Art trove goes under hammer
Rare works collected over 50 years included in auction next month
An astonishing private art collection will go under the hammer at Stephan Welz & Co in Cape Town on October 1 and 2.
Called Once in 50 Years: The Collection of a Gentleman, the auction will include works by Alexis Preller, Walter Battiss and Gerard Sekoto. The broader auction will include Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Miss Wong and an earthenware pitcher by Pablo Picasso. The Preller painting, called Ma
pogga Axis Mundi, has not been seen in public in 40 years and will be sold along with other paintings, sculpture, watercolours, drawings and prints acquired by a Cape Town col-
Nothing can compare to art as an investment. If held for at least 15 to 20 years, one can easily expect a return of greater than 20%
lector, who does not want to be identified.
According to the auction house, this could be the biggest auction in its 45-year history.
“It is a visual testament to one man’s exceptional ability to recognise value in art long before others, as well as a true benchmark for South African art collectors,” said Gary Shean, a paintings specialist at the company.
“If you could take a panorama of the past century of South African art made up of many diverse components and styles, this might just be it.”
The seller, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his 50-year col- lection numbered 270 pieces in total, although just 168 are up for sale.
“Nothing can compare to art as an investment. If purchased with an expert eye and held for at least 15 to 20 years, one can easily expect a return of greater than 20% compounded over that time,” he said.
Asked which artists’ work had performed best in his collection in terms of their estimated values, he said that, prior to 1994, investing in South African art was a difficult enterprise.
“It was perfectly clear that South African art had been grossly undervalued when compared to, say, Australian art.
“The change of government brought an enormous windfall to the value of established art and to art generally. Black artists who had been completely overlooked now became icons, while established white artists’ works which had been recognised as quality works soared in value as the stigma of being South African was removed.”
He explained his buying decisions thus: “Whatever eye or love for art I had began with my first work bought at the age of 16 at the Rijksmuseum in Holland. It was a black-and-white etching by Voet, titled Moeder en
Kind . I still have it. “Thereafter, the late Matthew Whippman, a well-known artist and painter in Johannesburg, helped me a great deal to understand what I was looking at when I looked at art.”
He said he first saw a Preller work at the age of nine on the walls of the South African Revenue Service building in Rissik Street, Johannesburg, which made a big impact on him. But he said he did not chase famous names.
“Nowadays, having realised that dream of owning Prellers and having grown up, I really do not have a preference among artists. My taste is varied and all my art has been held as treasure that delighted me.”
Most of the works were bought locally “from galleries, individuals, auctions and, of course, the artists themselves”.
Over time, he has seen the local art market change.
“From the dealer’s perspective, a love of art is possibly now secondary. Knowledge of art history and why this or that artist’s contribution is significant is still very important, but marketing is much more the key to success for both artists and dealers.
“Buyers still rely on their own taste, but in the much more competitive art market today they are presented with such an array of arguments intended to drive home the importance of a particular artist’s works that their taste is less a final reason for buying one artist over another.”
The collection and other works up for auction, which include prints by Miro, Picasso, Dali and Piper, can be viewed at Stephan Welz & Co in Constantia from September 25 to 29.