Albert Namatjira paintings auctioned by son of late mining millionaire Sir John Galvin

Washington, England: Three distinctive watercolour landscapes by pioneering Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira, once owned by an eccentric Australian media and mining millionaire, have sold at auction in a rural English village.

The paintings, thought to have been personally bought by Sir John Galvin from Namatjira in the 1950s, were sold on Wednesday to a mystery online buyer for a combined £61,000 ($120,000). One of the three works, titled Australian Landscape with Ghost Gum Tree and Mountains, went for £26,000 – well above the pre-sale estimate of £12,000.

Namatjira’s work, which helped to spearhead contemporary Indigenous Australian art and bring it to light in the Western world, is still rarely found in Britain besides the one gifted to the late Queen Elizabeth II on her 21st birthday in 1947.

Seven years later, the first Indigenous artist to receive international acclaim met the young Elizabeth during her 1954 coronation tour and presented her with another work.

Galvin was also the previous owner of a Namatjira painting, Waters of the Finke, which sold at Smith & Singer, Double Bay, in 2022 for $200,000 and set a record price for his work.

Tim Williams, a fine art consultant for Toovey’s auction house at Washington, about 80 kilometres south-west of London, said it was a rare opportunity for collectors to acquire pieces that embodied the spirit and beauty of the Australian landscape, as seen through the eyes of one of the country’s most important artists.

“Outside of the examples owned by the late Queen Elizabeth II, it is extremely rare to find Albert Namatjira’s work in the United Kingdom, let alone available to purchase on the British art market,” Williams said.

The three paintings were put up for auction by one of Galvin’s sons, who lives in West Sussex and inherited them from his father, a self-made multi-millionaire who amassed his wealth through ventures in media and mining.