The Russell Crowe 'Art of Divorce Auction' hosted by Sotherby's at the Carriage Works in Sydney, Australia on the 7 April, 2018 was on Russell's birthday and his wedding anniversary.
During the auction, the crowd sang 'Happy Birthday' to Russell, who then appeared from the behind a curtain to introduce the violin his character Captain Jack Aubrey played in the movie Master and Commander. There is a great short video of his appearance and talk at the auction on the News Corp Australia article referenced below (News Corp Australia, 2018).
After the auction and the results of sales were calculated Russell tweeted on this official Twitter account that his collection had fetched $3.7 million with some of the items still being negotiated and some being returned unsold. Russell had made considerably more than the target of $2.4 million.
The auction was streamed live on Facebook for interested buyers, collectors, journalists and fans wanting to have glance where ever they were in the world and had received over 124 000 views.
The traditional media in Australia and around the world reported on the auction, highlighting popular items and in particular movie props and how much they went for, the crowd who attended and Russell's guest appearance.
The Australian Financial Review focused on Russell's massive and unique Australian art collection that brought in the most money. The article states 'Yet in monetary terms paintings stood out - fetching 6 of the top 10 prices.' My favourite piece in the auction Brett Whiteley's 'Moreton Bay Fig and Palms' scored $231, 800 well above the estimate. I hope the painting found a good home as it is truly beautiful.
The Guardian journalist Bridget Delaney's story 'The night I had to choose between Russell Crowe and Jimmy Barnes' did not go unnoticed by Russell Crowe and was shared on his official Twitter account. He had seen her tweet 'Life or journalist circa 2018 - giving up your jimmy Barnes concert ticket because you've go to rewrite your story about @russellcrowe divorce auction'.
Russell saw the tweet in his time line and responded. 'Interesting, we haven't talked, and it hasn't taken place yet...so ...just making stuff up are we? Haha. Go to the gig. I can't deal with being responsible for you missing the legend that is Jimmy Barnes' and circulated the tweet to which the fans responded.
I will let you read the story to find out what happened. I thought this particular story was brilliant. After the story was published Russell Crowe shared it on his official Twitter account and responded. 'How can you not like this writer? I'm so sorry for ruining your Jimmy Barnes experience. Next time I'm having a divorce auction, I'm going to run my dates past you first. I hope you get to see the Jimmy Barnes show.'
When I read something like this journalist's (and the fan's) experience with Russell Crowe who may think that he isn't looking and reading his official Twitter account I feel mighty grateful at just being blocked when I spoke my mind.
It is really easy to misunderstand someone on Twitter as the journalist explained and respond without thinking what one is tweeting. Many fans defend Russell without really understanding what he tweeted and it can be difficult for those on the receiving end of fan's misunderstandings.
I certainly wish I had lived in such close proximity to be able to attend a showing of the items and the auction itself even though it was shown on Facebook.
I have included a copy of Russell Crowe's tweets from his official Twitter account, a photograph taken at the auction and an edited copy of Bridget Delaney's story below. The full reference of the article is below. No copyright infringement intended.
References
Australian Financial Review, (2018). 'Forget the jockstrap, art was the star in Russell Crowe's gala sale.' published at afr.com on 11 April, 2018.
Associated Press, (2018). 'Russell Crowe cashed in at Art of Divorce auction.' published at theguardian.com on 7 April, 2018.
Delaney, B. (2018), 'The night I had to choose between Russell Crowe and Jimmy Barnes.' published at theguardian.com on 11 April, 2018.
O'Mailey, N. (2018). 'Russell Crowe bids farewell to his old life.' published at smh.com.au on 7 April, 2018.
News Corp Australia (2018), 'Russell Crowe holds extraodinary divorce auction where items go for massive amounts.' published at news.com.au on 11 April, 2018.
Tobin, M. (2018). 'Russell Crowe holds 'Art of Divorce' auction in Sydney, selling Gladiator armour and more.' published at abc.net.au. on 8 April, 2018.
'The night I had to choose between Russell Crowe and Jimmy Barnes' by Brigid Delaney published in theguardian.com on 11 April, 2018.
It was a warm night in Newcastle and the theatre was filling up with excited Jimmy Barnes fans who had tickets to see his new show – a spoken-word performance combined with song that was opening the Newcastle writers festival.
I had just relinquished my Barnesy ticket to a festival volunteer – I had to go back to my hotel and rewrite my story about Russell Crowe’s divorce auction.
I’d studied the catalogue that week and written about some of my favourite items of movie memorabilia, with my recollections of Rusty in those roles. They were the early parts: Proof, The Sum of Us, Romper Stomper.
But where was the Gladiator reference, asked my editor? In Guardian parlance, this was a “global story”. And did we really need to know so much about the Balmain workers’ cottage where The Sum of Us was set? It needed to be rewritten straight away.
So I said goodbye to my friends going to see Barnesy. I was in a bad mood and tweeted: “Life of a journalist circa 2018 : giving up your jimmy Barnes concert ticket because you’ve got to rewrite your story about @russellcrowe divorce auction.”
