Naspers shares are so 2022, darling. If you want an in vogue piece of the mega-media company, why not nab one of the five exceptional artworks the business has put up for Strauss & Co’s live virtual forthcoming auction?
We jest, but truly, the five paintings from the Naspers collection — which includes works by Gregoire Boonzaier, Hugo Naudé and Irma Stern — are pieces any art enthusiast would covet for their walls. They’re also just the tip of a visual iceberg on this upcoming sale.
The 111 pieces range from sculptures by Edoardo Villa and Deborah Bell to contemporary photography from Sethembile Msezane. They are all under the hammer on Tuesday March 28 — as part of the auction house’s three-day Cape Town Art Week sales. The FM highlights four classic South African paintings that we think are worth keeping an eye on.
Red Kloof, JH Pierneef, 1928
Estimate: R5m-R7m
Who could fail to be wowed by this outstanding representation of the South African landscape?
Unsurprisingly, this large, glorious depiction of monumental mountains — one of the Naspers lots — was painted the year before Pierneef began his famed Johannesburg Station panels. That impressive series of 32 paintings is equally tremendous in size and subject. Where those works featured the chalky tones and geometry made famous by the artist, it’s the stylised simplicity and vivid, almost lurid orange of the Red Kloof mountains that mesmerise. Offset by the olive colour of the kloof and the phosphorescent green of the sky, the combination is pure power.
Lourenço Marques, Pieter Wenning
Estimate: R250,000-R350,000
Today Wenning isn’t as well known or as popular as his contemporaries, who included Pierneef and Boonzaier. The Dutch-born painter and etcher, who died in his late 40s, is an important part of the South African art story. Wenning is seen as the originator of Cape Impressionism and painted his landscapes en plein air (outside). There are four Wennings on this auction, notably the riotous impression of fishermen on the water in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo). This shimmering tropical scene is a joy.
Children Reading the Koran, Irma Stern, 1939
Estimate: R10m-R11m
As the catalogue explains: “Starting in the 1930s, Irma Stern produced a remarkable archive of paintings recording the widespread existence of the Islamic faith in Sub-Saharan Africa.” On trips to Zanzibar, her portrayals of the Muslim community are famous. On her 1939 trip to the island, Stern visited a madrasa. Of the visit, she told a Sunday Times journalist that the mothers of the pupils wanted to kill her as they were convinced that if she painted the children, she would be stealing their souls. Dramatic anecdotes aside, Stern very likely produced this study of learning and devotion based on a charcoal drawing depicting a boy and girl in similar seated pose.
The Red Blanket, Alexis Preller, 1955
Estimate: R5.6m-R6.6m
Alexis Preller was fascinated by the regal, fantastically clothed Mapogga women of the southern Ndebele people. He painted versions of them throughout his career. Here he captures attention with this abstract, arrestingly colourful portrayal. In their 2009 two-volume publication Alexis Preller: Africa, the Sun and Shadows and Alexis Preller: Collected Images, Esmé Berman and Karel Nel said of this painting: “This dignified, impressive work could be perceived as a kind of epitaph, each element performing a distinctive symbolic function. Central to the concept is the ‘Unknown Mapogga’, part stylised personage, part funerary figure, in traditional attire, with blanket, beaded piphetu and leather purse. She represents Preller’s conceptual Mapogga tribe.”
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