Daniel Boyd

No Quarter Given, 2007
oil on canvas
66 x 66 cm 

Provenance
Private Collection, NSW (acquired from the artist)
Menzies, Melbourne, 26 April 2018, Lot 97
Private Collection, Sydney
Private Collection, Melbourne

Estimate
$ 12,000 – 16,000

Daniel Boyd is one of Australia’s most acclaimed living artists, who was recently honoured with a retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales titled Treasure Island, and the first Australian artist to be represented by a major international gallery (Marian Goodman in New York/Paris). Whilst he is best known for his inventive use of archival glue to create works where the viewer looks at the painting through hundreds of small lenses, his early works such as No Quarter Given are an important cornerstone of his practice – and very rare. When the artist had his first ever solo exhibition in which he showed a series of paintings of colonial subjects, the National Gallery of Australia purchased several of the work and other examples from the series are now found in the collections of the NGA, AGNSW, NGV and MCA. 
As is characteristic in these early paintings (executed between 2005-2009), Daniel Boyd mocks the early colonists and the heroic fashion in which they have traditionally been depicted in history paintings. In No Quarter Given, the artist has painted a ship with a British flag – but with a skull in the centre that suggests they are pirates.

The estimate for this work is very attractive, since the record price for the series at auction is $42,955 and was achieved in 2016, before the artist had a retrospective and international representation. New paintings in this size are priced around $30,000 but early works like No Quarter Given are much more rare than recent work. Under $20,000 (including premium) this is a great buy and up to $30,000 you are still paying less than the primary gallery prices for the artist.

Provenance
Private Collection, NSW (acquired from the artist)
Menzies, Melbourne, 26 April 2018, Lot 97 (sold for $7,977)
Private Collection, Sydney
Private Collection, Melbourne

Shipping
The work ships from Melbourne, and you will need to organise transport yourself if you win the lot. Let us know if you need any advice with this.

Condition report:
This work is in excellent condition, and comes in a white frame.

Auction: Menzies, Melbourne, 27 March 2024, Lot 67
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