Strauss & Co’s forthcoming auction of modern, post-war and contemporary art, decorative arts, jewellery and fine wine (27 August – 7 September) coincides with a felicitous change in mood signalled by the easing of lockdown restrictions, imminent arrival of spring and launch of the 2020 edition of the RMB Turbine Art Fair. Art highlights from this online-only auction include works by auction evergreens Walter Battiss, Peter Clarke, William Kentridge, Nelson Makamo, J.H. Pierneef and Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi.
This auction will also include a number of charity sessions, notable among them a selection of large-scale posters depicting vintage Drum magazine covers and works donated by contemporary artists in support of a popular Cape Town eatery shuttered due to lockdown restrictions. As in years past, Strauss & Co will showcase highlights from the sale at the annual RMB Turbine Art Fair (28 August – 2 September), which will be held virtually this year due to health regulations.
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef
SOUTH AFRICAN 1886-1957
Huis In Aand (Nilant 54)
signed and inscribed ‘Impr’ in pencil in the margin
linocut image size: 10,5 by 12,5cm sheet size: 16 by 18,5cm; 40,5 by 43 by 3cm including frame R 15 000 – 20 000
Walter Battiss
SOUTH AFRICAN 1906-1982
The Amazing Bushman, Parts II and III, portfolio and original watercolour. This is a presentation copy of the publication by Walter Battiss’s Red Fawn Press, Pretoria, 1939, from an edition of 200, this unnumbered. The ‘Special Portfolio of Reproductions” (Part II) consists of 34 loose plates, each pasted on brown paper, numbered from 1 to 34, and with explanatory text. The ‘Extra Plate’ (Part III) is an original watercolour depicting antelope by Battiss, titled ‘After an original painting at Fouriesburg, OFS’, and signed by the artist on the backing sheet. watercolour and photolithograph porfolio: 28,5 by 23 by 2cm; watercolour: 12,5 by 24cm
R 18 000 – 24 000
Peter Clarke
SOUTH AFRICAN 1929-2014
Spookhuis signed, dated Nov.1980, numbered 6/30, and inscribed with the title in pencil in the margin
woodcut image size: 25,5 by 26; 59 by 51,5 by 4cm including frame
R 12 000 – 16 000
Peter Clarke
SOUTH AFRICAN 1929-2014
Boy on a Donkey signed gouache on tracing paper
30 by 30cm excluding frame; 71 by 71 by 6cm including frame
R 20 000 – 30 000
Fred Page
SOUTH AFRICAN 1908-1984
The Trip signed and dated 78 in the drawing; inscribed with the title in pencil in the margin watercolour and ink on paper 25 by 48,5cm excluding frame; 52 by 75 by 4cm including frame.
R 18 000 – 24 000
William Kentridge
SOUTH AFRICAN 1955-
Forswearing Bad Company. Again/Cornering the Avocado Market signed, dated ’87, numbered 6/30 in pencil and embossed with the Caversham Press chopmark in the margin; inscribed with the title in the plate etching plate size: 30 by 25cm; 63 by 51,5 by 4,5cm including frame.
R 30 000 – 50 000
William Kentridge
SOUTH AFRICAN 1955-
William Kentridge, ‘Stereoscope’, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg October 1999, Exhibition Poster signed colour photolithograph sheet size: 66,5 by 94cm; 77,5 by 105,5 by 3,5cm including frame.
R 10 000 – 15 000
Nelson Makamo
SOUTH AFRICAN 1982-
Boy with Glasses signed and dated 13; Charcoal and lithograph sheet size: 71 by 49cm; 102,5 by 79,5 by 4,5cm including frame.
R 40 000 – 60 000
Kagiso Patrick Mautloa
SOUTH AFRICAN 1952-
Homo Naledi signed and dated 16
Oil on canvas 115,5 by 79cm excluding frame; 118,5 by 81,5 by 7cm including frame.
R 80 000 – 120 000
Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi
SOUTH AFRICAN 1943-
Women Walking in a Field. Signed oil on board 28,5 by 48cm excluding frame; 43 by 62 by 4cm including frame.
R 25 000 – 35 000
