Abstract, ceramic and sociopolitical
Saturday Live auctions offer longer preview periods at Strauss & Co’s offices of art by established artists
Ceramics and tapestries from the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre, as well as sociopolitical works, are among the offerings at Strauss & Co’s second Saturday Live sale.
Taking place on October 19 at Strauss & Co’s Johannesburg office, Saturday Live focuses on artworks by established artists.
The Saturday Live auctions offer a longer preview period with the sale having opened for viewing on Wednesday October 16 at 9am. Buyers will still be able to preview the works on sale on Friday at Strauss & Co’s offices in Johannesburg. Strauss & Co’s art specialists will also be available to buyers.
Leading the lots is a selection of ceramic ware and tapestries from the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre. Established in the early 1960s, this institution played a strong role in the education of many of SA’s most well-known black artists.
The sale also features works by other artists including a lithograph, Office Decoration, by Robert Hodgins; Judith Mason’s artist’s book Skoelapper Heuwel, Skoelapper Vrou, and Sipho Ndlovu’s portrait of the sculptor of wooden animals, Julius Mfete.
Works include Walter Battiss’s Marabaraba screen print, abstract works by Gordon
Vorster that are quite unlike his signature wild animals, and works drawn from Malcolm Payne’s short abstract period during the 1970s. Also on offer are works by Anna Vorster, Trevor Coleman (featuring proper abstract scenes that are a distinct departure from his usual island ones), and mid-1980s abstract works by Sam Nhlengethwa.
The sales boasts a number of highly collectable works with a sociopolitical slant, including Diane Victor’s 16 etchings, Disasters of Peace (based on the satirical Goya etchings, Disasters of War), Paul Emmanuel’s Field of Flames (which evokes male initiation into the army), and Sam Nhlengethwa’s Miners, which depicts the plight of workers.
Other highlights are Basil Jones’s beautiful print, War
Horse, which references the theatre production based on the acclaimed novel about World War 1, as well as Irma Stern’s
A HIGHLIGHTS IS BASIL JONES’S ‘WAR HORSE’ WHICH REFERENCES THE THEATRE PIECE BASED ON THE NOVEL ABOUT WORLD WAR 1
16 The number of etchings in Diane Victor’s Disasters of Peace’ series
Another area of focus for the upcoming Saturday Live sale is the human figure. Buyers can choose from interesting interpretations by Margaret McKean, Hanneke Benade (a series of six lithographs of a woman climbing over a chair), and Claudette Schreuders (works that often serve as inspiration for her exquisite wooden and bronze sculptures).
There is also an unusual triple figure study by Gerard Sekoto, possibly invoking the classical theme of The Three Graces.
Rounding off the sale is a selection of international works including three circular, pinkinfused prints by Takashi Murakami as well as works by underrated British pop artist Peter Phillips (a contemporary of David Hockney) and TMFA (The Most Famous Artist), a conceptual artist known for repurposing old paintings and murals.
The Saturday Live sale takes place at 11am at 89 Central Street, Houghton, Johannesburg.