‘Everyone wants a piece of Barry': Humphries' art hits auction highs
Some 98 objects, mostly packed up from Barry Humphries' Sydney home, went under the hammer on Monday night in an Australian auction of his personal art which exceeded auction house Leonard Joel's most optimistic sale expectations. All up the Australian sale netted $477,112 including buyers' premium.
'He'd be saying, 'I told you I was good!', and he'd be planning an exhibition,' said son Oscar, from London as he watched the auction live.
With his share of the proceeds, Oscar Humphries said he would frame works he held by his father and raised the idea of funding a comedy prize in Melbourne 'for people who are actually funny'.
In 2019, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival stripped Barry Humphries's name from the festival's biggest award, following furore over the performer's comments about transgender people.
'If someone wants to match me we could talk,' said Oscar. 'We could recreate the Barry awards. I'm good for $50,000, but I have got to find a partner.'
The opening lot at the auction was a framed watercolour and pen likeness by Humphries of his comic creation Dame Edna. It signalled the excitable buyer interest that was to come for works by the comic, selling for $17,000 under the hammer or $21,250 with buyers' premium. It had a top estimate before auction of $3000.
Caricatures penned by Humphries while on the road in Australia, the US, Greece and elsewhere fetched several thousand dollars a piece.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
23 minutes ago
- West Australian
Work from home a legal right in Australian-first reform
Employees will be legally allowed to demand to work from home two days a week if an Australian-first proposed law is passed. The Victorian government has promised to introduce legislation to make working from home a right in 2026, in contrast to other states that want public servants to spend more time in the office. The proposed law would apply to all public and private sector employees in Victoria who can reasonably do their job from home. Yet to be determined are the legislation's definition of remote work, who can do it and the types of businesses the law would apply to, but the government promised to consult before its introduction to parliament in 2026. It sets up a major contest with business groups in an election year, with Labor seeking a fourth consecutive term that polls indicate it's on track to win. The November 2026 election will be the first as premier for Jacinta Allan, who lags opposition leader Brad Battin as preferred state leader. Ms Allan said legislating the right to work from home was good for families and the economy. "Not everyone can work from home, but everyone can benefit," she said. "If you can do your job from home, we'll make it your right." The coalition's push to end to working-from-home for public servants was partly blamed for its unsuccessful result at the May federal election, despite abandoning the policy before polling day. NSW Premier Chris Minns has described remote-work provisions as a thing of the past but stopped short of seeking an end to working from home, instead ordering public servants to work principally in offices. More than one third of Australian employees usually work from home but that number swells to 60 per cent of managers and people in professional services, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The bureau says 43 per cent who work from home do overtime, compared to one quarter of those who do not.
Perth Now
23 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Work from home a legal right in Australian-first reform
Employees will be legally allowed to demand to work from home two days a week if an Australian-first proposed law is passed. The Victorian government has promised to introduce legislation to make working from home a right in 2026, in contrast to other states that want public servants to spend more time in the office. The proposed law would apply to all public and private sector employees in Victoria who can reasonably do their job from home. Yet to be determined are the legislation's definition of remote work, who can do it and the types of businesses the law would apply to, but the government promised to consult before its introduction to parliament in 2026. It sets up a major contest with business groups in an election year, with Labor seeking a fourth consecutive term that polls indicate it's on track to win. The November 2026 election will be the first as premier for Jacinta Allan, who lags opposition leader Brad Battin as preferred state leader. Ms Allan said legislating the right to work from home was good for families and the economy. "Not everyone can work from home, but everyone can benefit," she said. "If you can do your job from home, we'll make it your right." The coalition's push to end to working-from-home for public servants was partly blamed for its unsuccessful result at the May federal election, despite abandoning the policy before polling day. NSW Premier Chris Minns has described remote-work provisions as a thing of the past but stopped short of seeking an end to working from home, instead ordering public servants to work principally in offices. More than one third of Australian employees usually work from home but that number swells to 60 per cent of managers and people in professional services, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The bureau says 43 per cent who work from home do overtime, compared to one quarter of those who do not.
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Great place to live': The Melbourne region where home sellers made the most money
Although Melbourne was one of the least profitable capital cities for property resales during the March quarter of 2025, one local government area stood out with the highest median profit. According to the latest Pain & Gain Report from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), 11.3 per cent of all Melbourne home sales were loss-making in the March quarter. However, sellers in the City of Bayside local government area (LGA) made a median profit of $608,000, the highest average profit across all Melbourne regions. This was almost $80,000 above the second most profitable LGA, Nillumbik Shire, at $528,500. In third place was Manningham Council, with a median profit of $520,000. Bayside is home to 'blue-chip' suburbs including Brighton, Sandringham and Hampton, and this contributes to why it made the most profit, said Eliza Owen, Cotality head of Australian research. 'Because it contains blue-chip areas of the Melbourne market, over time, because of their desirability and scarcity of housing, it has accrued a lot of value,' she said. Owen said this return had been consistent despite slower growth rates in the area. 'Because it is inherently a blue-chip market, it reliably returns very decent profit, particularly for house owners who have been in the area for a long time,' she said. The median hold period in Bayside for profit-making sales – the period during which a home is owned before selling – was the longest of Melbourne's LGAs, at 13.4 years.
