Art lovers have just over 24 hours to bid for the paintings of several Rhodes University alumni: their work is among a special Eastern Cape collection being auctioned online by fine art auctioneers Strauss & Co. Works by Penny Siopis, Brian Bradshaw, Estelle Marais, Benjamin Coutouvidis, Helen Timms and Nigel Mullins features alongside masterpieces by George Pemba and Cecil Skotnes. Norman Catherine and Michael Hallier complete a session curated by senior art specialist Ian Hunter. Bidding closes at 8pm on Monday, 29 August.
Hunter is from the Eastern Cape and has been exposed to the province’s cultural exports from his time as a curator at the Ann Bryant National Gallery and as a lecturer in the area.
“The Eastern Cape helped form some of South Africa’s most prolific artists and authors. It is a region close to my heart – its Struggle history, distinct landscapes and rich indigenous culture contributed so much to our artistic and literary canon,” Hunter said.
The Eastern Cape session focuses on three “hubs” of the Eastern Cape.
“The area people regard as the ‘heartland’ of the Eastern Cape art scene is usually Makhanda,” Hunter said. “Highlights include artworks by the Grahamstown Group, an art movement led by Brian Bradshaw, who was a professor of Fine Art at Rhodes University during the 1960s.
“He was an interesting and at times, controversial figure in South African art history,” he adds. “Although British-born Bradshaw’s style shared similarities with the so-called ‘kitchen sink realism’, his combination of abstraction and realism brought a new kind of observation to South African art.”
Port Elizabeth had produced several stellar artists, notably Black modernist, George Pemba, Hunter said. “A key lot in this session is New Brighton, an intimate watercolour of street life in Pemba’s home town.”
Two Anton Momberg sculptures are also under the hammer. Momberg, considered one of South Africa’s most accomplished realist sculptors, studied at Port Elizabeth Technikon, gaining a Teacher’s Diploma in Fine Art, majoring in sculpture. Bella, a sculpture cast in polyester resin is a stylized nude of a young woman.
Featured artists from East London are Jack Lugg, who headed the Technical College Art School in East London for 35 years, Cecil Skotnes and Norman Catherine.
The sale also includes regular art auction stalwarts and perennials, with prints from William Kentridge, Walter Battiss, Georgina Gratrix, Peter Clarke, and JH Pierneef. Pierneef, always a favourite, has two works in this sale including Hoenderhok, Meerlust, a charming linocut of a chicken coop in front of a gabled Cape Dutch farmhouse.
Strauss & Co’s August online-only sale opened for bidding on Monday, 22 August at 8am and closes at 8pm on Monday, 29 August.
