Brand New Villa 1994



Alternate title (?): Corner House

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 165.3 x 122

Signed and dated [on reverse: ‘Howard Arkley 94’: according to Sotheby’s 2010]

Coll.: unknown

The painting reproduced here, a refined example of Arkley’s mid 90s monochrome manner, was exhibited and auctioned after Arkley’s death as ‘Corner House’ (see details below). However, according to new information received in 2023, it is inherently likely that it was first exhibited in 1994, under the title shown above, at the Bellas Gallery, Brisbane (2023 email correspondence from Simon Wright, Bellas Gallery manager c.1993-98).

The dimensions and style of this canvas are consistent with other paintings included in the 1994 Bellas exhibition (compare e.g. Grace with Space 1994). When it was auctioned by Sotheby’s in April 2010, Geoffrey Smith described it in the catalogue as ‘the most significant example [of Arkley’s monochrome works from this period] to appear at auction’.

In general composition and treatment, this painting is clearly closely related to Corner House (study) (1995) [W/P], shown in Arkley’s ‘White + Black’ exhibition at Tolarno in 1995. The composition first appeared, in colour, in Hedge on Street Corner 1988 and Untitled (1988) [Hedge], and then in modified form in Corner House with Hedge 1989 and Indoors-Outdoors (1994). The present work is in fact most closely related to the tonal and decorative elegance of the latter painting, one of the most impressive canvases in the ‘Pointillist Suburb’ series exhibited at Tolarno Galleries in November 1994. Alison Burton adds that the decoration of the hedge area in both the present work and Indoors-Outdoors (1994) is based on a stencil she introduced to Arkley in the early 1990s (communication June 2011).

Provenance

  • Bellas Gallery 1994 (listed in Arkley’s 1993-6 stock-book): as ‘Brand New Villa’
  • With Metro 5, Melbourne, 2002, as ‘Corner House’ (see exh.details below)
  • Private collection, Melbourne (noted with details and photo in NGVA planning notes 2006)
  • Auctioned by Sotheby’s, Melbourne, 20 April 2010, lot 102, as ‘Corner House’ (details and photo as shown here; est.$80-100,000; sold for $96,000 plus buyer’s premium)

Exhibited

  • (probably) HA Bellas 5/94, cat.7, as ‘Brand New Villa’  (see comments above)
  • HA Metro 5, 2/02, cat.13, as Corner House 1994, priced at $130,000 (no photo)