Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
The Australian art world has been left reeling by the news that leading art dealer Tim Klingender, 59, has been found dead in Sydney Harbour near Watsons Bay in Sydney’s east following a suspected boating accident.
“He leaves behind a huge vacuum for Indigenous art in this country and around the world … he truly was the architect of the market we have today,” long-time friend and associate, Melbourne gallerist D’Lan Davidson, one of the world’s leading dealers in Indigenous art, said on Friday.
Leading art dealer Tim Klingender.Credit: John Woudstra
Marine police were called about 10.20am on Thursday after receiving reports of boating debris floating in the water.
The body was recovered after a small vessel was found overturned near rocks off Watsons Bay.
On Friday morning, friends and associates confirmed the body had been formally identified, while a search continues for a possible second body.
Three Marine Rescue NSW boats joined police about 8am on Friday to continue the search for the second body. A volunteer crew from Botany Port Hacking has also joined the search effort.
Marine police recover a body off Watsons Bay in Sydney’s east.Credit: OnScene Bondi
Marine Rescue NSW Inspector Steve Raymond said crews were conducting a parallel line search from The Gap south to Wedding Cake Island off Coogee.
“Sea conditions around the search area are fair; there is a bit of a swell but visibility is fairly good for the Marine Rescue NSW search crews,” Raymond said.
Shocked friends said Klingender, a father of two teenage children and a keen angler, had gone out on the boat for a fishing expedition early on Thursday morning. His wife Skye McCardle was travelling in Nepal this week but was due to return to Sydney later today.
“No one cared more about the strength and direction of Indigenous art … his knowledge and passion was extraordinary,” gallerist Scott Livesey said on Friday.
The wreck of a boat that is believed to have crashed near rocks at Watsons Bay.Credit: Nine News
Klingender was considered one of the world’s leading dealers of Australian Indigenous art, having trained at the University of Melbourne where he graduated with a BA in fine art. He counted wealthy private collectors and Hollywood celebrities, including comedian Steve Martin, among his clients.
He was employed for 20 years by Sotheby’s, where he was an international director between 1998 and 2009.
After establishing a contemporary art department for Sotheby’s, Australia, in 1994, he founded Sotheby’s Aboriginal art department in 1996, touring highlights of these sales internationally each year to cities including New York, London and Paris before their auction in Australia.
He was widely regarded and respected for establishing an ethical international market in the field of Australian Indigenous art.
In 2009, he established Tim Klingender Fine Art and, from 2011 to 2013, continued his interest in fine art auctioneering in his role as senior consultant to Bonhams auction house.
Most recently, he was contracted as senior consultant, Australian art to Sotheby’s internationally, overseeing Aboriginal art auctions in London between 2015 and 2018.
Since 2019 he has presented these auctions in New York, and, in 2022, the sales were moved to May, alongside the marquee month sales that include Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art, setting new world records for Australian Indigenous artefacts, bark paintings, sculpture and for a living Australian Indigenous artist, with Michael Nelson Tjakamarra’s Five Dreamings selling for $687,875.
In May, he represented First Nations artists at Sotheby’s New York auction, where pieces such Jean-Michel Basquiat’s El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) sold for $101 million.
An unidentified European collector paid a record $US762,000 for Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula’s Water and Bush Tucker Story.
Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.
Most Viewed in National
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article