NORTH/SOUTH Live and Virtual Auction will be taking place 8-11 November 2020
Irma Stern, Swazi Girl. Oil on canvas laid down on board, 51,5 x 39cm. Estimate: R 3 000 000 – 4 000 000. From the Tasso Foundation Collection of Important South African Art assembled by the Late Giulio Bertrand of Morgenster Estate.
Luxury and collectability is a hallmark of each of the 928 lots of visual art, decorative arts, furniture, jewellery and fine wine featured in Strauss & Co’s forthcoming marquee sale, NORTH/SOUTH (8-11 November 2020). Spread over four days and composed of eight curated sessions, this dynamic hybrid auction features a number of rare and high-value lots of particular interest to collectors.
One of the highlights of the Tasso Foundation Collection of important South African art assembled by the late Giulio Bertrand of Morgenster, due to be sold on Monday 9 November at 7pm, is Irma Stern’s 1948 marine landscape The Grand Canal, Venice (estimate R5-7 million). Stern represented South Africa at four editions of the Venice Biennale in the 1950s.
Long established as South Africa’s foremost artist at auction, international interest in Stern is once again in the ascendency. The artist is the subject of two new international monographs – by American art historian LaNitra Berger and South African critic Sean O’Toole – as well as features in a new novel by best-selling Swedish author Jonas Jonasson.
Also consigned by the Tasso Foundation Collection, Stanley Pinker’s The Bathers (estimate R800 000-1 200 000), a magical homage to Paul Cézanne, represents the apogee of this quietly influential artist’s earlier painting style.
Stanley Pinker, The Bathers. Oil on canvas, 45 x 56cm. Estimate: R 800 000 – 1 200 000. From the Tasso Foundation Collection of Important South African Art assembled by the Late Giulio Bertrand of Morgenster Estate.
Frolicking bathers also form the subject of one of the more unusual lots in the NORTH/SOUTH catalogue, Stern’s two glass fireplace panels featuring Matisse-like figures (estimate R1-2 million) created by the artist for her friends and patrons, Richard and Freda Feldman.
Irma Stern, Glass Fireplace. Oil on glass, Two Panels. Estimate: R 1 000 000 – 2 000 000
The role of dealers and collectors in supporting artists and championing taste is frequently acknowledged in the provenance notes for works listed in the beautiful, three-part NORTH/SOUTH catalogue. For instance, the Tasso Foundation Collection includes a painting, Highway Dream (estimate R20 000-30 000), by Cape artist and dealer Joe Wolpe, who died in October 2020.
Among his many achievements, Wolpe in 1966 presented a survey of Stern’s work at his then-new gallery – it was also her last solo show before her death. Wolpe also previously owned British sculptor Lynn Chadwick’s bronze Standing Figure (estimate R300 000-500 000), part of an outstanding consignment of English and South African bronzes in NORTH/SOUTH.
Joseph Wolpe, Highway Dream. Mixed media on canvas laid down on board, 45 x 51cm. Estimate: R 20 000 – 30 000. From the Tasso Foundation Collection of Important South African Art assembled by the Late Giulio Bertrand of Morgenster Estate.
Lynn Chadwick, Standing Figure. Bronze. Height: 21cm; width: 6,5cm; depth: 6cm. Estimate: R 300 000 – 500 000
Highlights from the bronze offerings include the only known edition of Sydney Kumalo’s Madala 1 (Estimate R500 000-700 000), consigned by the Late Desmond Fisher Collection; Ezrom Legae’s African Goat/She Goat, a unique pairing of two late-career goat sculptures from 1990 (estimate R2.5-3 million); and five Big Cat sculptures by Dylan Lewis, among them, Sitting Cheetah II, a 125cm bronze made in 2005 (estimate R1-1.5 million). NORTH/SOUTH includes a total of ten lots by Lewis.
Sydney Kumalo, Madala I, 1966. Bronze. Height: 67cm. Estimate: R 500 000 – 700 000. From The Late Desmond Fisher Collection.
Ezrom Lega, African Goat and She Goat. Bronze with a brown patina. African Goat, height: 66,5cm; She Goat, height: 57,5cm. Estimate: R 2 500 000 – 3 000 000
Collectors will benefit from the depth of works available by, Walter Battiss, Robert Hodgins, Maggie Laubser, Esther Mahlangu, George Pemba, J.H. Pierneef and Alexis Preller. NORTH/SOUTH includes three sedulous early Pemba watercolours from the 1940s, as well as Assassination of Shaka Zulu (estimate R400 000-600 000), an oil work from 1973 that depicts an important historical event in allegorical terms.
Walter Battiss, In Africa. Oil on canvas, 58 x 73,5cm. Estimate: R 350 000 – 500 000
Robert Hodgin, Samurai. Oil on canvas laid down on board, 62 x 75cm. Estimate: R 450 000 – 550 000
George Milwa Mnyaluza Pemba, Assassination of Shaka Zulu. Oil on canvas board, 55 x 75cm. Estimate: R 400 000 – 600 000
Preller’s Thrones of Heaven from 1966 (estimate R1.8-2.4 million), a mesmerising abstraction featuring gestural swirls of paint, the impasto overlaid with gold leaf, is one of three important works by this artist on offer. Craters (estimate R1.8-2.4 million) is an astonishing intaglio that affirms Preller’s experimental painting style, while Archangel (estimate 1.5-2 million), a profile study, was shown on the artist’s final exhibition at dealer Linda Givon’s Goodman Gallery.
