Bessie (1879) Davidson Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Bessie (1879) Davidson Art Value Price Guide

Nov. 21, 2024
BESSIE DAVIDSON, (1879 - 1965), Untitled (River Scene), oil on canvas on board, 45 x 60 cm. (17.7 x 23.6 in.), frame: 59 x 73 x 6 cm. (23.2 x 28.7 x 2.3 in.)
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) Untitled (River Scene) oil on canvas on board signed lower right: Bessie Davidson
Lawsons
Nov. 20, 2024
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965), The Laundry Boat on the River Seine, Paris
Est: $12,000 - $16,000
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW SOUTH WALES BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) The Laundry Boat on the River Seine, Paris oil on canvas-board 20.0 x 22.5 cm; 32.0 x 35.0 cm (framed) signed with initials lower left: BD
Menzies
Nov. 20, 2024
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965), Still Life with Pansies
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, SYDNEY BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Still Life with Pansies oil on board 38.5 x 46.0 cm; 54.0 x 61.0 cm (framed) signed lower right: Bessie Davidson signed and inscribed verso: Bessie Davidson/ 18 Boisonne/ Paris
Menzies
May. 14, 2024
BESSIE DAVIDSON, PAYSAGE PUYCERDA (ESPAGNE), C.1930
Est: $12,000 - $16,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) PAYSAGE PUYCERDA (ESPAGNE), c.1930 oil on board 22.0 x 27.0 cm 28.5 x 33.5 cm (frame) signed lower right: Bessie Davidson bears inscription verso: No 4. Paysage Puycerda (Espagne) PROVENANCE Private collection, France Montargis Enchères, France, 27 January 2024, lot 282 Private collection, France This work is located in our Melbourne Gallery
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 17, 2024
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Guéthary (1948) oil on composition board 19 x 24 cm
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Guéthary (1948) oil on composition board signed 'Bessie Davidson' lower right; signed and inscribed 'Bessie Davidson / Guethary' verso 19 x 24 cm PROVENANCE Bessie Davidson, France Private Collection, France
Smith & Singer
Sep. 18, 2023
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Young Woman Reading oil on canvas laid on board 15.5 x 20.5cm
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Young Woman Reading oil on canvas laid on board signed lower left: Bessie Davidson 15.5 x 20.5cm PROVENANCE: The Artist Mrs. Elliot Thence by descent Masterpiece @IXL Gallery, Hobart 2009 Private collection, Hobart Gowans Auctions, Hobart, 10 November 2021, lot 72 Private collection, Melbourne
Leonard Joel
Aug. 23, 2023
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Still Life with Irises (circa 1920) oil on composition board 72 x 49 cm
Est: $140,000 - $180,000
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Still Life with Irises (circa 1920) oil on composition board signed 'Bessie Davidson' lower left 72 x 49 cm PROVENANCE Bessie Davidson, Paris Private Collection Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne Private Collection, New South Wales, acquired from the above in 2013 EXHIBITED Spring Exhibition 1981, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 10-24 September 1981, no. 11, illustrated Modern Australian Painting, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, 14 April - 5 May 2012, no. 2, illustrated Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 20 March - 26 July 2020 LITERATURE Tansy Curtain, Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 2020, p. 63
Smith & Singer
May. 03, 2023
BESSIE DAVIDSON, GUÉTHARY (BASSES-PYRÉNÉES), 1948
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) GUÉTHARY (BASSES-PYRÉNÉES), 1948 oil on panel 19.0 x 24.0 cm signed lower left: Bessie Davidson signed, dated and inscribed with title verso: Guéthary (Basses-Pyrénées) / Bessie Davidson / April 1948 PROVENANCE Private collection, France
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2022
Bessie Davidson (1879-1965)
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Villeneuve, France oil on board, signed l.l.c. 'Davidson Bessie'
Shapiro Auctioneers
Sep. 14, 2022
BESSIE DAVIDSON, THE RIVER LEYSSE, CHAMBÉRY, C.1933
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) THE RIVER LEYSSE, CHAMBÉRY, c.1933 oil on card 23.0 x 28.0 cm signed lower left: Bessie Davidson PROVENANCE Private collection, Rouen, France, acquired directly from the artist, c.1945 Thence by descent Private collection, Rouen, France Sotheby's, Sydney, 28 June 2005, lot 393C (as ‘Stream in the Alps’) Private collection, Sydney
Deutscher and Hackett
Jun. 29, 2022
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965), Brittany c1930s
