mud throughout the house.4 They argued furiously, Fairweather burning all the gouaches kept at Cheyne Walk save for this painting which escaped the same fate, it has been suggested, after slipping down the back of the incinerator.5 More credibly, Ella probably salvaged the work when the bundle arrived from the Redfern Gallery as it shows no sign of significant damage. It could be one of the two works mentioned by Fairweather in a letter to his niece Pippa.6 Writing to Pippa in 1953, he said that ‘there were just two that for sentimental reasons I couldn’t bring myself to destroy’. He begged her to rescue them from Ella – and specifically, work that was ‘5ft by 3 ft’ on thick cardboard (clearly not the present Market Scene, Peking). The second painting is not detailed by Fairweather, but we know from the provenance that this work was owned by Isabella around this date.7 Ella accused Fairweather of being a ‘sponger…a hanger-on…a ne’er-do-well’.8 He was outraged. She was, he wrote, ‘a very [nasty] and poisonous old woman’ who had ‘forced him’ to burn the paintings as a way of humiliating him.9 Their relationship never recovered. Fairweather fled Cheyne Walk on 22 June 1953. He spent the day in the British Museum sitting in front of the Elgin marbles, writing plaintively to Pippa and waiting for the midnight train to Liverpool and the ship back to Australia.10 1. The first shipment of gouaches was sent in June 1946 and packed with the help of Lina Bryans; they were all stamped with an Australian customs stamp. 2. Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, p. 75 3. Letter from Nan Kivell to Murray Bail, 22 July 1976. See Bail, ibid., p. 225, chapter 7, endnote 14. An earlier bundle sent in June 1946 were stamped by Australian customs to allow re-entry into Australia, see Bail, ibid., p. 74 4. Abbott-Smith, N., Ian Fairweather: A Profile of an Artist, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1978, pp. 123 – 4 5. Bail, op. cit., p. 75 6. Letter 77, Ian Fairweather to Helga Macnamara (Pippa), 22 June 1953, cited in Roberts C., & Thompson, J., Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2019, p. 139. As other letters by the artist show, he was quite paranoid at this time. 7. Letter 77, cited ibid. 8. Abbott-Smith, op. cit., p. 124 9. His complaints about Ella reveal that at the age of 66, she was newly widowed (Walter died in 1946) and she was dealing with a very large house without the help of any servants. In February 1974, she was stabbed to death by an intruder. 10. His passage was paid by his siblings after Fairweather ‘passed the hat around’, see Abbott-Smith, op. cit., p. 125 DR CANDICE BRUCE © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2025
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 04, 2025
Ian Fairweather: Three Volumes
Est: $80 - $120
Ian Fairweather: Three Volumes, Bail, Murray. Ian Fairweather, published by Craftsman House (1994), hardcover, dust jacket Bail, Murray. Ian Fairweather, published by Bay Books (1981), hardcover, dust jacket Abbott-Smith, Nourma. Ian Fairweather Profile of a Painter, University of Queensland Press (1978), hardcover, dust jacket
Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers
Apr. 08, 2025
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Mulberries, Hangchow (1936) oil and pencil on paper on cardboard 49.2 x 54.7 cm
Est: $150,000 - $250,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Mulberries, Hangchow (1936) oil and pencil on paper on cardboard 49.2 x 54.7 cm PROVENANCE Ian Fairweather, Zamboanga The Redfern Gallery, London Mervyn Horton, Sydney The Estate of the Late Mervyn Horton, Sydney Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne (stock 9000) Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above on 23 November 1983 EXHIBITED Recent Paintings by Ian Fairweather, The Redfern Gallery, London, 7-30 January 1937, no. 7 Summer Salon, The Redfern Gallery, London, 1938, no. 120 Summer Salon, The Redfern Gallery, London, 1940, no. 120 Ian Fairweather: Paintings of China and the Philippines, The Redfern Gallery, London, 15 October – 7 November 1942, no. 42, ‘Mulberry Trees, Hangchow' On long-term loan to Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, December 2005 – February 2025 LITERATURE Murray Bail, Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, cat. no. 41, figure 19, pp. 53, 54 (illustrated), 233 Daniel Thomas, ‘The Mervyn Horton Collection', Art and Australia, The Fine Arts Press, Sydney, Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring 1983, p. 81 (illustrated) Murray Bail, Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. no. 34, plate 27, pp. 48 (illustrated), 247
