13 minute read
BUSINESS ART
Business Art BASA’S DEBUT ONLINE NURTURES REAL SKILLS FOR ARTS ENTREPRENEURS
Mr Vusumuzi Mkhize (DSAC) Boitumelo ‘Tumy’ Motsoatsoe, BASA Head of Programmes
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The arts economy holds promise for creative entrepreneurs to be their own boss and create further employment, but business skills are key to making the
transition from idea to successful enterprise.
Now in its second iteration, Business and Arts South Africa’s (BASA) Debut Programme transfers enterprise development skills to artists from all nine provinces through an intensive knowledge and mentorship programme. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic officially hit South Africa, compelling the Debut team to forge new ways of assisting artists with limited opportunities. Thus far, the programme has had to rely heavily on digital platforms due to the lockdown restrictions and will follow a gradual evolution into a mixed-model approach as the context changes. At present, this has translated to the programme running exclusively via WhatsApp, Facebook and Zoom. The result has been a lean, agile approach to online engagement, with the programme reassigned to an entirely digital space.
According to Mr Vusumuzi Mkhize, DirectorGeneral of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC): “the Debut Programme’s primary vision continues to align to the current drive from the entire sector’s commitment to uplift, support and bringing relief to creatives.” Divided into three phases, Kickstarter, Hlanganisa and Catalyst, the current iteration of the Programme has engaged 648 participants to date, and awarded grants to the value of R2 700 000 to seed exciting creative ideas.
A broad cross-section of young emerging artists was selected from the 1 885 applicants who submitted their videos, residents of both rural or peri-urban areas nationally, between the ages of 18 and 35. Beginning with the Kickstarter phase of the programme, 358 participants from all nine provinces took part in the online workshops, and 180 of these were then chosen to progress to the Hlanganisa phase of the programme.
The programme is currently in the Hlanganisa Phase, where participants have been introduced to a responsive way of testing services or products and developing a new business venture online. This phase also includes mentorship sessions with provincial mentors/facilitators as participants work towards the inaugural Debut Programme Online Art Fair Week (15–19 November). This is an opportunity for the participants to showcase and take their products to an online market.
Ultimately, Hlanganisa’s primary aim is to ensure participants emerge at the conclusion of the phase equipped to take their product to market.
Says Boitumelo ‘Tumy’ Motsoatsoe, BASA Head of Programmes: “Through intentional collaborations with experienced, young facilitators, provincial liaisons as well industry experts, the programme catalysed a narrative shift where participants began to see themselves as assets, equipped with ideas and innovations for their own communities.”
For more information visit: https://basa.co.za/programmes/
Business Art STRAUSS & CO
www.straussart.co.za
Johannesburg Auction Week features two masterpieces of mid-century SA painting
Strauss & Co is pleased to announce details of Johannesburg Auction Week, a vibrant programme of curated sales exploring a century of change in South African art. The forthcoming three-day live virtual sale (7–9 November 2021) features two highly important paintings by JH Pierneef and Alexis Preller, exceptional works on paper by contemporary master William Kentridge, as well as five paintings by Vladimir Tretchikoff. Johannesburg Auction Week also includes an 18-lot mini-session exploring the persuasive influence of classical African Art and early European Modernism on post-war South African artists.
“Johannesburg Auction Week is the culminating live sale in Strauss & Co’s programme for 2021 and an important statement of intent,” says Susie Goodman, Strauss & Co executive director. “This tentpole event includes two spellbinding pictures from the 1950s: JH Pierneef’s late-career masterpiece Bushveld, Pafuri, from 1952, and Alexis Preller’s seminal Adam and Eve, painted in 1955. It is a privilege for Strauss & Co to be handling these important works made at a transitionary moment in South African art history when the influence of Africa loomed large in the creative imagination.”
Painted five years before Pierneef’s passing, Bushveld, Pafuri (estimate R8 – 10 million) portrays a scene from the north-eastern reaches of South Africa, in the leafy floodplains near the meeting of South Africa with Mozambique and Zimbabwe. This remarkable work, which balances decorative complexity and powerful verticality with riotous colour, leads an impressive consignment of 15 Pierneef lots. These lots include three linocuts, one watercolour and a striking trove of 11 oils.
William Kentridge, Drawing from Other Faces (Drive-In Screen), charcoal and red conté on paper sheet size: 57 by 79cm, R 1 800 000 - 2 400 000
Noteworthy oils include the pastel-hued composition Mountain Landscape near Clarens (estimate R2.5 – 3 million) and atmospheric Rainclouds over the Mountains, Hangklip between Stutterheim and Queenstown, Eastern Cape (R1.2 – 1.6 million). Doring Boom (Thorn Tree) captures Pierneef working with an autumn palette, while Pienaarsrivier depicts one of the artist’s favourite haunts (estimate R900 000 – 1.2 million for each).
These four works will be offered with Pierneef’s show-stopping Bushveld, Pafuri in Strauss & Co’s premier session on Monday, 8 November 2021. This catalogue session also includes lots by important Thirties Generation pioneers John Koenakeefe Mohl, George Pemba and Gerard Sekoto, as well as an in-session focus on how classical African art and Modernist painting directly impacted South Africa art in the years after 1945.
