International Collections and Communities

Curated collections for a virtual audience

ABOVE: A Pair of Chinese Late Ming Period Porcelain Jars, Circa 1650 $8,000-12,000

The Brans Collection Auction Sunday 21 November, Sydney

OPPOSITE: CAMERON MORGAN (born 1965) Will Starr 2020 acrylic on canvas 120 x 150cm (stretched, unframed) $1,000-3,000

Art to Roam Online Auction Tuesday 5 October As I write from lockdown 6.0 in Melbourne, I’m hoping that by the time this issue of Leonard reaches you in October that lockdowns will have lifted or eased across the country.

We feel desperately for the businesses, large and small, that cannot function in an online world and as a business we continue to find small ways to assist our community. But despite these challenges, we continue to bring collections to auction and curate them with a virtual audience in mind, hopeful that we will soon be welcoming back those that love to gather to our rooms and exhibitions across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

The reality is that our viewings, our auctions and our thinking are becoming more and more virtual, and this will be no different for two forthcoming events; one based in Sydney but projected to the world and one, well, based virtually as it embraces organisations from around the world.

In October we present, in association with supported-studios from around the world and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Art to Roam, a unique online global auction event to raise vital funds for both the contributing supported-studios and IFAW’s Room to Roam project. These studios support neurodiverse artists who produce extraordinary art. It is the first dedicated art event for IFAW’s Room to Roam project; a campaign created to join networks of African landscapes where wildlife can roam safely between core habitats, and the people who share the landscapes can thrive along with the animals. The auction presents more than 90 works from some 55 artists, with proceeds from every work sold going in equal share to the relevant studio and the Room to Roam project.

While in November, our Sydney office will be presenting an important collection of international furniture and decorative arts from Brans Antiques & Art, Western Australia’s most respected dealership, in its 46th year of operation. Now within its third generation of ownership under the stewardship of John Brans and his wife Clare, the business has been synonymous with extremely fine English and European furniture and works of art and both John and his father Clive have found and placed many an important piece within some of the finest private collections in Australia. We are honoured to have been selected to celebrate this collection with the Brans family and we look forward to sharing the catalogue with connoisseurs from around the world.

JOHN ALBRECHT Chairman / Head of Important Collections