Smith & Singer

Property from the Minter Ellison Collection, Sydney

July 2, 2015

Comprising 56 lots The Minter Ellison Collection, Sydney, is an impressive selection of Australian Photography and Contemporary Art, artists include Adam Cullen, Max Dupain, Bill Henson, Akio Makigawa, Rosemary Laing, Robert MacPherson, Tracey Moffatt, Patricia Piccinini and Imants Tillers.

When discussing the collection Geoffrey Smith, Chairman of Sotheby’s Australia commented ‘The Minter Ellison Collection, Sydney has been thoughtfully curated and provides a rare opportunity for collectors to acquire significant examples of contemporary Australian art.’ 

Most of the Sydney collection was assembled in 2001 when Minter Ellison moved into Aurora Place, Sydney.  Part of the collection guidelines were to include contemporary Australian artists at various points of their career.  Katrina Groshinski, Partner at Minter Ellison revealed ‘The Collection played an integral part in fostering the creative and contemporary environment we wanted to work in with our clients.  A move to our new offices, which are largely open plan, with fewer walls, required a reassessment of our collection.’

A highly significant sculpture from the collection is Akio Makigawa’s Wisdom of Water (1995) the genesis of inspiration being bottled drinking water.  In describing the work, Makigawa said ‘it’s an idea of a water container, with a cloud, moisture, condensing and going back into the container.’  Elaborating further ‘there was a spring in front of our studio [in Italy] and everyone came there to fill up…the water is deep in the mountain, an image of wisdom.’

Established in 1827, Minter Ellison is one of the Asia Pacific’s leading law firms.   

The auction will be held at the InterContinental Sydney, 117 Macquarie Street, Sydney on 21 July from 6 pm.

The Collection will be exhibited at 30, 32 & 38 Queen Street, Woollahra 16-21 July, 10 am to 5 pm.

>View e-Catalogue

Illustrated
AKIO MAKIGAWA 1948-1999
Wisdom of Water (1995)
Statuario marble and Carrara white marble
240 x 100 x 50 cm
Estimate $60,000-80,000
© The Estate of Akio Makigawa

 

CONTACT INFORMATION +

Specialists

Geoffrey Smith

Geoffrey Smith

Chairman

Australian & International Art 
Melbourne  |  Sydney 
T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900 
T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402 
E: Geoffrey Smith
Gary Singer

Gary Singer

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Australian & International Art 
Melbourne  |  Sydney 
T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900 
T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402 
E: Gary Singer
       
Emily Walker

Emily Walker

Administrator

Australian & International Art 
Melbourne 
T: +61 (0)3 9508 9900 
E: Emily Walker
David Mackay

David Mackay

Gallery Manager

Sydney 
T: +61 (0)2 9302 2402 
E: David Mackay

We use our own and third party cookies to enable you to navigate around our Site, use its features and engage on social media, and to allow us to perform analytics, remember your preferences, provide services that you have requested and produce content and advertisements tailored to your interests, both on our Site as well as others. For more information, or to learn how to change your cookie or marketing preferences, please see our updated Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy.

By continuing to use our Site, you consent to our use of cookies and to the practices described in our updated Privacy Policy.

CONTINUE