SOUTH AFRICAN ART AUCTIONS | BUSINESS ART
Everard-Haden’s star at Stephan Welz & Co Johanesburg auction
Watch out: women at work! Stern focus on women and labour at Bonhams South Africa’s leading artist, Irma Stern, is set to make waves at Bonhams again in the upcoming sale of South African Art in London. Two important early works dated 1925 – Washer Women, £200,000-300,000 and Backyard, £120,000180,000 – have recently emerged, and will be auctioned alongside a number of compelling portraits of woman.The two works from 1925 both portray the theme of work: the first is a group of women washing clothes at a stream, and the second a woman hanging laundry. Stern painted a number of images depicting labour – carrying water, harvesting fruit – but instead of creating narratives, these were rich symphonies of colour and rhythm. Both paintings were exhibited on the landmark Irma Stern Memorial Exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery in London in 1967. The exhibition catalogue noted:“In South Africa she became accepted as the most important single artist born and active in the country. This exhibition, whilst noting that Irma Stern was a great South African and a painter of special historical importance in her own country, makes the claim that she deserves to be seen and evaluated on a wider horizon.” In October, Bonhams in London will once again present the impressive range of Stern’s career to the international art market. Other pictures on offer include works from the 1940s such as Mangbetu woman carrying fruit, 1942, £300,000-500,000, Malay Lady in Yellow, 1942, £350,000-550,000, and Young Xhosa woman, 1941, £150,000-200,000. Mangbetu woman carrying fruit is informed by the artist’s journey to the Congo in 1942, the first of three visits to the country. The piece reflects Stern at the height of her powers, demonstrating her mastery of vivid colour and lively brushwork. Previous director of the Irma Stern Museum, Neville Dubow, commented, “In the Congo [Irma Stern] found a society whose primary needs were still met to a degree by the work of the artist/craftsman; and she responded to this first-hand encounter with creative tribal functionalism with a fundamental creativity of her own. She produced a body of painting of extraordinary vigour and decorative control.” Young Xhosa woman and Malay Lady in Yellow reflect inspiration closer to home. Typically, Stern’s paintings of people from other cultures tend to focus more on cultural aspects – such as visible differences in appearance and dress – than individuals, though always with a sense of common humanity. In this portrait of a Xhosa woman, Stern devotes lavish attention to her model’s headdress (a sign of social status) and the deep orange blanket gathered in rich folds around her, setting them off against a backdrop of rolling hills of blue and green, purple and brown. Similarly, the ochre tones of the headscarf of the sitter in Malay Lady in Yellow are heightened by the bright yellow background as the scarf flows over her shoulder. As Neville Dubow asserts, in Stern’s paintings of the 1940s we witness “a peak of excellence that could stand comparison with representational paintings anywhere else in the West....one could claim international stature for her work of the 1940s. Nationally...there was no one to touch her.” SA ART TIMES. September 2012
by Michael Coulson With not a single Irma Stern, and no major Pierneef, it was up to lesser names to make the running at Stephan Welz & Co’s art auction in Joburg this week. And while neither Keith Alexander sold, in contrast to the interest he has attracted at some recent sales, the two landscapes by the rarely seen Ruth Everard-Haden filled the bill. Both estimated at R400 000-R600 000, one went for R840 000 (the only major lot to beat the upper estimate) and the other for R538 000 (as always, reported prices are “hammer plus”, estimates just the hammer price). Overall, 75 of the 117 lots in the main evening session were sold, a respectable 74.2%. Other than the Alexanders, casualties among the top 12 estimates (low estimates starting at R250 000 and upwards) were two Maggie Laubser landscapes and a Cecil Skotnes painted panel. Other sales in this category were headed by R672 000 for Anton van Wouw’s Scout (est R500 000-R800 000), followed by R392 000 for a John Meyer New England landscape (est R250 000R350 000), R314 000 each for a Walter Battiss oil (est R300 000-R500 000) and a William Kentridge drawing (Rhino, est R250 000-R300 000) and R291 000 for a Pierneef landscape (est R250 000-R350 000). Overall, this session grossed about R6.1m, against the low estimate of just over R8.2m. Others to do well included a Thinus de Jongh landscape, at R101 000 (est R60 000-R80 000) and another Van Wouw, Slegte Nuus, at R336 000 (SA casting, est R120 000-R180 000). Boosted by a few excellent prices, a gross of just under R330 000 in the afternoon session actually topped the low estimate of about R285 000. In particular, some graphics by Dirk Meerkotter and Fred Schimmel went for well above the upper estimates. Having said that, the top price in this session was only R29 000 for one of the Schimmels, estimated at R4 000-R6 000. In all, 38 of the 57 lots sold. Overall, therefore, 113 of 175 lots (64.6%) found buyers, for a gross of R6.4m, fractionally under 75% of the low estimate of R8.5m. There were some unusual returns for individual artists. Only three of the seven Gregoire Boonzaaiers sold, and not one of the four Edward Roworths, showing how completely that artist has fallen out of favour. Conversely, all five Ted Hoefsloots and four Adelio Zeelies went (though the latter grossed less the R50 000), as less surprisingly, did all four Maurice van Essches and four of the six Pierneefs. 57