Auction Review: Strauss’s first maiden sale, Jhb


Michael Coulson

If new auction house Strauss & Co wanted to start with a bang, it certainly succeeded. Its March 9 maiden sale at the Jo’burg Country Club was about 87% sold, and grossed R37m, against the pre-sale estimate of between R30m-R40m. This was a record for an auction of SA art in South Africa, though it falls well short of the GBP7.1m Bonhams grossed last September.

The average price per lot sold was R270 000.

Top price was R7.15m for Irma Stern’s Still Life with Magnolias. Auctioneer Stephan Welz asked the buyer if he’d like to pay an extra R100 000, so as to match the highest price ever recorded for an SA painting, but the suggestion was declined. Second highest price was reached by Stern’s White Houses, Madeira, at R5.72m (all prices include the buyer’s premium, of 10%).

However, even Sterns weren’t guaranteed to sell, showing that while Strauss itself was selective in its choice of work, buyers were even more discerning. Two of the biggest casualties were her White Sands, bid up to only R2.2m, against the estimate of R2.5m-R3m, and Still Life with Mask, where the best bid was R1.3m, against the R1.6m-R2.2m estimate.

Several other artists also set new auction records, led by Frans Oerder’s Magnolias, at R1.76m (est R600 000-R900 00). This was bought by the New York Graphic Society in 1939, which reproduced it as a print that for years was the world’s best-selling print ever, and is also said to be the best known SA picture in the world – Tretchikoff prints notwithstanding! It was repatriated to SA in 1956.

The seldom-seen Dorothy Kay’s Old Oyster Woman was a record R1.4m (est R700 000-R1m). A Jean Welz still life fetched R1.21m (est R700 000-R900 000). Other records close to the R1m-mark were Pieter Wenning’s Cottage, Nelspruit (R990 000, est R400 000-R600 000) and Anton van Wouw’s Noitjie van die Onderveld (R935 000, est R200 000-R300 000), while a Freida Lock Interior reached R660 000 (est R200 000-R300 000).

The R616 000 record for a Skotnes wood panel set at the Sotheby/Stephan Welz (Swelco) sale in Cape Town only a few weeks before was just beaten, at R668 400 for Mythical Figures (est R600 000-R900 000).

While nine Pierneefs were the most works by any one artist on offer, they were not major, the top price being R445 600 for Rainclouds & Sunshine, SWA (est R300 000-R500 000).

Hugo Naude’s Walker Bay got R557 000 (est R500 000-R700 000) and there was good interest in Ephraim Ngatane and George Pemba. The former’s Going on Leave went for R501 300 (est R500 000-R700 00) and Carlton Centre Under Construction for R423 320 (est R300 000-R580 000), the latter’s Guitar Player for R401 040 (est R300 000-R500 00) and Dice Players for R311 920 (est R280 000-R350 000).

Two of the most notable failures came right at the end. Welz didn’t even sound as if he expected to sell the two Tretchikoffs and bidding petered out way short of the low estimates: at R210 000 for Gladioli (est R250 000-R350 000) and R400 000 for Flower Seller (est R450 000-R550 000).

Coming on top of Swelco’s successful Cape Town sale and disappointing results in London, this confirms that the market for SA art is in SA.

This will be further tested in Bonhams’ 93-lot April sale in London of contemporary African art, in which SA artists are well represented, headed by Dumile Feni and William Kentridge. Bonhams’ next sale devoted entirely to SA will be only in November, while Christie’s calendar to August contains no date for an SA sale.

At home, Swelco’s next Jo’burg sale is in late April, with Graham Britz’s auction of the Brett Kebble collection a fortnight later. Strauss & Co’s next dates are September 14 in Jo’burg and October 8 for its first Cape Town sale.