A special ceremony was held on 22 July 2010 at East London’s Ann Bryant Art Gallery to honour Stephan Welz, Managing Director of Strauss & Co.

In achieving a top price for one masterpiece, Welz, South Africa’s leading fine art auctioneer, ensured the survival of many others in the gallery’s prestigious collection. The gallery, which needed urgent renovations to stop leaks and damp damaging its prized collection of art that is estimated at R40-million, lacked the funds to pay for repairs until assistant curator Terry Flynn had a brainwave. Flynn, who is also the chairman of the East London Fine Arts Society, decided the society would sacrifice a painting entitled Portrait of a Boy by Dutch-born, South African artist Frans Oerder in order to pay contractors’ bills. “The renovations were necessary because this beautiful Edwardian building is a national monument, yet the beautiful woodwork on the balconies was rotting, the roof was leaking and there was so much damp in two rooms that we could not display art in them,” said Flynn. He explained that although Buffalo City Municipality had patched up the odd bit of damage, a more comprehensive repair job had become increasingly necessary.
“It was all meetings (with the municipality) and no action, so when auctioneer Stephan Welz was at the gallery last year and expressed interest in auctioning the Frans Oerder piece for us, we decided to go for it,” said Flynn. Welz achieved R320 000 for the Oerder painting at a Strauss & Co auction held in Cape Town in October 2009. According to Flynn,
“the piece sold above its estimated value, plus Stephan Welz did not charge us commission for selling it, so it was very exciting”. Flynn said it was vital to preserve the Ann Bryant Gallery and its valuable contents because the gallery was one of “the top five” galleries in South Africa.

The gracious double-storey building, which was built in 1905 and which was bequeathed to the City of East London by art lover Ann Bryant in 1946, has had its rusty roof repaired and gutters fixed, exterior woodwork restored and a new coat of paint applied throughout. The proceeds of Portrait of a Boy have also been used to add a stair lift so that disabled visitors can access art on the top floor. And, now that precious works by artists like George Pemba, Irma
Stern, Pieter Hugo Naudé and J H Pierneef are safe from water damage, pride of place has been given to a copy of Oerder’s work that saved them and their stately home.

Article based on a report by Barbara Holland in the Weekend Post.