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Brittany c1930s oil on board 27.0 x 32.0 cm
Menzies
Jun. 29, 2022
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965), The Village Stream 1912
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) The Village Stream 1912 watercolour and gouache on card 20.5 x 24.5 cm signed and dated lower right: Bessie Davidson/ 1912 bears inscription on fragment of old backing attached verso: Village/ Stream
Menzies
May. 04, 2022
BESSIE DAVIDSON, CHAMBÉRY LANDSCAPE, FRANCE,
Est: $9,000 - $12,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) CHAMBÉRY LANDSCAPE, FRANCE oil on board 18.5 x 24.0 cm PROVENANCE Private collection, Paris, acquired directly from the artist Christie’s, Melbourne, 18 April 1994, lot 261 (as ‘Savoie Landscapes (2)’) Tim Goodman, Sydney Goodmans Auctioneers, Sydney, 30 July 2001, lot 97 Private collection, New South Wales
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 04, 2022
BESSIE DAVIDSON, STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS, C.1935
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS, c.1935 oil on wood 41.0 x 33.0 cm signed lower right: Bessie Davidson bears inscription on old label verso: Salon des Tuileries / Bessie Davidson / 40 rue Boissonade / No. 3 Nature morte / (fleurs) bears inscription verso: D H6 3 PROVENANCE Private collection, France Private collection, France, acquired from the above in February 2002 Private collection, France EXHIBITED Probably: 14e Exposition du Salon des Tuileries, Néo-Parnasse, Paris, 21 May – 5 July 1936, cat. 416 (as ‘Nature Morte’, label attached verso)
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 04, 2022
BESSIE DAVIDSON, TULIPS WITH WHITE POT, C.1935
Est: $50,000 - $80,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) TULIPS WITH WHITE POT, c.1935 oil on board 31.5 x 98.5 cm signed lower right: Bessie Davidson signed and inscribed with title on backing paper verso: Tulips with White Pot / Bessie Davidson PROVENANCE The artist’s studio, until 1965 The Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide (label attached verso) Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Private collection, Victoria, acquired from the above in September 1981 EXHIBITED Exhibition of Paintings by Bessie Davidson, The Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide, 31 May – 13 June 1967, cat. 10 Spring Exhibition, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 10 – 24 September 1981, cat. 112 (illus. in exhibition catalogue) RELATED WORK Still life with pot and gladioli, c.1935, oil on board, 57.0 x 105.0 cm, in the collection of Kaye McKellar, South Australia ESSAY We are grateful to Brenda Martin Thomas, wife of the late David Thomas AO, for kindly allowing us to reproduce David's research and writing in this catalogue entry. Adelaide-born Bessie Davidson spent most of her creative life in Paris, absorbing the elegance and sophistication which we associate with the French capital and manifesting it in her art. Such qualities imbue her landscapes, and especially the interiors and still life paintings in which she excels – Tulips with White Pot, c.1935 being a fine example. Her excellence in this genre was inevitably influenced by her earlier association with Margaret Preston (then Rose McPherson), in whose studio she studied from 1899 to 1904. Together, they travelled abroad, Davidson continuing her studies at the Munich Künstlerinner Verein, and in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Although Davidson returned to Adelaide in 1906 and taught for a number of years with Preston, her home became Paris where, from 1910 onwards, she would remain for the rest of her life. Significantly while Davidson loved France, like her friend and fellow-Australian expatriate artist resident in Paris, Rupert Bunny, she never gave up her Australian citizenship. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Davidson joined the French Red Cross and worked voluntarily as a nurse. Afterwards, her involvement in French life and art led to her being the first Australian woman to be elected to the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She was also a founder-member of the Salon des Tuileries, and vice president of the Société Nationale des Femmes Artistes Modernes. Her contribution to French art and to the nation resulted in the 1931 award of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. She exhibited regularly in Paris and London, being included in the 1938 L'Exposition du Groupe Feminin at the Petit Palais and, the following year, in the exhibition of French art that toured the U.S.A. Internationally, she is represented in the Musée