Smith & Singer
Apr. 08, 2025
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Seated Women 1949 gouache on paper on hardboard 54 x 49 cm
Est: $120,000 - $160,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Seated Women 1949 gouache on paper on hardboard dated ‘1949 [in Chinese]' lower left; signed ‘IF' lower right 54 x 49 cm PROVENANCE Ian Fairweather, Cairns The Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Mr J. Kemelfield, acquired from the above in April 1949 Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne (stock 6492) Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above on 13 April 1978 EXHIBITED Easter 1949, The Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 6-23 April 1949, no. 11, 25 gns Autumn Exhibition 1978: Recent Acquisitions 1978, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 7-20 April 1978, no. 96, ‘Three Figures', illustrated On long-term loan to Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, December 2005 – February 2025 LITERATURE Murray Bail, Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, cat. no. 81, plate 41, pp. 90, 92 (illustrated), 237 Murray Bail, Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. no. 83, plate 64, pp. 87, 88 (illustrated), 250
Smith & Singer
Nov. 27, 2024
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Banjo (1964) synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on composition board 91 x 71 cm frame: original
Est: $220,000 - $280,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Banjo (1964) synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on composition board 91 x 71 cm frame: original, maker unknown, Sydney PROVENANCE Ian Fairweather, Bribie Island Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above on 22 July 1964 EXHIBITED Exhibition of Paintings: Ian Fairweather, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 5-17 August 1964, no. 2 LITERATURE Daniel Thomas, ‘Best One Man Show', The Sunday Telegraph, Sydney, 9 August 1964, (illustrated)
Smith & Singer
Nov. 26, 2024
IAN FAIRWEATHER, PEKING MARKET PLACE, C.1940
Est: $60,000 - $90,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) PEKING MARKET PLACE, c.1940 gouache and pencil on paper 36.0 x 43.0 cm signed lower right: I Fairweather PROVENANCE Lina Bryans, Melbourne Christie's, Melbourne, 6 March 1970, lot 64 (as ‘Market Place’) Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Joan Clemenger AO and Peter Clemenger AO, Melbourne, acquired from the above 6 December 1982 EXHIBITED Fairweather: A Retrospective Exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 3 June – 4 July 1965, then touring to: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 July – 22 August 1965; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 9 September – 10 October 1965; National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 26 October – 21 November 1965; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 9 December 1965 – 16 January 1966; and Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 10 February – 13 March 1966, cat. 79 (as ‘Market Place’) Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 10 – 24 September 1981, cat. 139 (illus. in exhibition catalogue, p. 120, as ‘Market Place, 1940 – 41’) ESSAY In 1938, Fairweather was living in an abandoned theatre in Sandgate, a seaside suburb of Brisbane. Spooked by inexplicable noises and lights throughout the night, he began both sleeping and working in the old projection room where he could at least close the door to feel more secure. In spite of this he was productive and, as he recounted to his friend Jock Frater, in a few months had completed at least ten works which he intended to send to London for sale.1 Before Fairweather could execute his plan however, Frater managed to sell a large lot to his friend and fellow artist Lina Bryans – ‘the mysterious lady benefactress’2 as Fairweather would call her. Always able to make a simple situation more