Elite artists’ work to come under the hammer

MORE than 1 000 lots, including artworks by Peter Clarke, Irma Stern, Vladimir Tretchikoff and William Kentridge will be auctioned by Stephan Welz & Co this week in Constantia.

The auction will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, with diverse works of art, furniture, jewellery, silver, Persian carpets and more up for sale.

Auctioneer Anton Welz said despite tough economic conditions the local art market was in rude health.

Seated in a 1956 Eames chair (expected to sell for around R25 000) at Stephan Welz & Co’s showrooms this week, Welz said international interest in South African art was still rising, giving the local industry a boost.

Welz, nephew of Stephan Welz, who died in December, said a number of South African galleries had opened in London, which had boosted the local market.

He said published results of local fine art auction houses exceeded R290 million across all categories last year.

Kentridge was still the focus of many collectors in South Africa and abroad, said Welz, and last year over 100 of his works were offered on the combined local and international auction markets.

On auction is Kentridge’s Arc Procession 2, a 1989 work of oil, charcoal, resin and artist’s eraser on canvas.

It is expected to fetch between R500 000 and R700 000.

Some 20 works by the late Ocean View artist Peter Clarke are on sale – 15 linocuts, one woodcut and four paintings.

Interest in Clarke’s work has grown dramatically since his death in April 2014, aged 85.

Born in Simon’s Town in 1929, he and his family were forcibly removed in the 1970s and relocated to the newly established coloured area of Ocean View under the Group Areas Act.

He lived there for the rest of his life.

Art watchers will be interested in his oil- on- canvas Refugees from a DroughtStricken Zone which dates from 1958.

Painted in homage to Brazilian artist Candido Portinari, the work is expected to fetch between R200 000 and R250 000.

Michael Elion, the artist behind the controversial pair of Giant Sunglasses on the Sea Point promenade, has three masks on sale.

Titled See No Evil 1, See No Evil 2, and See No Evil 3, they are expected to each fetch between R50 000 and R70 000.

Motoring enthusiasts, meanwhile, can bid on three classic cars: a white 1955 Ford Thunderbird, an ivory 1958 Mercedes 220S Ponton Coupe and a bright-red 1969 Jaguar E Type Series II Roadster – the same model driven by Michael Caine in the classic movie The Italian Job.

All cars are valued above R1m, with the right-hand drive Jaguar expected to fetch up to R2.6m.

jan.cronje@inl.co.za