d'Art Moderne, Musée d'Orsay, and Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, as well as in collections in The Netherlands, Edinburgh, and Fife. In 1999, the exhibition Bessie Davidson: Une Australienne en France, 1880 – 1965 was held at the Australian Embassy, Paris, May – July 1999 and more recently, the Bendigo Art Gallery staged the exhibition Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris. Recording the visual pleasures of the everyday with the light-filled verve of French Impressionism, Davidson later developed a more prominent sense of form and compositional structure closer aligned to Paul Cézanne and Post Impressionism. It is this ‘Cézannesque’ style – which Davidson’s biographer, Penelope Little, describes as characterising ‘her most confident and productive years’1 – that is celebrated in Tulips with White Pot. Featuring the rich textural appeal and subtle sophistication that distinguishes Davidson as an artist of outstanding ability, her brushwork here is full of variety, with both vertical and horizontal strokes creating a fascinating picture surface where the various still life objects morph into the formal elements of painting itself – composition, colour, form and texture. Moreover, the unusual horizontal format and close-range viewpoint creates an overwhelming feeling of intimacy, of having the privilege of being alone with the still life which no doubt derives from its setting – most likely having been painted in the artist’s Paris studio at Rue Boissonade, Montparnasse, where Davidson lived from 1910 until her death. 1. Little, P., A Studio in Montparnasse; Bessie Davidson: An Australian in Paris, Craftsman House, Melbourne, 2003, p. 87
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 04, 2022
BESSIE DAVIDSON, LA ROBE BLEUE, 1911
Est: $300,000 - $400,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) LA ROBE BLEUE, 1911 oil on canvas 92.5 x 65.0 cm signed and dated lower left: Bessie Davidson 11 bears inscription on label verso: 191 PROVENANCE Beaussant – Lefevre, Paris, 11 December 2009, lot 217 Private collection Sotheby’s, London, 13 July 2010, lot 139 Private collection, New South Wales EXHIBITED Salon de la Société National des Beaux Arts, Grand Palais, Paris, 16 April – 30 June 1911, cat. 372 (as ‘Dame en robe bleue’) Bessie Davidson & Sally Smart – Two artists and the Parisian avant–garde, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 20 March – 26 July 2020 LITERATURE ‘Australasians at Paris Salons’, The Argus, Melbourne, 17 June 1911, p. 7 (as ‘Lady in the Blue Dress’) Curtin, P., (ed.), Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2020, p. 63 ESSAY In her catalogue essay accompanying the recent, long-overdue survey of Bessie Davidson’s achievements at the Bendigo Art Gallery, curator Tansy Curtain suggested the artist’s ‘depictions of women at leisure are perhaps the most intriguing and revealing of all her works’1 – and certainly, the magnificent La Robe Bleue, 1911 featured here would seem no exception. As the Argus critic, reviewing the representation of Australian artists at the 1911 Paris Salon, enthusiastically exclaimed of the painting (albeit with a touch of gender-prejudice typical of the era): ‘The city of Adelaide has produced an artist of rare and dainty talent in Miss Bessie Davidson. Her two pictures possess a charm special to the best painting of her sex. Considered as the work of a woman too much praise cannot be given to Miss Davidson’s “Lady in the Blue Dress”. Refinement, grace of execution, and rare colour are among its qualities.’2 An important work dating from her early life in Paris, La Robe Bleue captures exquisitely Davidson’s predilection for the subject of a woman alone in a domestic space, and the variety of states – loneliness, introversion, or pleasured independence – that might imply. In the present case, the figure appears in contemplation of some treasured possession (perhaps a photograph in a frame) and the mood is contented, with her elegant costume and surrounds conveying an air of genteel and cultured respectability. As with her depictions of women at leisure elsewhere, the figure is passive and does not meet our gaze; rather the viewer sneaks a furtive glimpse of her in a private moment of reflection or nostalgia. With its delicate pastel palette, mastery of tonalism and pensive subject, the composition unmistakably betrays the influence of American-born, British-based post-impressionist painter, James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 – 1903) in masterpieces such as his Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl, 1864 (Tate Gallery, London) and Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland, 