complicated and fraught, Fairweather – although grateful for Frater’s support – felt humiliated by the process, and it would be some years before he would meet up with Bryans in person. The works in this group were memories of Peking which he had visited for the first time in 1933 after living in Shanghai for two years. Although only a brief visit, his first impressions were positive, and he was keen to return. For the next year however he circled Southeast Asia, restlessly travelling to Bali, Australia, Colombo and Davao in the Philippines, and finally arriving back in Peking in March 1935. He found the city much changed, he wrote in a letter to Jim Ede, and ‘full of refugee Russians’ who competed for the sort of unskilled work he depended upon while waiting for money from the sale of his paintings in London.3 All that was left to do was to walk the city, drawing and sketching the temples and bridges, the walls and canals, the crowded markets and busy street stalls. Peking was messy and noisy and, though preferable to the monotony of Melbourne and the irritations of Davao, drove him to distraction. As he found in most instances, places and people were much better after the fact. Such depictions of China are now considered amongst Fairweather’s finest works, and indeed the present, Peking Market Place, c.1940, has all the immediacy and vividness of a photograph snapped in the street. The dark brown and cream figures form a long serpentine line set against a vivid background of indigo blue, a colour used frequently in Chinese ink paintings, with other details picked out in a deep russet. It offers a fleeting impression quickly and perfectly sketched. 1. Roberts, C. and Thompson, J., Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2019, p. 123 2. ibid. 3. ibid. DR CANDICE BRUCE © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency, 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 20, 2024
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974), (Mother and Child) 1958
Est: $70,000 - $90,000
PROPERTY FORMERLY FROM THE COLLECTION OF RUTH PROWSE, CANBERRA IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) (Mother and Child) 1958 gouache on cardboard 52.5 x 37.0 cm; 85.5 x 68.0 cm (framed)
Menzies
Aug. 27, 2024
Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) Kulu, 1949
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) Kulu, 1949 initialled and titled lower right: 'Kulu F' ink and gouache on paper 16.0 x 20.0cm (6 5/16 x 7 7/8in).
Bonhams
Aug. 27, 2024
Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) Boys Playing, 1955
Est: $100,000 - $150,000
Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) Boys Playing, 1955 initialled lower right: 'IF' gouache on card 36.5 x 49.5cm (14 3/8 x 19 1/2in).
Bonhams
Aug. 27, 2024
Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) Outside the Walls of Peking, 1935
Est: $250,000 - $350,000
Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) Outside the Walls of Peking, 1935 initialled lower left: 'IF' oil and pencil on heavy card 49.0 x 57.0cm (19 5/16 x 22 7/16in).
Bonhams
Aug. 25, 2024
Ian Fairweather
Est: $100 - $120
Ian Fairweather. Text by Murray Bail. Bay Books, Sydney 1981. Blue cloth binding with gilt details and dustwrapper. Wrapper faded, else in very good condition.
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Jul. 07, 2024
Ian Fairweather
Est: $100 - $150
Ian Fairweather by Murray Bail. Bay Books 1981. First Edition. Hardcover in dust wrapper in very good condition.33cm x 26cm
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
May. 09, 2024
Ian Fairweather by Murray Bail
Est: $30 - $50
Ian Fairweather by Murray Bail
Lawsons
Mar. 19, 2024
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) Figure Group c.1950 gouache on paper, double-sided 52 x 75cm
