Charles Raymond Blackman Auction Prices and Value Guide

Charles Raymond Blackman auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 6,374 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Charles Raymond Blackman auction prices: quick answer

Charles Raymond Blackman auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Charles Raymond Blackman
Source records
6,374
Market update
2026-02-06

Artist context

About Charles Raymond Blackman

Charles Raymond Blackman (1928–2018) was a major Australian painter and printmaker whose imagery drew on dreamlike narrative, childhood, and literary themes. He rose to prominence in the 1950s with three linked bodies of work—the Schoolgirl series, the Avonsleigh series, and the Alice in Wonderland series—that established his reputation for poetic, psychologically charged figurative painting. Blackman was a founding member of the Antipodeans, a Melbourne-based group that championed figurative art during the rise of abstract expressionism, alongside Arthur Boyd, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, John Perceval, and Clifton Pugh. His work is held in Australian state and national galleries and appears regularly at auction in Australasia and beyond. Blackman lived and worked in Sydney for much of his later life and continued painting until shortly before his death in 2018.

Antipodeansoil paintingprintmakingschoolgirlsAlice in Wonderland themes

Common works and media

Blackman's auction and appraisal profile includes oil on canvas or board paintings, watercolours, charcoal and pastel drawings, and a substantial body of screenprints, lithographs, and etchings. Common subjects include schoolgirl figures in urban settings, Alice in Wonderland-inspired compositions, cats, faces, and dreamlike domestic scenes. Editioned prints—particularly those related to the Alice in Wonderland and Schoolgirl themes—circulate frequently. Later works from his Sydney period often revisit these motifs in a looser, more expressive style.

Market and appraisal context

Charles Blackman's auction footprint in the Appraisily record index spans 56 lots from February 2020 through June 2025, with 21 carrying a realised price. The market is anchored by mid-tier Australian auction houses—Aalders Auctions, Raffan Kelaher & Thomas, Leski Auctions, Kerleys, Lawsons, and McKenzies—alongside Deutscher and Hackett, a nationally recognised fine-art saleroom. Prices cluster tightly in the AUD 120–360 band (P25 AUD 200, median AUD 300, P75 AUD 360), reflecting a high volume of editioned prints, screenprints, lithographs, and works on paper. The recorded maximum of AUD 5,600 indicates that unique or earlier-period works can command substantially more. Lot volume has tapered in the most recent twelve months (4 lots versus 17 in the prior period), which may reflect seasonal timing, a shift toward private sales, or data collection lag rather than a structural decline. The record set is heavily weighted toward prints and multiples; major oil paintings from the 1950s Schoolgirl and Alice in Wonderland series—which are the artist's most sought-after works—are underrepresented in this sample, and their market likely operates through the upper-tier Australian salerooms and dealer channels not fully captured here.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Australian & International Paintings
  • Prints & Multiples
  • oil painting
  • printmaking

Value drivers

  1. Series identification matters: Schoolgirl and Alice in Wonderland works are the most recognized and sought-after
  2. Provenance and exhibition history can significantly affect value for a listed Australian artist with major gallery representation
  3. Medium and date: 1950s paintings from the key series tend to be more significant than later works
  4. Medium: oil paintings from key 1950s series command a different price tier than editioned prints, which dominate the observed record set.
  5. Series identification: Schoolgirl, Alice in Wonderland, and Avonsleigh series works are the most recognised and sought-after; later series (e.g. Orpheus, 2006) appear in the data at print-level prices.
  6. Period: 1950s works are generally more significant than later-career revisitations of the same themes.

Appraisal caveats

  • The source pack does not include specific auction-house records or realized prices; appraisal should reference current comparable lots from major Australian and international auction houses.
  • Prints and multiples by Blackman circulate widely and may differ materially in value from unique paintings.
  • Later-career works and works outside the major series may have different market profiles.
  • Only 21 of 56 indexed lots carry a realised price; unsold or price-not-recorded lots are excluded from price distribution statistics and may skew the picture upward.

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Charles Raymond Blackman

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Charles Raymond Blackman worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Charles Raymond Blackman artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.