1871 – 74 (The Frick Collection, New York). Also discernible are striking affinities with the oeuvre of prominent American artist, Richard Miller (1875 – 1943) who was working and teaching in Paris at the same time as Davidson, and with whom she took classes at the Académie Colarossi. Described by fellow Australian female expatriate, Hilda Rix Nicholas, as causing ‘a stir in Paris’3, Miller was renowned for his distinctive, highly decorative brand of impression, famously declaring in 1912 that that ‘Art’s mission is not literary, the telling of a story, but decorative, the conveying of a pleasant optical sensation.’4 Invariably depicting stylish Parisian women at leisure in luxurious, domestic settings or sunny, brilliantly-lit gardens, he frequently used his wife as a model and, given her profile resemblance to the figure in La Robe Bleue, it may well be that she is featured here. 1. Curtin, T., ‘Bessie Davidson: Painter of domestic avant-garde’ in Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2020, p. 13 2. ‘Australasians at Paris Salons’, The Argus, 17 June 1911 p. 7 (as ‘Lady in the Blue Dress’) 3. Hilda Rix Nicholas, ‘In search of beauty’, 14 May 1908, in ‘Annotated scrapbook’, Hilda Rix Nicholas Papers, National Library of Australia, Canberra. 4. Richard Miller, quoted at https://www.nadatabase.org/2018/07/17/richard-edward-miller/ VERONICA ANGELATOS
Deutscher and Hackett
Dec. 05, 2021
DAVIDSON Bessie (1879-1965), 'Country Stream', Oil on Board, 21.5x26cm
Est: $6,000 - $10,000
DAVIDSON, Bessie (1879-1965) 'Country Stream' Provenance: Lister Gallery, Perth, c1980; private collection, Perth. Oil on Board 21.5x26cm
Davidson Auctions
Nov. 10, 2021
BESSIE DAVIDSON, GRENOBLE, 1955
Est: $16,000 - $20,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) GRENOBLE, 1955 oil on board 34.5 x 41.0 cm signed and inscribed with title lower right: Bessie Davidson / Grenoble PROVENANCE Collection of the artist, Adelaide Thence by descent Private collection, Adelaide Thence by descent Private collection, Adelaide EXHIBITED Bessie Davidson & Sally Smart – Two artists and the Parisian avant–garde, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 20 March – 26 July 2020 LITERATURE Curtin, P., (ed.), Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2020, pp. 62 (illus.), 64 RELATED WORK Grenoble, 1943, oil on board, 17.0 x 23.0 cm, private collection, illus., in Curtin, P., (ed.), Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2020, p. 59
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 10, 2021
BESSIE DAVIDSON, LECTURE AU JARDIN, c.1935
Est: $280,000 - $350,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 - 1965) LECTURE AU JARDIN, c.1935 oil on plywood 94.0 x 114.0 cm signed lower right: Bessie Davidson PROVENANCE Private collection, Normandy, France Ornes Enchères, Alençon, France, 31 May 2014, lot 11 (as ‘La lecture au jardin’) Private collection, United Kingdom Daguerre Auctions, Paris, 27 May 2015, lot 252 (as ‘Femme à la chaise longue’) Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne Justin Miller Art, Sydney Private collection, New South Wales EXHIBITED Collectors’ Exhibition, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 6 August – 29 October 2016, (illus. in exhibition catalogue, pp. 46 – 7) Bessie Davidson & Sally Smart – Two artists and the Parisian avant–garde, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 20 March – 26 July 2020 LITERATURE Curtin, P., (ed.), Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2020, illus. front cover, pp. 45, 64 and illus. front cover ESSAY Bessie Davidson’s paintings have an engaging French accent, Gallic in mood and sophistication. Her still lifes, such as Autumn Table at Villeneuve, c.1938 (private collection), express the pleasures of food and wine, of seasonal tables abundant with fruits and flowers. Interiors are feminine and domestic, intimately reflective of those who live in them, while figures are elegantly at ease, attired in light colours of lively of texture. In her recent essay on Davidson, Tansy Curtin wrote: ‘Davidson’s depictions of women at leisure are perhaps the most intriguing and revealing of all her works. These women appear passive, not actively engaged with the viewer’.1 Davidson was born in Adelaide and studied under Margaret Preston (then Rose McPherson), first visiting Paris with her in 1904. Attending the Académie de la Grande, she exhibited in the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français and the Societe des Beaux-Arts. Although returning to Adelaide in 1906, four years later she finally settled in Paris. Her apartment on the Rue Boissonade, Montparnasse became her home and studio. Like Rupert Bunny, her