Arthur Merric BOYD & John PERCEVAL

Every fortnight, Artprice provides a short round up of art market news.

Although confined to a marketplace consisting of Sydney and Melbourne, the demand for modern and contemporary Australian art is surprisingly dynamic. In fact, the auction price indices of the country’s top artists have been very buoyant, particularly since 2007.

The art market is traditionally quiet in August. But Australia, the world’s ninth largest market in 2001, has taken advantage of the summer break to hold the first big sales of the coming season. Sale catalogues feature a number of the Aussie artists that have recently been making waves at auctions.