Local art gems at Bernardi

STARS OF AUCTION ARE GERARD SEKOTO, JOHANNES MEINTJES’ PIECES

Bernardi is opening the year with their first auction of South African Art, collectables and estate jewellery on February 10 at 10am. The auction will have a few surprises in all categories, particularly on the art front.

The stars of the show include a 1974 oil on board titled Township Scene, by Gerard Sekoto and a Johannes Meintjes oil on board entitled Old Farmer. The work, which was purchased directly from the artist and has not been exhibited publicly since 1946, will pique the interest of many aficionados.

Wonderboompad, a scene of old Pretoria by Pieter Wenning, illustrates his impressionistic style and palette. A large, definitive Erich Mayer oil on canvas, Kremetartboom, depicts a single majestic tree in the bushveld.

The recently deceased Walter Meyer’s Road Workers painted in stark colour contrasts is complemented by a thought-provoking work by Keith Alexander, Night Shift – Caterpillar D2 (1977).

Diane Victor, Kobus Rossouw, Norman Catherine, Michael Heyns, Nicho Phuti and Olaf Bischoff are among the contemporary artists whose pieces are represented among the 90 artworks.

A large Margaret Gradwell landscape, a comedic Piet Grobler, the cutting edge MJ Lourens Ode to the Unknown Alchemist diptych, Hermann Neibuhr’s moody landscape, Zolani Siphungela’s striking portrait of Peter Clarke and Eleanor Esmonde-White’s Flower Sellers should also attract keen bidding.

Old favourites include Conrad Theys, Chris Tugwell, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, Otto Klar, Wessel Marais, Hennie Griesel, George Boys and Lucky Sibiya. A small Maggie Laubser watercolour, Seascape Near Camps Bay, was executed in an autograph album belonging to Miss Cecilia Baard, c1915-22 and was only recently discovered.

The collectables include silver, porcelain, glassware and select furniture. Various Murano sculptural glass pieces and figurines, works from the popular Clarice Cliff porcelain range and Royal Albert tea and dinnerware are on offer. In the furniture category, there is a Victorian teak and mahogany military campaign dressing chest, a Cape transitional neo-classical split-splat stinkwood riempie stoepbank, a Regency gentleman’s mahogany secretaire chest, a Victorian rosewood spoon-back feeding chair and a Victorian roll-back Chesterfield sofa. The estate jewellery highlights are an 18ct white gold tennis bracelet set with a total of 3.61ct of diamonds and a pair of 9ct white gold and diamond stud earrings.