countryman, she exhibited regularly in Paris, gaining much critical recognition. With ever-deepening French connections, Davidson’s life-long love is reflected in her numerous activities, associations and awards. Working as a nurse during World War I, in 1931 she was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur for art and humanity. The first Australian woman so honoured, she was also the first to be elected to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. A foundation member of the Salon des Tuileries and the Société Nationale des Indépendants, in 1930 she became Vice-President of the Société Nationale de Femmes Artistes Modernes. Although she loved France, like Bunny, she never gave up her Australian citizenship. The profiling of figures, seated indoors or in quiet, sunlit gardens, interested Davidson throughout her life in paintings characterised by the interplay of textured surfaces and pictorial illusions of depth. Fine examples include A French Interior, 1911 and Mother and Child, 1914, both in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. Together with Lecture au Jardin, ( Reading in the Garden), c.1935, each shares eye-catching figures and their gentle curves of relaxation. Recording the visual pleasures of the everyday with the light-filled verve of French Impressionism, Davidson later developed a more prominent sense of form and compositional structure allied to Paul Cézanne and Post Impressionism. It is this ‘Cézannesque’ style, which Davidson’s biographer, Penelope Little, describes as characterising ‘her most confident and productive years’.2 Celebrated in Lecture au Jardin, its brushwork is full of variety, with both vertical and horizontal strokes creating a fascinating picture surface. Images morph into the formal elements of painting - composition, colour, form and texture. Bathed in entrancing light, colours of subtle combination and harmonies of powerful diagonals beguile as one is drawn through the trees into the landscape beyond. Growing in self-assurance, Davidson moved more towards the semi-abstract from the 1920s onwards. A ready illustration of this transition is provided by comparing Femme au Canapé Rayé, 1919 (private collection)3 with the work on offer, and the closely related sundrenched, La Robe Jaune ( The Yellow Dress), 1931 (private collection, Sydney). Acquired by the prestigious Musée d’Art Moderne, Musée d’Orsay and the Musée du Petit Palais, in Paris, in 1999 the Australian Embassy, Paris, presented the exhibition, Bessie Davidson: Une Australienne en France, 1880-1965. And last year, the Bendigo Art Gallery staged Bessie Davidson & Sally Smart – Two artists and the Parisian avant-garde, which included Lecture au Jardin. Many years ago, a correspondent wrote from London that Bessie Davidson holds: ‘a distinguished position in the art world, perhaps the most gifted of Australian women painters’.4 1. Curtin, T., ‘Bessie Davidson: Painter of domestic avant-garde’, in Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2020, p. 13 2. Little, P., A Studio in Montparnasse; Bessie Davidson: An Australian in Paris, Craftsman House, Melbourne 2003, p. 87 3. Ibid., p. 179 (illus.) 4. ‘Letter from London: Miss Davidson succeeds’, News, Adelaide, 12 March 1929, p. 6. cited in Curtin, op.cit., p. 11 DAVID THOMAS
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 20, 2021
BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Interieur (1935) oil on board
Est: $200,000 - $250,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Interieur (1935) oil on board signed 'Bessie Davidson' lower right; signed and inscribed 'Davidson / 'Interieur' verso (on label) 124.5 x 104.5 cm PROVENANCE Bessie Davidson, Paris Private Collection, Adelaide, by descent from the above Osborne Gallery, Adelaide Private Collection, Adelaide, acquired from the above in 1967 Private Collection, Melbourne, by descent from the above Australian and International Fine Art, Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 16 April 2008, lot 29, illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Bessie Davidson, Osbourne Art Gallery, Adelaide, 31 May - 13 June 1967, no. 28 Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 20 March - 26 July 2020 LITERATURE Tansy Curtain, Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 2020, p. 64
Smith & Singer
Apr. 20, 2021
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Still Life (1930s) oil on board
Est: $15,000 - $25,000
