Bonhams Art Auctions BUSINESS
Do sellers find you or you them?
Do you authenticate paintings?
Both. It’s my job to be in contact with all the major collectors in the field – and we advertise extensively. We are the biggest international auctioneers of South African art so business comes to us. Sotheby’s get about one picture a year and Christies the same.
It’s a lot of what I do.
How many Sterns are out there? No-one really knows. She was very prolific. I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t a couple of thousand works – no-one has done a catalogue of her work. It’s been mooted...
Is your background in art? Absolutely, I’ve been an auctioneer for almost 20 years here. Before this I ran the department of British watercolours , which is good training because most 19th century English watercolours aren’t signed. You are attributing work purely on stylistic grounds.
What are Stern’s attributes? Her brushwork and use of colour.
Did Stern sign all her works?
Was it important for her to be South African?
No, we’ve got a couple of unsigned works in the sale. In some cases the signature is the least important part. If you are a half-good faker, the one thing you are going to get right is the signature. The real signature is in the brush strokes, the way a picture’s painted and it is very difficult for forgers to sustain that over a canvas.
At the time, yes. South Africa then was politically and geographically isolated – culturally too – so she came to Germany, mixed with German painters and went back to South Africa painting in a different style to other artists there. She worked in her own style. Had she been painting in London or Paris it wouldn’t have stood out as much.
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