Fellow journalists responded – their news desks had sent them to cover the Crowe auction, which was being held in Sydney on Saturday night....
....Back in the hotel I browsed the catalogue again: that flimsy codpiece from Cinderella Man, that yellow shirt from Proof, the endless lots of guitars, the fake swords, the cricket bats and jerseys pinned behind glass, the envy-inducing art collection, the diamond rings.
Then, just as I settled in to rewrite the piece, came another tweet – from @russellcrowe himself:
“Interesting . We haven’t talked , and it hasn’t taken place yet ... so...just making stuff up are we ? Haha
I have included a copy of Russell Crowe's tweets from his official Twitter account, a photograph taken at the auction and an edited copy of Bridget Delaney's story below. The full reference of the article is below. No copyright infringement intended.
References
Australian Financial Review, (2018). 'Forget the jockstrap, art was the star in Russell Crowe's gala sale.' published at afr.com on 11 April, 2018.
Associated Press, (2018). 'Russell Crowe cashed in at Art of Divorce auction.' published at theguardian.com on 7 April, 2018.
Delaney, B. (2018), 'The night I had to choose between Russell Crowe and Jimmy Barnes.' published at theguardian.com on 11 April, 2018.
O'Mailey, N. (2018). 'Russell Crowe bids farewell to his old life.' published at smh.com.au on 7 April, 2018.
News Corp Australia (2018), 'Russell Crowe holds extraodinary divorce auction where items go for massive amounts.' published at news.com.au on 11 April, 2018.
Tobin, M. (2018). 'Russell Crowe holds 'Art of Divorce' auction in Sydney, selling Gladiator armour and more.' published at abc.net.au. on 8 April, 2018.
'The night I had to choose between Russell Crowe and Jimmy Barnes' by Brigid Delaney published in theguardian.com on 11 April, 2018.
It was a warm night in Newcastle and the theatre was filling up with excited Jimmy Barnes fans who had tickets to see his new show – a spoken-word performance combined with song that was opening the Newcastle writers festival.
I had just relinquished my Barnesy ticket to a festival volunteer – I had to go back to my hotel and rewrite my story about Russell Crowe’s divorce auction.
I’d studied the catalogue that week and written about some of my favourite items of movie memorabilia, with my recollections of Rusty in those roles. They were the early parts: Proof, The Sum of Us, Romper Stomper.
But where was the Gladiator reference, asked my editor? In Guardian parlance, this was a “global story”. And did we really need to know so much about the Balmain workers’ cottage where The Sum of Us was set? It needed to be rewritten straight away.
So I said goodbye to my friends going to see Barnesy. I was in a bad mood and tweeted: “Life of a journalist circa 2018 : giving up your jimmy Barnes concert ticket because you’ve got to rewrite your story about @russellcrowe divorce auction.”
Fellow journalists responded – their news desks had sent them to cover the Crowe auction, which was being held in Sydney on Saturday night....
....Back in the hotel I browsed the catalogue again: that flimsy codpiece from Cinderella Man, that yellow shirt from Proof, the endless lots of guitars, the fake swords, the cricket bats and jerseys pinned behind glass, the envy-inducing art collection, the diamond rings.
Then, just as I settled in to rewrite the piece, came another tweet – from @russellcrowe himself:
“Interesting . We haven’t talked , and it hasn’t taken place yet ... so...just making stuff up are we ? Haha
Go to the gig . I can’t deal with being responsible for you missing the legend that is @JimmyBarnes .”
Russell Crowe was ordering me to get the Jimmy Barnes concert!
Did his directive override that of my editor? I could hear Crowe’s beautiful, mellow but commanding baritone (his Master and Commander voice – “Men must be governed!”) urging me back to Hunter Street to see Barnes, to lose myself in those anthemic, jangling, evocative first chords of Working Class Man (“Wor-kiiiing hard to make livin’/ seeking shelter from the rain/ father’s son meant to caaaarry on/ Blue denim in his veins/ wwwwooooh o o o he’s a working class man!!”).
But then there was the first part of his tweet with its odd punctuation: “ Interesting . We haven’t talked , and it hasn’t taken place yet ... so...just making stuff up are we ? Haha ”
It seemed a little menacing in an LA Confidential kind of way, as opposed to a Romper Stomper-level, boot-on-neck menace.
Crowe was accusing me of “making stuff up” – then he added a “Haha” to the end. Was it a funny haha (as in “just joking”??) or an evil haha? It’s so hard to tell on Twitter.
Nick O’Malley told me he also received twitter response from Crowe: “At first he ordered me not to attend as I was obviously ‘not the right man for the job’ then relented, apologised for stuffing up my weekend and told me to bring a hip flask.”
After reading Crowe’s tweet to me, another journalist, Shannon Molloy, challenged Crowe: “This seems unnecessarily bitchy, Rusty.”
My breath quickened as I read the exchanges. Would it possible that this would end up with me fighting Russell Crowe, JUST LIKE GLADIATOR???!!
It would be a fight I was sure to lose. Rusty’s fans (he has 2.76 million followers) had already started trolling me, along with O’Malley, who had complained about having to cover the auction on a Saturday night.
