Tretchikoff painting up for grabs

STEPHAN Welz & Co was the first local auction house to champion Vladimir Tretchikoff’s works, which resulted in the staggering sale of Fruits of Bali in 2008.

Valued at R250,000 to R300,000, the Tretchikoff painting sold for a record-breaking R3.4m, nearly 12 times its estimate.

The sale resulted in widespread local and even international attention for Tretchikoff, whose kitschy style remains controversial within the art world.

At an auction

this month, Stephan Welz will offer another Tretchikoff painting, Fruit Seller, with an R800,000-R1.2m estimate.

Tretchikoff works are skyrocketing in value internationally, as highlighted by the sale of the artist’s iconic painting Chinese Girl for nearly £1m by Bonham’s in London last month.

Also available to the highest bidder will be Woman Wearing a Mantilla, an original painting by internationally renowned local artist Irma Stern, whose Arab Priest sold for a record R33m in London to the world’s biggest contemporary art buyer, the Qatar Museum.

The work on auction was painted in 1950 and is particularly collectable as it represents an attempt by Stern to simplify form in order to capture the inner essence of the sitter. It is valued at R4m-R6m.

The auction will take place on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 at 13 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg. Pre-auction viewing — open to the public at no charge — will be from Wednesday next week to Sunday, from 10am to 5pm.