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) Figure Group c.1950 gouache on paper, double-sided signed and inscribed lower right in Chinese characters and likely dated: 50 52 x 75cm PROVENANCE: Macquarie Galleries, Sydney 1984 (original label retained, accompanied by a copy of purchase receipt) Private collection, Sydney OTHER NOTES: © Ian Fairweather/Copyright Agency, 2024 "Painting to me is something of a tightrope act; it is between representation and the other thing - whatever that is. It is difficult to keep one's balance."(1) - Ian Fairweather In 1929 Ian Fairweather visited China for the first time and its culture, philosophy and imagery continued to inform his artistic practice for the rest of his career. In 1934 he spent two years living in China in poverty and took lessons in calligraphy and Mandarin and studied the teachings of Taoism and Buddhism. By 1938 Fairweather returned to Australia but took many of these teachings with him. He turned his artistic practice from oil paintings to gouache, often painting on fragile surfaces using a delicate watercolour and gouache on thin cream tissue paper. Drawing with economy and speed, these works on paper often have a fleeting sense of movement and ephemerality to them. In the present lot this feeling of movement is conveyed by repetitive sweeping curved lines which coalesce into a busy overall graphic. If it weren't for the literal title, the composition may be difficult for a viewer to make sense of. However, with the aid of the title we see these lines coming together to form several figures interwoven in a variety of positions. The image recalls that of Fairweather's work on paper, Pied-à-terre, c.1950, in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. According to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, during the summer of 1950-51, when Fairweather was living in an abandoned patrol boat on the shores of Darwin Harbour, he was at a crossroads both artistically and personally. His art from this period demonstrates that he was wrestling with his identity as an Englishman abroad and an artist whose work was rooted firmly in the Australian landscape. (2) The compositional elements within Figure Group are characteristic of Fairweather's distinctive style and are present throughout his oeuvre from the mid-century onwards. In these lines we see the influence of Chinese calligraphy, and his appreciation of Chinese language in the signature and inscription in Chinese characters in the lower right corner. In an interview with Craig McGregor in 1968 Fairweather said: The Chinese have quite a different idea of painting from us. The movement, the stroke of the hand counts so much for them. They never draw a straight line. And it's the same for me. It's given me a sensitiveness towards line that I didn't have. (3) Upon reframing this artwork, it was found to have another previously unknown work on the reverse. This work is unsigned but appears to be a preparatory work for the final piece on the other side. Although the composition appears somewhat complete it seems Fairweather has "crossed out" the image, with several sweeping brush strokes of black ink across the width of the page indicating he was unhappy with its result. It was a surprising discovery which offers a rare insight into the artistic process of one of Australia's most interesting and unique modern painters. Madeleine Norton Head of Decorative Arts & Art, Sydney (1) Ian Fairweather in an interview with Hazel de Berg, National Library of Australia (2) Australian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004, Ian Fairweather: Pied-à-terre, https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/485.1996/#bibliography (3) Fairweather, I., 1968, Interview with Craig McGregor, quoted in: Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009 (revised edition), pp. 269-270
Leonard Joel
Feb. 29, 2024
Ian Fairweather, by Murray Bail
Est: $50 - $80
Ian Fairweather, by Murray Bail
Lawsons
Feb. 11, 2024
Ian Fairweather
Est: $50 - $80
Two Ian Fairweather exhibition catalogues. 1) Fairweather: A Retrospective Exhibition. Introduction by Robert Smith. Published by Queensland Art Gallery, 1965. In good condition. 2) Ian Fairweather May 18-June 14 1984. A limited edition. Held in Brisbane at the Philip Bacon Galleries. This copy has been signed by the Gallery owner Philip Bacon on the first page. Bumped corners.
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Jan. 04, 2024
[AUSTRALIAN ART] Ian Fairweather Deluxe Edition
Est: $400 - $600
Murray Bail Ian Fairweather Sydney: Bay Books, 1981. Deluxe Edition. Signed by the Author. 32cm x 26cn. 264 pages, colour illustrations. Blue cloth, gilt lettering, slipcase. The deluxe edition limited to 100 numbered copies signed by Bail, of which this is number 60. Fine Condition.
The Book Merchant Jenkins
Dec. 04, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) Figure Group c.1950 gouache on paper 52 x 75cm (74.5 x 97cm framed)
Est: $45,000 - $65,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) Figure Group c.1950 gouache on paper signed and inscribed lower right in Chinese characters and likely dated: 50 52 x 75cm (74.5 x 97cm framed) PROVENANCE: Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 1984 (original label retained, accompanied by a copy of purchase receipt) Private collection, Sydney OTHER NOTES: © Ian Fairweather/Copyright Agency, 2023 "Painting to me is something of a tightrope act; it is between representation and the other thing – whatever that is. It is difficult to keep one's balance." - Ian Fairweather In 1929 Ian Fairweather visited China for the first time and its culture, philosophy and imagery continued to inform his artistic practice for the rest of his career. In 1934 he spent two years living in China in poverty and took lessons in calligraphy and Mandarin and studied the teachings of Taoism and Buddhism. By 1938 Fairweather returned to Australia but took many of these teachings with him. He turned his artistic practice from oil paintings to gouache, often painting on fragile surfaces using a delicate watercolour and gouache on thin cream tissue paper. Drawing with economy and speed, these works on paper often have a fleeting sense of movement and ephemerality to them. In the present lot this feeling of movement is conveyed by repetitive sweeping curved lines which coalesce into a busy overall graphic. If it weren't for the literal title, the composition may be difficult for a viewer to make sense of. However, with the aid of the title we see these lines coming together to form several figures interwoven in a variety of positions. The image recalls that of Fairweather's work on paper, Pied-à-terre, c.1950, in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. According to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, during the summer of 1950-51, when Fairweather was living in an abandoned patrol boat on the shores of Darwin Harbour, he was at a crossroads both artistically and personally. His art from this period demonstrates that he was wrestling with his identity as an Englishman abroad and an artist whose work was rooted firmly in the Australian landscape.2 The compositional elements within Figure Group are characteristic of Fairweather's distinctive style and are present throughout his oeuvre from the mid-century onwards. In these lines we see the influence of Chinese calligraphy, and his appreciation of Chinese language in the signature and inscription in Chinese characters in the lower right corner. In an interview with Craig McGregor in 1968 Fairweather said: The Chinese have quite a different idea of painting from us. The movement, the stroke of the hand counts so much for them. They never draw a straight line. And it's the same for me. It's given me a sensitiveness towards line that I didn't have.3 Upon reframing this artwork it was found to have another previously unknown work on the reverse. This work is unsigned but appears to be a preparatory work for the final piece on the other side. Although the composition appears somewhat complete it seems Fairweather has "crossed out" the image, with several sweeping brush strokes of black ink across the width of the page indicating he was unhappy with its result. It was a surprising discovery which offers a rare insight into the artistic process of one of Australia's most interesting and unique modern painters. Madeleine Norton Head of Decorative Arts & Art, Sydney (1) Ian Fairweather in an interview with Hazel de Berg, National Library of Australia (2) Australian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004, Ian Fairweather: Pied-à-terre, (3) Fairweather, I., 1968, Interview with Craig McGregor, quoted in: Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009 (revised edition), pp. 269-270
Leonard Joel
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, FILIPINO GIRL CARRYING FRUIT, 1945 - 47
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) FILIPINO GIRL CARRYING FRUIT, 1945 - 47 gouache on paper 28.5 x 25.0 cm bears inscription verso: 2 PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London (label attached verso, as 'Phil Girl Carrying Fruit, 1945 - 47') The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above in 19 December 1953 Thence by descent Private collection, Perth © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, (LANDSCAPE, SOOCHOW), 1945 - 47