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON 1879-1965 Still Life (1930s) oil on board signed 'Bessie Davidson' lower right 21.5 x 27 cm PROVENANCE: Bessie Davidson, Paris Private Collection, Adelaide, by descent from the above Adelaide Festival of Arts Auction, Theodore Bruce Auctions, Adelaide, 18 March 2012, lot 125, 'Floral Still Life with Green Glazed Hexagonal Vase', illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITIONS: Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 20 March - 26 July 2020 LITERATURE: Tansy Curtain, Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 2020, p. 64
Smith & Singer
Nov. 19, 2020
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Still Life with Books and Candlestick 1959
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Still Life with Books and Candlestick 1959 oil on board 70.0 x 60.0 cm signed and dated lower right: Bessie Davidson 1959
Menzies
Nov. 11, 2020
BESSIE DAVIDSON, INTÉRIEUR, c.1938
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879 – 1965) INTÉRIEUR, c.1938 oil on board 81.0 x 64.5 cm signed lower left: Bessie Davidson signed and inscribed verso: Bessie Davidson / No. 2 / 3 PROVENANCE Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide Warren & Bunty Bonython, Adelaide Mossgreen, Adelaide, 4 May 2014, lot 177 Private collection, New South Wales EXHIBITED 28e Groupe des Artistes de ce Temps (28th Group of Artists of our Time), Petit Palais, Paris, March – June 1938, cat. 2 Salon des Femmes Peintres (Salon of Women Artists), Paris, October 1938, cat.3 (label attached verso) Possibly: Bessie Davidson, Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide, 31 May – 13 June 1967 Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 20 March – 26 July 2020 LITERATURE Wilson, S. C., From the Shadow into the light: South Australian Women Artists Since Colonisation, Delmont Pty Ltd, South Australia, 1988, pl.43, p. 31 (illus. as ‘Interior’) Curtin, P. (ed.), Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, 2020, p.63 (as ‘Interieur 1930s’) ESSAY Adelaide-born Bessie Davidson spent most of her creative life in Paris, absorbing the elegance and sophistication which we associate with the French capital and manifesting it in her art. It touches her landscapes, and especially the interiors and still life paintings in which she excels- Intérieur being a fine example. Her excellence in this genre was, no doubt, influenced by her earlier association with Margaret Preston (then Rose McPherson), in whose studio she studied from 1899 to 1904. Together, they travelled abroad, Davidson continuing her studies at the Munich Künstlerinner Verein, and in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Although Davidson returned to Adelaide in 1906 and taught for a number of years with Preston, her home became Paris where, from 1910 until her death, her studio was in Rue Boissonade, Montparnasse. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, she joined the French Red Cross and worked voluntarily as a nurse. Afterwards, her involvement in French life and art led to her being the first Australian woman to be elected to the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She was also a founder-member of the Salon des Tuileries, and vice president of the Société Nationale des Femmes Artistes Modernes. Her contribution to French art and to the nation resulted in the 1931 award of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. She exhibited regularly in Paris and London, being included in the 1938 ‘L'Exposition du Groupe Feminin’ at the Petit Palais and, the following year, in the exhibition of French art that toured the U.S.A. Internationally, she is represented in the Musée d'Art Moderne, Musée d'Orsay, and Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, as well as in collections in The Netherlands, Edinburgh, and Fife. Like her friend and fellow-Australian artist resident in Paris, Rupert Bunny, she never gave up her Australian citizenship. The exhibition ‘Bessie Davidson: Une Australienne en France, 1880-1965’, was held at the Australian Embassy, Paris, May-July 1999 and recently the Bendigo Art Gallery curated the exhibition ‘Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris’. DAVID THOMAS
Deutscher and Hackett
Sep. 23, 2020
A WOOD FIGURE OF BUDDHA MYANMAR, PAGAN PERIOD, 12TH/13TH CENTURY
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
A WOOD FIGURE OF BUDDHA MYANMAR, PAGAN PERIOD, 12TH/13TH CENTURY With remains of red and gilt lacquer 64 3/4 in. (164.5 cm) high For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Jun. 26, 2019
Bessi Ellen DAVIDSON (1879-1965)
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
La couture dans le jardin et paysage
Maison Verneuil
Dec. 14, 2018
Bessie Ellen Davidson (1879–1965) - Flowers in a glass jug
Est: £6,000 - £8,000
Bessie Ellen Davidson (1879–1965) Flowers in a glass jug oil on board 17 ¾ x 15in. (45.2 x 38.1cm.)