My Twitter defence sounded pathetic. I assured Crowe that I loved his art collection! He has great taste (he does have very good taste, that much is true)! And it was true I hadn’t spoken to him – but I was writing about his auction catalogue, not him! I didn’t need to speak to him! And my piece was a preview – that is why it was written before the auction took place.
(Subtext: Please like me, Russell! I am not like journalists who make shit up about you!!)
Meanwhile my deadline approached. Barnes was already an hour into what would be a three-hour performance and I still hadn’t rewritten the piece I was missing the concert for.
It was now hard to focus on my auction catalogue story with Crowe and his followers in my ear. Twitter – for me just a place for mindless banter, random thoughts and sharing story links – was now living up to its meta potential. As I wrote a story about Crowe in a hotel room in Newcastle, he was speaking directly to me, while his trolling fans provided a shrieking background chorus and my friends offered murmured, unhelpful asides such as: “If there’s a more Australian tweet out there I’ll eat my hat,” and “Why does he put spaces before punctuation. It’s weird and unsettling.”
The auction went ahead. It was a roaring success, smashing expectations and bringing in what Crowe described as “$3.7m at the coal face”.
At the writers festival I kept checking my phone, half fearful, half hoping Crowe had tweeted me again.
He didn’t. He had moved on to challenging New Idea magazine for writing what looked to be a fairly far-fetched story that he was in love with the radio personality Fifi Box (“something so wrong with the leadership of this magazine”).
And he tweeted a mega closeup of his beard.
But this is an unchallengeable truth: one weekend in Newcastle I had to choose between spending a night with Jimmy Barnes or Russell Crowe – and I chose you, Rusty, you.
Russell Crowe was ordering me to get the Jimmy Barnes concert!
Did his directive override that of my editor? I could hear Crowe’s beautiful, mellow but commanding baritone (his Master and Commander voice – “Men must be governed!”) urging me back to Hunter Street to see Barnes, to lose myself in those anthemic, jangling, evocative first chords of Working Class Man (“Wor-kiiiing hard to make livin’/ seeking shelter from the rain/ father’s son meant to caaaarry on/ Blue denim in his veins/ wwwwooooh o o o he’s a working class man!!”).
But then there was the first part of his tweet with its odd punctuation: “ Interesting . We haven’t talked , and it hasn’t taken place yet ... so...just making stuff up are we ? Haha ”
It seemed a little menacing in an LA Confidential kind of way, as opposed to a Romper Stomper-level, boot-on-neck menace.
Crowe was accusing me of “making stuff up” – then he added a “Haha” to the end. Was it a funny haha (as in “just joking”??) or an evil haha? It’s so hard to tell on Twitter.
Nick O’Malley told me he also received twitter response from Crowe: “At first he ordered me not to attend as I was obviously ‘not the right man for the job’ then relented, apologised for stuffing up my weekend and told me to bring a hip flask.”
After reading Crowe’s tweet to me, another journalist, Shannon Molloy, challenged Crowe: “This seems unnecessarily bitchy, Rusty.”
My breath quickened as I read the exchanges. Would it possible that this would end up with me fighting Russell Crowe, JUST LIKE GLADIATOR???!!
It would be a fight I was sure to lose. Rusty’s fans (he has 2.76 million followers) had already started trolling me, along with O’Malley, who had complained about having to cover the auction on a Saturday night.
My Twitter defence sounded pathetic. I assured Crowe that I loved his art collection! He has great taste (he does have very good taste, that much is true)! And it was true I hadn’t spoken to him – but I was writing about his auction catalogue, not him! I didn’t need to speak to him! And my piece was a preview – that is why it was written before the auction took place.
(Subtext: Please like me, Russell! I am not like journalists who make shit up about you!!)
Meanwhile my deadline approached. Barnes was already an hour into what would be a three-hour performance and I still hadn’t rewritten the piece I was missing the concert for.
It was now hard to focus on my auction catalogue story with Crowe and his followers in my ear. Twitter – for me just a place for mindless banter, random thoughts and sharing story links – was now living up to its meta potential. As I wrote a story about Crowe in a hotel room in Newcastle, he was speaking directly to me, while his trolling fans provided a shrieking background chorus and my friends offered murmured, unhelpful asides such as: “If there’s a more Australian tweet out there I’ll eat my hat,” and “Why does he put spaces before punctuation. It’s weird and unsettling.”
The auction went ahead. It was a roaring success, smashing expectations and bringing in what Crowe described as “$3.7m at the coal face”.
At the writers festival I kept checking my phone, half fearful, half hoping Crowe had tweeted me again.
He didn’t. He had moved on to challenging New Idea magazine for writing what looked to be a fairly far-fetched story that he was in love with the radio personality Fifi Box (“something so wrong with the leadership of this magazine”).
And he tweeted a mega closeup of his beard.
But this is an unchallengeable truth: one weekend in Newcastle I had to choose between spending a night with Jimmy Barnes or Russell Crowe – and I chose you, Rusty, you.
