First Nations and Australian Fine Art Auction at Art Leven

Overview

It's been a big start to 2026 for Art Leven, Australia's longest-running gallery dedicated to contemporary First Nations art. Launching its new three-storey gallery in Woolloomooloo, having operated from Redfern for the previous four decades, Art Leven is set to host a fine art auction featuring the Bashir collection — the vast work of former Governor of New South Wales Dame Marie Bashir and Sir Nicholas Shehadie, her husband and former Lord Mayor of Sydney.

Going live online on Saturday, May 2, the auction will feature approximately 115 artworks by leading First Nations and Australian artists, showcasing Bashir and Shehadie's long-standing advocacy for First Nations art. All told, the auction features 79 artworks from the private art collection, shaped by decades of travel to remote art centres and close relationships with the artists themselves, including Balang John Mawurndjul AM, Albert Namatjira, Queenie McKenzie and Rover Thomas Joolama.

Nicholas Shehadie (right) and Rover Thomas in Warmun. Credit: Supplied.

In addition, Art Leven will present these works publicly for the first time, with an exhibition taking over the gallery from Monday, May 15–Friday, May 19. Alongside the remarkable pieces, the exhibition reveals fascinating archival material, spanning exhibition catalogues, handwritten notes and price lists from pioneering galleries gathered by Bashir and Shehadie, as well as fellow collectors and advocates Elizabeth Laverty and Anne Lewis. Together, this group played a formative role in bringing Aboriginal art to the broader Australian art community.

"With all that Dame Marie Bashir accomplished — as Governor of New South Wales, medical professor, musician, and lifelong community advocate — she still found time to be deeply engaged with the lives of Indigenous artists and the power of their work. I can not think of a more fitting collection to launch our new location in Woolloomooloo," says Art Leven director Mirri Leven.

Yinarupa Nangala, Untitled - Mukula (2008).

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Images: Robert Campbell Jr, Shooting the Blacks (1987).