Christie's
Oct. 25, 2018
Bessie Davidson (1879 - 1965) - Fleurs, 1942 39.5 x 32cm
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Bessie Davidson (1879 - 1965) Fleurs, 1942 oil on wood panel 39.5 x 32cm signed lower left; signed, dated and inscribed verso
Lawsons
Oct. 10, 2018
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Kitzbuhel, Austria oil on board
Est: $12,000 - $16,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Kitzbuhel, Austria oil on board double-sided signed on stretcher bar verso 92 x 73cm PROVENANCE: Private collection Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, 10 October 2014, lot 67 Private collection, Sydney
Leonard Joel
Oct. 10, 2018
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Landscape charcoal
Est: $800 - $1,200
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Landscape charcoal signed lower left: Bessie Davidson 21.5 x 27cm
Leonard Joel
Sep. 27, 2018
Bessie Davidson (1879 - 1965) - Fleurs, 1942 39.5 x 32cm
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Bessie Davidson (1879 - 1965) Fleurs, 1942 oil on wood panel 39.5 x 32cm signed lower left; signed, dated and inscribed verso
Lawsons
Jul. 29, 2018
DAVIDSON, Bessie (1879-1965)
Est: $700 - $1,200
French Peasant Woman with Shawl, 1905. Initialled & dated lower left. Preparatory sketch of nude verso. Ex collection of Conrad Kickert, France (Drouot-Richelieu auctions, Paris 10/10/2014, (lot 70) Oil on Canvas 92x73cm
Davidson Auctions
Feb. 01, 2018
BESSIE E DAVIDSON, SHORELINE, GOUACHE, 9.5 X 13 CM, INITIALLED BOTTOM RIGHT
Est: $460 - $550
BESSIE E DAVIDSON, SHORELINE, GOUACHE, 9.5 X 13 CM, INITIALLED BOTTOM RIGHT
Leonard Joel
Jan. 25, 2018
BESSIE E DAVIDSON, SHORELINE, GOUACHE, 9.5 X 13 CM, INITIALLED BOTTOM RIGHT
Est: $700 - $900
BESSIE E DAVIDSON, SHORELINE, GOUACHE, 9.5 X 13 CM, INITIALLED BOTTOM RIGHT
Leonard Joel
Dec. 14, 2017
BESSIE E DAVIDSON, SHORELINE, GOUACHE, 9.5 X 13 CM, INITIALLED BOTTOM RIGHT
Est: $1,000 - $1,200
BESSIE E DAVIDSON, SHORELINE, GOUACHE, 9.5 X 13 CM, INITIALLED BOTTOM RIGHT
Leonard Joel
Nov. 29, 2017
BESSIE DAVIDSON , (1879 – 1965) , KITZBUHEL, AUSTRIA, oil on canvas
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON , (1879 – 1965) , KITZBUHEL, AUSTRIA, oil on canvas SIGNED: bears inscription on frame verso: BESSIE DAVIDSON Munich DIMENSIONS: 85.0 x 66.0 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, 10 October 2014, lot 67 Company collection, Sydney
Deutscher and Hackett
Sep. 20, 2017
BESSIE DAVIDSON, (1879 1965), MARSEILLE, 1939, oil on wood panel
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON, (1879 1965), MARSEILLE, 1939, oil on wood panel SIGNED: signed lower right: Bessie Davidson signed, dated and inscribed with title verso: Marseilles [sic] 1939 / Bessie Davidson / BESSIE DAVIDSON DIMENSIONS: 18.0 x 23.0 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, United Kingdom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood, United Kingdom, 11 July 2017, lot 459 Private collection, Sydney
Deutscher and Hackett
Sep. 20, 2017
BESSIE DAVIDSON, (1879 1965), FLEURS, 1942, oil on wood panel
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON, (1879 1965), FLEURS, 1942, oil on wood panel SIGNED: signed lower left: Bessie Davidson signed, dated and inscribed with title verso: Fleurs / Bessie Davidson / 1942 DIMENSIONS: 39.5 x 32.0 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, United Kingdom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood, United Kingdom, 11 July 2017, lot 458 Private collection, Sydney
Deutscher and Hackett
Apr. 12, 2017
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSON (AUSTRALIAN, 1879-1965) One of the Three Gates, Tangi
Est: £3,000 - £5,000
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSON (AUSTRALIAN, 1879-1965) One of the Three Gates, Tangiers, Morocco oil on canvas 10 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. (27 x 21.8 cm.) There is an oil sketch of an interior on the reverse.
Christie's
Apr. 12, 2017
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSON (AUSTRALIAN, 1879-1965) Fontaine d’Argent, Aix-en- Pr
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSON (AUSTRALIAN, 1879-1965) Fontaine d’Argent, Aix-en- Provence signed and indistinctly inscribed ‘Bessie Davidson / Fontaine d’Argent / ... Aix ...’ (lower right) pencil, pen and ink and oil on card 9 1/2 x 12¡in. (24.2 x 31.4cm.)