Alexis Preller, Thrones of Heaven. Oil and gesso on canvas, 101,5 x 86,5cm. Estimate: R 1 800 000 – 2 400 000
Alexis Preller, Craters. Intaglio, oil on fibreglass. Height: 60cm; width: 75cm; depth: 15cm. Estimate: R 1 800 000 – 2 400 000
One of the innovations of the forthcoming NORTH/SOUTH sale is Interiors, a combined session devoted to art, furniture and decorative arts, due to be held on Monday 9 November at 2pm. Session highlights include J.H. Pierneef’s Still Life with Pelargoniums (estimate R300 000-400 000), a compelling detour into the still life genre by this master landscape painter, as well as two René Lalique Source de la Fontaine moulded glass figures from 1924.
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Still Life with Pelargoniums. Oil on canvas laid down on board, 46 x 35,5cm. Estimate: R 300 000 – 400 000
William Kentridge, Dutch Iris. Hand-coloured etching, 108 x 59,5cm. Estimate: R 400 000 – 600 000
The Interiors session includes a number of exceptional pieces from the deceased estate of a European collector who had retired to South Africa. They include an assembly of German clear and engraved glass flasks, ewers and drinking vessels, as well as bespoke walnut pipe cabinet by Alfred Dunhill replete with 366 unique wooden pipes featuring gold decorative embellishments (estimate R200 000-300 000). An 18th-century Cape stinkwood and satinwood armoire formerly owned by collectors Punch and Cynthia Barlow (estimate R600 000-800 000) lead the Cape furniture consignments.
NORTH/SOUTH commences on Sunday 8 November at 11am with a session devoted to a single-owner collection of the most hallowed wines of Burgundy and the northern Rhône, including lots from Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils, Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue and Domaine de la Romaneé-Conti. The sale concludes on Wednesday 11 November at 7pm with a session devoted to modern, post-war and contemporary art.
Jean Welz, Blue Nude. Oil on board, 45 x 37,5cm. Estimate: R 600 000 – 800 000
Lisa Brice, Untitled IV. Oil on paper, 150 x 125cm. Estimate: R 100 000 – 150 000
Dylan Lewis, Stretching Leopard (S47). Bronze with a brown patina. Height: 67cm; length: 171cm; width: 40cm. Estimate: R 900 000 – 1 200 000
NORTH/SOUTH has been designed to cater to collectors who wish to engage in their passion in a socially distant manner consistent with prevailing Covid-19 health guidance. As such, the sale will be live-streamed on Strauss & Co’s website. Collectors are nonetheless invited to the preview in Cape Town (at Brickfield Canvas, 35 Brickfield Road, Woodstock) and Johannesburg (at Strauss & Co, 89 Central Street, Houghton), now open daily until 11 November 2020. Clients are advised to consult our website for the location of individual lots, either Johannesburg or Cape Town, details available on the Strauss & Co website. www.straussart.co.za
Strauss & Co Auction Previews are now open in both Johannesburg and Cape Town:
26 October – 11 November 2020
Weekdays: 9am – 5pm, Saturdays: 10am – 1pm
Johannesburg: Strauss & Co, 89 Central Street, Houghton
011 728 8246 | jhb@straussart.co.za
Cape Town: NEW VENUE
2nd floor Brickfield Canvas, 35 Brickfield Road, Woodstock
021 683 6560 | ct@straussart.co.za
View the entire auction, register and bid online at www.straussart.co.za
SALE ENQUIRIES:
Johannesburg: +27 11 728 8246 | jhb@straussart.co.za
Cape Town:+27 21 683 6560 | ct@straussart.co.za
Subscribe to the Strauss & Co YouTube Channel to view auction highlights
AUCTION SESSIONS:
Sunday 8 November 2020
Session 1: 11.00am
A Private Single-owner Collection of Fine Wines from Renowned Burgundy and Rhône Valley Domaines
Monday 9 November 2020
Session 2: 10.00am
Jewellery and Oriental Works of Art
Session 3: 2.00pm
Interiors: Art, Furniture and Decorative Arts
Session 4: 7.00pm
The Tasso Foundation Collection of Important South African Art assembled by the Late Giulio Bertrand of Morgenster
Tuesday 10 November 2020
Session 5: 2.00pm
New Collector: South African Ceramics, Selected Prints and Multiples
Session 6: 7.00pm
Contemporary Art
Wednesday 11 November 2020
Session 7: 2.00pm
Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art Part I
Session 8: 7.00pm
Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art Part II including works from the Late Desmond Fisher Collection and the Küpper Family Collection
BROWSE THE 3D GALLERIES:
