Top artists lift demand for local paintings
• Strauss & Co had an outstanding performance in 2016
Strauss & Co posted a record turnover of R215m in 2016, the highest combined income achieved by the company in a single year since its inception in 2009.
While the narrative around individual sales matters, it was Strauss & Co’s capacity to achieve a sell-through rate of more than 80% at its four live auctions in Johannesburg and Cape Town that contributed to its resounding performance.
The outstanding result is a testament to Strauss & Co’s capacity to bring quality work to the market, an aptitude that is also evident in the strong suite of work – by among others, Irma Stern, JH Pierneef, Peter Clarke and Mikhael Subotzky – assembled for the company’s March 6 sale at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town.
Reviewing the company’s 2016 activities, the November sale of rarely seen works by Alexis Preller ranks among the year’s highlights. There was particular excitement around Preller’s life-size rendition of the biblical first man, Adam, a rare intaglio and oil on fibreglass work. Adam was for many years thought lost after it was acquired by Ruth and Jerome Siegel in 1969 and shipped to New York.
“Repatriating Adam from New York was incredibly exciting,” says Alastair Meredith, who heads up Strauss & Co’s art department in Johannesburg. The work sold for R6,820,800, within its presale estimate.
Another factor underwriting the company’s achievement was its ability to secure works from important private collections, including Liselotte Hardebeck and Chris “Tos” Du Toit, as well as historic furniture pieces linked to the Vergelegen Estate in Somerset West.
Preller’s Woman with Red Hair/Ophelia (1944), from the Hardebeck Collection, sold for R2.2m, a tenfold improvement over its median estimate.
Stern, one of the 10 most expensive women artists sold at auction globally in 2005-15, remains the gold standard.
Strauss & Co’s October 2016 auction saw fierce bidding for Stern’s 1947 Still Life with Lilies, a colour-drenched study of orange tiger lilies and a Buddha figure. With presale estimates of R5m–R7m it finally sold for R10.57m. This was the highest price paid locally for a single work of art at auction in 2016.
Strauss & Co’s March 6 sale in Cape Town includes another exceptional Stern botanical work, Flowers and Fruit (estimate R5m–R7m). The sale highlight is Stern’s outstanding portrait, Young Arab (estimate R12m–R16m), which was included in the 2003 Stern retrospective Expressions of a Journey, held at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg and curated by Strauss & Co fine art specialist Wilhelm van Rensburg.
Other notable works include The Mountain Behind Groote Schuur (estimate R800,000– R1.2m), a large oil by pioneer impressionist Hugo Naudé, which portrays the estate founded by the Dutch East India Company.
Maggie Laubser, another pioneer modernist on Strauss & Co’s March sale, is well known for her depictions of Cape labourers and bird life. Strauss & Co’s sale includes Laubser’s Shepherd Seated with his Flock (estimate R2m– R2.5m).
Also on offer is Laubser’s symbolist composition of a lone black swan with prominent white flower (estimate R700,00–R900,000).
All the works will be on view the weekend before the sale at the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town.
STERN, ONE OF THE 10 MOST EXPENSIVE WOMEN ARTISTS SOLD AT AUCTION GLOBALLY IN 2005-15, REMAINS THE GOLD STANDARD