Christie's
Nov. 22, 2016
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSON - BEACH SCENE GUETHARY - Oil on panel
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSON (1879-1965) BEACH SCENE GUETHARY Letter of authenticity verso Oil on panel 54 x 69cm $25,000/35,000
GFL Fine Art
Jun. 07, 2016
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Tree by the Lake oil on panel
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
§ BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Tree by the Lake oil on panel signed lower left: Bessie Davidson 32.5 x 23cm PROVENANCE: Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, 10 October 2014, lot 64 Private collection, Sydney
Leonard Joel
May. 31, 2016
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSON - VILLENEUVE - Oil on card
Est: $3,500 - $4,500
BESSIE ELLEN DAVIDSONVILLENEUVELucien LeFebvre stamp versoOil on card23 x 32cm$3,500/4,500
GFL Fine Art
May. 04, 2016
BESSIE DAVIDSON, (1879 - 1965), STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS AND PEARS, oil on cardboard
Est: $50,000 - $70,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON, (1879 - 1965), STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS AND PEARS, oil on cardboard SIGNED: signed lower right: Bessie Davidson signed and inscribed verso: Bessie Davidson - Fleurs DIMENSIONS: 61.0 x 46.0 cm PROVENANCE: Conrad Kickert, France Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, 10 October 2014, lot 54 Company collection, Melbourne ESSAY: Bessie Davidson gives to Still Life with Flowers and Pears a rich textural appeal combined with a subtlety of colour sense that marks her out as an artist of outstanding ability. Its Impressionist vivacity, achieved especially through the lively strokes of the brush, belies the notion of still, creating a feeling of enjoyment in the vibrant blend of dancing light and colour. Like her compatriot Rupert Bunny, she lived most of her creative life in France, and also like Bunny, never gave up her Australian citizenship. This gave her art a unique quality through the combination of the directness of the Australian character with the subtlety and enjoyment of life of the French. It is no surprise to learn that Davidson was the first Australian woman to be elected to the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, more generally known as the ‘New Salon’. Her many other French achievements included founder-member of the Salon des Tuileries, and vice-presidency of the Société Nationale des Femmes Artistes Modernes. In 1931 she was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur for her contribution to French art. While it took her home country a long time to give her something of the recognition she deserved – in 1999 the Australian Embassy in Paris staged the exhibition Besse Davidson: Une Australienne en France 1880-1965 – international recognition of her art was well enjoyed during her own time. A regular exhibitor in Paris and London, her work was included in the 1938 L’Exposition du Groupe Feminin at the Petit Palais, and the 1939 exhibition of French art to tour the United States of America. Her international representation rivals that of many other Australians, being in the prestigious Paris collections of the Musée d’Art Moderne, Musée d’Orsay and the Musée du Petit Palais. Her paintings are also in The Netherlands, Edinburgh, and all major collections, public and private, of Australian art. Born in Adelaide, Davidson was a student of Margaret Preston (then Rose McPherson), both sharing an interest in still life painting, travelling together and studying in Europe. While a sense of design and colour dominates Preston’s work, Davidson adds a touch of Parisian life and elegance to hers. The feeling of intimacy, of having the privilege of being alone with Still Life with Flowers and Pears, comes from its setting, most likely to have been painted in her Paris studio at Rue Boissonade, Montparnasse, where she lived from 1910. She gave her picture the simple yet embracing title ‘Fleurs’. DAVID THOMAS
Deutscher and Hackett
Sep. 24, 2015
Bessie Ellen Davidson (1879-1965) Flowers in a glass
Est: -
Bessie Ellen Davidson (1879-1965) Flowers in a glass
Christie's
Apr. 30, 2015
Bessie Davidson (1879-1965) Grenoble, 1943
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
Bessie Davidson (1879-1965) Grenoble, 1943 oil on board, signed l.r.c. 'Bessie Davidson', signed and dated verso 'Grenoble-l'ete 1943/Bessie Davidson' 17 x 23 cm
Shapiro Auctioneers
Dec. 11, 2014
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Untitled (Market Scene)
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965) Untitled (Market Scene) oil on paper 17.0 x 22.0 cm signed lower right: Bessie Davidson
Menzies
Dec. 02, 2014
BESSIE DAVIDSON (1879-1965)
Est: $900 - $1,200
Landscape with Building charcoal on paper signed lower right: Bessie Davidson 21 x 27cm
Leonard Joel
Oct. 09, 2014
Bessie Davidson (1879 - 1965) - Grenoble, 20th June 1943 17 x 23cm
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Bessie Davidson (1879 - 1965) Grenoble, 20th June 1943 oil on board 17 x 23cm signed lower right & inscribed on verso (in French) & (in English) on back board
Lawsons