Art Dealer Tim Klingender Found Dead in Sydney Harbour

Tim Klingender, director of Aboriginal Art at Sotheby's Australia, straightens the painting "Uluru" (1967) by Rover Thomas at Sotheby's in Melbourne, on July 26, 2004. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)

Tributes are pouring in for leading Indigenous art dealer Tim Klingender, who was killed in a suspected boating accident in Sydney Harbour.

Friends and associates confirmed a body found in the water at Watsons Bay, in Sydney’s east, on Thursday morning was that of the 59-year-old.

Melbourne gallerist D'Lan Davidson said Mr. Klingender was “the architect of the market we have today.”

“He leaves behind a huge vacuum for Indigenous art in this country and around the world,” Mr. Davidson said on Friday.

Sydney gallerist Michael Reid said the art community has received the news with “profound sadness.”

“The death of Tim Klingender was an unimaginable and devastating loss to his family and indeed the Australian art-world,” he said.

“Tim was quick to laugh. First in on adventure and always up for a chat ... [he] had ability, warmth, and presence, in spades.”

Mr. Klingender helped uncover fraudster couple Pamela and Ivan Libertos, who sold $300,000 worth of forged paintings they claimed were by Aboriginal artists.

The then-head of Sotheby’s Aboriginal art section was approached by the couple in 2005 to sell a painting of a rainbow serpent they claimed was by renowned artist, Rover Thomas.

After noticing similarities between the piece and another sold by the couple a year earlier, Mr. Klingender raised the alarm and police were alerted.

Melbourne art critic Mark Holsworth said Mr. Klingender had a good reputation for ethical dealing in Indigenous art.

Friends said the art dealer had gone out on a boat for a fishing expedition early on Thursday.

NSW Police Marine Area Command initially responded to reports of boating debris floating in the water off Watsons Bay.

Officers recovered the body of a man in the water of the debris field, police said in a statement on Friday.

Police have been searching for another man also thought to be onboard, who remains unaccounted for but is presumed dead.

The large search for the second man was significantly scaled down from Sunday.

Efforts to locate the missing man had been extensive.

“We threw the police divers at it and they searched 1000 metres of shoreline and underwater areas looking for the second person,” Marine Area Command Superintendent Joe McNulty said.

Mr. Klingender was the international director of auction house Sotheby’s between 1998 and 2009.

He founded Sotheby’s Aboriginal art department in 1996, touring works internationally before their sale in Australia.