Phillippa Duncan : Stephan Weltz & Co. in Association with Sotheby’s
Caitlin Ross

Michaelis graduate Phillippa Duncan is the newly appointed shared-head of Stephan Welz & Co auctioneers. Having worked at the company since 2007, Duncan has segued into the new position, which “is more of an expansion of the position I have held as South African Paintings Specialist within the company,” said Duncan.
Having been a part-time lecturer at the Ruth Prowse art school and the former Cape Tech, she knows what she’s looking at when it comes to art.
And since joining Welz, she says, she “hasn’t looked back”.
She says her job at the auction house keeps her on her toes as it’s a balancing act of “juggling deadlines and clever time management”.
She says given the present economic downturn the auction buyers market “seems more cautious”, but there are still buyers willing to pay top prices.
The recent sale of Erik Laubscher’s ‘Still Life with Mandolin, Music Score and Fruit’, for instance, set a new South African record for living artist, having sold for R1.14 million.
She said this is due to a continued “desire to acquire and own items that rarely become available”.
Duncan and Shona Robie, whom she met at university, and with whom she shares the position, have divided the auction house responsibilities, with Duncan handling PR and advertising as well as continuing her position as Paintings Specialist, and Robie taking charge of office management and continuing her role as head of the ceramics department. Yet despite the demands of the job, Duncan continues to produce her own art work and plans to have a solo show towards the end of the year.