Brack, Smart and Quilty to test market strength

The year’s first million-dollar painting, a major work by the reliably intense John Brack, is being auctioned by Menzies this month. The vendors will be hoping that Menzies has better luck with the painting, The Wedding Breakfast, from 1960, than Melbourne’s Niagara Galleries which tried – unsuccessfully – to sell the work last year.

The painting, which has been with the same family since 1960, was listed as “price on application” at Niagara’s annual “Blue Chip” sale. Menzies has priced it at $900,000 to $1.2 million and ramped up the marketing. The auction cover lot has six catalogue pages devoted to it. In his essay, esteemed art historian Sasha Grishin describes it as “the key painting” of Bracks’ Wedding series, and “an important link between his iconic social commentary paintings including Collins St., 5pm 1955, and the fabulous Ballroom Dancers paintings of the 1960s.”