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) (LANDSCAPE, SOOCHOW), 1945 - 47 gouache on paper 20.5 x 21.0 cm PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above 19 December 1953 Thence by descent Private collection, Perth EXHIBITED Ian Fairweather, Redfern Gallery, London, 28 October – 20 November 1948, cat. 32 ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 4 May - 13 July 2013 LITERATURE Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. 65, pl. 55, pp. 52, 71, 80 (illus.), 120, 249 Snell, T. et al., ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2013, fig. 15, pp. 12, 73 (illus.), 100 © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, HEAD, C.1934
Est: $60,000 - $80,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) HEAD, c.1934 oil and pencil on cardboard 45.5 x 37.5 cm bears inscription verso: Noa's Woman PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London (label attached verso, as 'Head, c.1936') The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above in 19 December 1953 Thence by descent Private collection, Perth EXHIBITED Recent Paintings by Ian Fairweather, Redfern Gallery, London, 7 – 30 January 1937, cat. 11 Ian Fairweather: Paintings of China and the Philippines, Redfern Gallery, London, 15 October - 7 November 1942, cat. 46 (as 'Head of a Woman') Summer Exhibition, Redfern Gallery, London, 1945, cat. 130 (as 'Balinese Dancer') Collectors' Pride, The Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, 3 - 26 June 1977, cat. 64 (label attached verso, as 'Noa's Woman') ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 4 May - 13 July 2013 LITERATURE Hutchings, P., 'The Art Collectors 13: The Rose Skinner Collection', Art and Australia, vol. 12, no. 2, October - December 1974, pp. 142, 144 (illus., as 'Torso of a Girl') Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. 24, pl. 18, pp. 35, 37 (illus.), 51, 237, 246 Snell, T. et al., ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2013, fig. 4, pp. 62 (illus.), 100 © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, WALLS OF FOOCHOW, 1945 - 47
Est: $80,000 - $120,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) WALLS OF FOOCHOW, 1945 - 47 gouache on paper 38.0 x 47.0 cm bears inscription verso: 4 PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London Private collection Redfern Gallery, London The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above 3 December 1970 Thence by descent Private collection, Perth EXHIBITED ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 4 May - 13 July 2013 LITERATURE Snell, T. et al., ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections ,Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2013, fig. 13, pp. 12, 71 (illus.), 100 © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, STREET IN SOOCHOW, 1948
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) STREET IN SOOCHOW, 1948 gouache and pencil on paper 21.0 x 21.0 cm PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above Thence by descent Private collection, Perth EXHIBITED ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 4 May - 13 July 2013 LITERATURE Snell, T. et al., ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2013, fig. 19, pp. 77 (illus.), 100 © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, LANDSCAPE WITH HORSES, C.1936
Est: $90,000 - $120,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) LANDSCAPE WITH HORSES, c.1936 gouache on paper 40.5 x 39.5 cm signed lower right: I. Fairweather bears inscription verso: 3 / 25 PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above Thence by descent Private collection, Perth EXHIBITED Collectors' Pride, The Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, 3 - 26 June 1977, cat. 66 (label attached verso) ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 4 May – 13 July 2013 (as ‘(Tombs at Peking), c.1936’) LITERATURE Snell, T. et al., ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2013, fig. 11, pp. 12, 69 (illus.), 100 (as ‘(Tombs at Peking), c.1936’) © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, CANAL, FOOCHOW, 1945 - 47
Est: $90,000 - $120,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) CANAL, FOOCHOW, 1945 - 47 gouache on paper 37.0 x 39.5 cm signed lower right: I Fairweather PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London (label attached verso) The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above 19 December 1953 Thence by descent Private collection, Perth EXHIBITED Ian Fairweather, Redfern Gallery, London, 28 October – 20 November 1948, cat. 19 ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 4 May - 13 July 2013 LITERATURE Bail, M., Ian Fairweather, Bay Books, Sydney, 1981, fig. 36, cat. 75, pp. 88 (illus.), 236 Snell, T. et al., ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2013, fig. 14, pp. 12, 72 (illus.), 100 © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER, CORNSIFTING, SOOCHOW, 1945 - 47
