Simon Segal
THE South African art market is benefitting from the more=20 favourable economic conditions.
Stephan Welz & Co’s art auction this week might not have=20 been as exciting as the record-breaking 1993 auction, but=20 it does indicate a firmness in South Africa’s art market.=20
Although some people anticipated that prices would be=20 higher, R2,8-million was received at the auction, which is=20 the second highest amount ever attained from an art auction=20 in South Africa. This was short of the R3,1-million=20 realised by Welz in 1993, but it is probably indicative=20 more of the quantity on display than the state of the art=20
Welz director Stephan Welz cautions that not much should be=20 read into this year’s lower turnover. He feels the=20 significance of the auction was the interest shown by=20 smaller investors for pieces that fetched around R10 000.
The auctioneers believed they could receive R2,5-million to=20 R3,1-million for the 345 pieces of local, British and=20 continental paintings, watercolours and sculptures.
The record price for a 20th-century local artist was=20 equalled at the auction — R209 000 for a Jacob Pierneef=20 landscape and for Irma Stern’s Young Man with Orange=20 Turban. This is a record price for a Pierneef and equals=20 record prices set for two Irma Stern paintings in 1993.
Another record set is the R8 800 paid for John Muafangejo’s=20 A Man is Hunting in Forest and Skinning it, the highest=20 ever paid for a South African graphic. Sculptor Sidney=20 Kumalo also broke his record price — R28 600 for Madala,=20 Large Face.