The arts world has rallied around artist Diane Victor to raise funds for her life-saving surgery.
The funds, raised at the Diane Victor Benefit Auction on Saturday, will be used to assist Victor take a life-saving trip to the United States where she will enter a "domino" programme for organ donation. She and her partner, who has offered to donate his kidney to her, and whose organ has proven incompatible, will seek out suitable couples in need for an organ swap.
Although it had recently been established that such a programme exists in South Africa, Victor was certain that the overseas programme would be speedier and be more fruitful.
Lara Koseff, Goodman Gallery curator, noted that the target for the auction had been set at R1.8-million to R2-million, a figure verified by Victor in an interview with the Mail & Guardian prior to the auction.
Koseff said that the work that fetched the highest price on auction was a 37cm by 27cm self portrait of artist William Kentridge rendered in charcoal on encyclopedia paper. It fetched R300 000 and its estimated value had been R280 000.
Victor's work itself, of which there were 11 on auction, sold well too. One large drawing of 100cm, titled Shelf-life (leeches) and dating back to 1995 sold for R160 000, higher than its maximum estimate of R150 000.
Huge donation
​Asked whether she thought the auction had raised the value of Victor's work in the art market, in general, Koseff noted that although Victor's two large works had "bracketed" the auction, being sold first and last, "they went above the estimate, [but] the rest of [Victor's] works sold for a reasonable amount – within the estimate.
"I think this is probably an isolated incident because the focus was on Diane, and the auctioneer was trying to influence people to be generous, and people were," Koseff said.
Other artists on auction were Kendell Geers, David Goldblatt, Kudzanai Chiurai, Sam Nhlengethwa, Gerard Marx, Willem Boshoff, Guy Tillim, Moshekwa Langa and Mikhael Subotzky.
Single works by Chiurai and Williams were the only ones that hadn't sold, Koseff said.
In a surprise twist Koseff said that a single donor had recently made an unannounced donation of R300 000 to a fund set up to aid Victor. But, Koseff said, both the auction and donations would not be the end of the effort on Victor's behalf. The University of Johannesburg would also be holding an art auction to benefit the artist at a date yet to be announced.