Est: $80,000 - $120,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) CORNSIFTING, SOOCHOW, 1945 - 47 gouache and pencil on paper 36.0 x 31.0 cm signed lower right: I Fairweather bears inscription verso: 27 PROVENANCE Redfern Gallery, London The Skinner Collection, Perth, acquired from the above Thence by descent Private collection, Perth EXHIBITED Ian Fairweather, Redfern Gallery, London, 28 October – 20 November 1948, cat. 27 Fairweather, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1 October – 27 November 1994; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 17 December 1994 – 19 February 1995; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 March – 7 May 1995, cat. 14 (label attached verso, as 'Corn sifting, Soochow (Shanghai)') ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 4 May - 13 July 2013 LITERATURE Bail, M., Hemisphere: An Asian Australian Magazine, vol. 27, no. 1, July/August 1982, p. 54 (illus.) Bail, M., Fairweather, Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. 62, pl. 54, pp. 71, 79 (illus.), 89, 237, 249 Snell, T. et al., ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, 2013, fig. 12, pp. 12, 70 (illus.), 100 © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Oct. 08, 2023
FAIRWEATHER Ian (1891-1974), Rooster, c.1915., Ink on Paper, 18.5x15cm
Est: $1,500 - $3,000
FAIRWEATHER, Ian (1891-1974) Rooster, c.1915. No signature apparent. Ink on Paper 18.5x15cm EXHIBITIONS: Philip Bacon Galleries, Ian Fairweather 1891-1974 Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, 19th May-14th June 1984, cat #6 (label verso)
Davidson Auctions
Oct. 06, 2023
Ian Fairweather
Est: $80 - $120
The Drunken Buddha by Ian Fairweather. Published by University of Queensland Press in 1965. Original cloth in dustwrapper. Dustwrapper chipped and price clipped else a very good copy
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Sep. 15, 2023
Ian Fairweather
Est: $100 - $150
Ian Fairweather by Murray Bail. Bay Books 1981. First Edition. Hardcover in dust wrapper in very good condition, dust wrapper is a little bit faded. 33cm x 26cm
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Sep. 15, 2023
Ian Fairweather
Est: $80 - $120
The Drunken Buddha by Ian Fairweather. Published by University of Queensland Press in 1965. Original cloth in dustwrapper, Very good copy
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Aug. 25, 2023
Ian Fairweather Signed
Est: $130 - $150
The Drunken Buddha by Ian Fairweather. Published by University of Queensland Press in 1965. Original cloth in dustwrapper, Very good copy inscribed ' To Mr Carl Plats with thanks and best wishes from Ian Fairweather'
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Aug. 04, 2023
Ian Fairweather
Est: $100 - $200
Ian Fairweather by Murray Bail. Bay Books 1981. First Edition. Hardcover in dust wrapper in very good condition. 33cm x 26cm
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
May. 02, 2023
§ IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Summer (1964) synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on hardboard
Est: $250,000 - $350,000
§ IAN FAIRWEATHER 1891-1974 Summer (1964) synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on hardboard signed 'Ian Fairweather' lower right; inscribed 'Summer' verso 72.1 x 101.5 cm frame: original, maker unknown, Sydney PROVENANCE Ian Fairweather, Bribie Island Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Hazel Hughes, Sydney, acquired from the above in May 1965 for £210.0.0. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, gift from the above in memory of Norman Schureck in 1965 Fine Art Auction, Deutscher and Hackett, Sydney, 17 November 2010, lot 6, illustrated Selwyn and Renata Litton, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Other Recent Works by Ian Fairweather exhibited with The Drunken Buddha Series, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 12-24 May 1965, no. 20 LITERATURE Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather (rev. ed.), Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009, cat. no. 206, plate 180, pp. 208 (illustrated), 210, 259
Smith & Singer
Mar. 22, 2023
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) Café in Rice Field oil and pencil on paper laid
Est: £80,000 - £120,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891-1974) Café in Rice Field oil and pencil on paper laid on board 19 3/4 x 21 1/2 in. (50.2 x 54.6 cm.)
