High demand for Preller paintings at winter sale
• Strauss & Co’s programme of art events helps lure new bidders to auction in Johannesburg
Alexis Preller was the star artist at Strauss & Co’s top-notch winter sale, generating R15.53m in sales from seven lots sold on Monday at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg.
Cementing his stature at auction, Preller posted three of the top five auction results at this live sale, the climax to an energetic programme of art events hosted by the company.
Head (Adapting Itself to the Unendurable) fetched R7.05m. Preller’s intaglio Poseidon (1970), a unique depiction of the mythical Greek god of the sea executed in the artist’s sculptural late-career painting style, sold for R3.44m, and Preller’s Contrapuntal Figures II (1964), an abstract work in delicate lilacs, warm yellows and cobalt blues, fetched R2.73m.
The fifth biggest earner was a vivid portrait of a traditional healer holding a green snake by Vladimir Tretchikoff, which sold for R2.27m.
Enthusiastic bidding for Sydney Kumalo’s bronze Figure on a Bull culminated in a sale price of R1.08m, above the R600,000 high estimate. Peter Clarke’s striking oil Goatherd achieved R796,600, another solid result for this underrated artist.
An oil by Walter Battiss, People Who Live Under Tables (1982), sold for R1.02m.
In the lead-up to the sale, Strauss & Co hosted a vibrant programme of events that included artists’ talks, lectures, walkabouts and a dedicated children’s programme devised by Strauss & Co specialist Wilhelm van Rensburg.
The Wanderers Club’s ballroom was reconfigured into a pop-up museum with interactive audio guides and there was even a special performance by Joburg Ballet.
“We want to broaden the audience for art and open up the auction process to new buyers,” said Susie Goodman, an executive director of Strauss & Co, Johannesburg. “Our efforts definitely paid dividends. We welcomed more than 1,500 visitors to our preview weekend and saw a large number of new bidders vying for works at our sale, particularly in our specialist sale focusing on abstract art.”
Strauss & Co’s catalogue included two lightly curated sections drawing collector attention to fine examples of abstract and contemporary art.
Artists representative of all the major styles and schools associated with the post-war uptake of abstraction in SA were represented in the sale.
Standout performers included Sidney Goldblatt, whose oil Boats, Spain I (1957) surpassed its estimate threefold, selling for R170,700. Hannatjie van der Wat saw her peak-period abstract Gateway (1967) sell above its high estimate for R125,180.
Sam Nhlengethwa’s largescale Thupelo workshop period abstract composition, Image IV (1990), sold for R227,600, and Douglas Portway’s London 62 (1961), a post-emigration oil work dominated by remnants of his African colour scheme, sold above estimate for R238,980.
New names at auction, like Henry Davies, Wilfred Delporte and Anton Uys, also yielded solid results. Davies, who taught artists Peter Schutz and Keith Alexander, had two carved wooden sculptures on offer: Pig’s Head I sold within its estimate for R25,036, while Lithops surpassed its estimate, achieving R22,760. Delporte’s steel sculpture Flight Form (1969) sold for R34,140.
Exhibited in London shortly after it was made, Uys’s attractive geometric abstraction Metaphysical Boxes III (1975) also went above its high estimate, netting R79,660.
“It’s all about building the market,” said Frank Kilbourn, Strauss & Co’s executive chairman, who was greatly encouraged by the increasing audience for new and unheralded artists at the auction. “A significant number of recently introduced artists have started to perform very well at auction,” he said.
Kilbourn credited Strauss & Co-sponsored initiatives like the August Art Month in Cape Town, which in 2017 focused on South African abstract art from the 1950s to the 1970s, for creating renewed interest in forgotten artists of that period.
Strauss & Co’s market activism has also been focused on the contemporary art market. In February the company launched its inaugural contemporary art sale in Cape Town, with young Cape Town painter Jake Aikman emerging as a star performer. His brilliant form at auction continued in Johannesburg with Beneath (R341,400) doubling the presale estimate and establishing a new world record for the artist.