Christie's
Feb. 06, 2023
Ian Fairweather
Est: $100 - $150
Fairweather by Murray Bail. Sydney Murdoch Books 2009. Quarto. Mint copy in dustwrapper
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Dec. 04, 2022
Manner of FAIRWEATHER Ian (1891-1974), Figure Composition, Gouache on Paper on Board, 27x39cm
Est: $100 - $300
Manner of FAIRWEATHER, Ian (1891-1974) Figure Composition No signature apparent. Gouache on Paper on Board 27x39cm
Davidson Auctions
Dec. 01, 2022
IAN FAIRWEATHER, PEKING WALLS, 1948
Est: $70,000 - $90,000
IAN FAIRWEATHER (1891 - 1974) PEKING WALLS, 1948 gouache and pencil on paper 41.5 x 46.0 cm (sheet) signed indistinctly lower left: Fairweather PROVENANCE The Redfern Gallery Ltd., London (label attached verso) Mrs Ruth Keating, London, acquired from the above in 1948 Thence by descent Private collection, USA EXHIBITED Ian Fairweather, Redfern Gallery, London, 28 October – 20 November 1948, cat. 40 ESSAY No Australian twentieth century artist understood Asia better than Ian Fairweather. It began in improbable circumstances as a prisoner of war. He enlisted in the British Army in June 1914 and, within two months of arriving in France, was captured by the Germans. He read works by E. F. Fenollosa and Lafcadio Hearn (two distinguished scholars on Japan), illustrated prisoner-of-war magazines and attempted unsuccessful escapes. Back in London he studied at the Slade School of Fine (1920 – 24) while attending evening classes in Japanese and Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies. By 1929, he was in Shanghai and remained in China until 1932. His peripatetic nature, restless curiosity and affection for China saw him return there in 1935 where he was ‘completely at home with (his) fellows.’1 Travel to other places followed, from South East Asia to Calcutta – and regardless of location, Chinese subjects continued. It was a necessary and essential part of his personality. Indeed, the idea for Monastery, 1961 (National Gallery of Australia) remained in his memory for more than two decades before it was realised.2 In Peking Walls, 1948 we find Fairweather’s synchronised approach to painting, one which would evolve into larger, grand paintings during the sixties. Both however have the same underpinning: Chinese thought and experience, and his unmistakable, idiosyncratic technical fluency. Drawing with paint is used extensively across mediums – from paper to card and wooden panels, calligraphic-like gestures over layered surfaces result in final irregular painting, a finished work. Fairweather’s observation is always one of creative approximation, forever avoiding the dullness of literalism.3 There is no suggestion of a clichéd, exotic Western unfamiliarity in Peking Walls where stereotypes might suffice. Fairweather was too immersed in Chinese culture, philosophy, language and art to fall into some kind of Asian Grand Tour romanticism. While certain subtle inflections suggest a nod to Matisse and the French Nabis – for example, painted lineal suggestions and blotchy shapes of colour – there are specific Chinese characteristics in works such as these as well. There are also similarities with Peking Tea Room, 1936 (Art Gallery New South Wales) – it clearly complements Peking Walls but is one of many later iterations of subjects that remained a perpetual echo. What might appear as Fairweather’s clumsiness of execution as an individual stylistic trait, is actually an aesthetic virtue shaped by his understanding of Chinese painting. As Pierre Ryckmans notes in his discussion of spiritual deficiency and finish in Chinese painting, ‘…technical virtuosity and seductiveness in a painting are considered vulgar, as they precisely suggest the slick fluency of a professional answering a client’s commission and betray a lack of inner compulsion on the part of the artist.’4 Peking Walls is the clear, continuing and evolving expression born from his visits to China in the 30s. Fairweather paints vastness and intimacy, figures in the foreground to a mid-ground market canopy. The painted lineal sweeps in halftones are interspersed with his familiar use of a rich ultramarine or, in Fairweather’s specific case, Reckitt’s blue.5 1. Abbott-Smith, N., Ian Fairweather: profile of a painter; University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1978, p. 27 2. Capon, J., ‘The China Years’ cited in Bail, M., et al., Fairweather, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1994, p.63 3. For a specific analysis of Fairweather’s approach see, Fisher, T., The Drawings of Ian Fairweather, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1997, pp. 4 – 7 4. Ryckmans, P., ‘The Amateur Artist’, in Bail, op. cit., pp. 15 – 23 5. Roberts, C. & Thompson, J., (eds.), Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2019. This publication provides a rich, first-person account in letters from the artist, many of which are about China. DOUG HALL AM
Deutscher and Hackett