Lavishly illustrated and contextualised in the print catalogue, this in-session focus will feature paintings and sculptures by, among others, Walter Battiss, Sydney Kumalo, Alexis Preller, Lucas Sithole, Cyprian Shilakoe, Cecil Skotnes and Edoardo Villa. Highlights include mask forms by Sithole and Villa, incised panels by Skotnes and two figural compositions by Kumalo, notably Mythological Rider (estimate R1 – 1.5 million). The highlight is undoubtedly Preller’s large oil Adam and Eve (estimate R7.6 – 8 million).
“Alexis Preller’s Adam and Eve is one of the artist’s mid-career masterpieces,” says Alastair Meredith, a senior art specialist and head of Strauss & Co’s art department. “Monumental and lyrical, rich and gorgeously coloured, timeless yet jaw-droppingly unique, symbolically loaded and joyously intricate, the painting is a beautiful snapshot from Preller’s very personal vision of Africa.”
Strauss & Co is pleased to present five paintings by Vladimir Tretchikoff, one of the most popular and financially successful artists in the world during his heyday from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s. Red Lilies (Amaryllis) and The Tropical Flower (estimate R700 000 – 900 000 for each), both from the later 1940s, form part of a consignment of four flower studies and one figure work. The graceful Ballerina (estimate R700 000 – R1 million) showcases the painter’s striking aptitude for colour and fine sense for form.
George Milwa Mnyaluza Pemba, Open Air Concert, oil on board, 33,5 by 43,5cm, R 350 000 - 500 000
Vladimir Tretchikoff, White Orchids, oil on canvas 85 by 66cm, R 600 000 - 900 000
David Goldblatt, Semi-Final of the Miss Lovely Legs Competition (Saturday Morning at the Hypermarket), silver gelatin print on paper image size: 46 by 45cm, R 300 000 - 350 000
Sydney Kumalo, Mythological Rider, bronze with a dark brown patina, height: 72cm; width: 92cm; depth: 42cm, R 1 000 000 - 1 500 000
Edoardo Villa, Standing Figure, bronze with a green patina, height: 125cm; width: 50cm; depth: 40cm, R 500 000 - 700 000
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, Bushveld, Pafuri, oil on artist’s board, 59,5 by 74cm, R 8 000 000 - 10 000 000
Johannesburg Auction Week commences on Sunday, 7 November 2021 with a session presented by Strauss & Co’s flourishing wine department, and is followed on the same day by two sessions presented by the art department. There is a strong focus on contemporary art in these sessions. The photography selection includes works by David Goldblatt, Zanele Muholi and Mikhael Subotzky. Notable sculptors represented include Willem Boshoff, Wim Botha, Frances Goodman, Chris Soal and Angus Taylor. Lisa Brice, who is currently included in an important painting showcase at London’s Hayward Gallery, has an early 1990s work in the catalogue too.
William Kentridge’s charcoal and red conté Drawing from Other Faces (Drive-In Screen) (estimate R1.8 – 2.4 million), from the artist’s 2011 stop-motion film Other Faces, leads the contemporary drawing selection. Also by Kentridge, Anamorphic Drawing (Telephone) is a remarkable example of the artist’s experimental use of perspective and reflection (estimate R15. – 2 million). Diane Victor’s charcoal and chalk triptych Nastagio Degli Onesti and the Difficult Decision (estimate R700 000 – 900 000) is a virtuoso work of classical ambition. Sam Nhlengethwa’s 1992 charcoal It Left Him Cold (estimate R40 000 – 60 000) quotes an important earlier collage depicting murdered activist Steve Biko.
Johannesburg Auction Week concludes on Tuesday, 9 November 2021 with two sessions devoted respectively to the ceramic sculpture of Hylton Nel and Nico Masemola, and the property of a single-owner collector. Nel, a renowned ceramicist based in Calitzdorp, is an influential mentor of a new generation of talent. Masemola, a former apprentice of Nel’s, died in 2015. He was one of the most talked about artists in Strauss & Co’s successful ceramics showcase in November 2020. Professor Jan K Coetzee is a respected collector and well-known participant in South African intellectual life. In 2019 he launched his debut monograph, Books & Bones & Other Things, with an exhibition of his work at Everard Read Circa Gallery.
Strauss & Co will preview works in Johannesburg Auction Week at its dedicated exhibition space at 89 Central Street, Houghton, Johannesburg. Covid-19 regulations apply. Johannesburg Auction Week will commence at 10am on Sunday, 7 November and conclude at 7pm on Tuesday, 9 November 2021.
Business Art STEPHAN WELZ & CO.
www.swelco.co.za
The air at the viewing of the Stephan Welz & Co. Premium October Auction was of excitement and anticipation as viewers came through our doors in their hundreds for the first time since life was turned upside down by Covid19. The auction saw collectors breathing a sigh of relief as they could safely and comfortably view works of interest which would be going under the hammer. The sale saw the benefit of traditional viewing, mixed with the ease of online bidding. Spirited online bidding resulted in some very pleasing results for artists such as John Piper, Alexis Preller, William Kentridge, Gerard Sekoto, A.R. Penck, and the exciting sale of Anton van Wouw’s The Thinker, offered on auction for the first time at Stephan Welz & Co.
Our November Premium Online sale continues this trend with some exciting works which have never been offered on auction before, presenting collectors with some unexpected, yet recognisable, examples of some of South Africa’s most celebrated artists. Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Still life of chrysanthemums in an oriental vase, wonderfully captures the artist’s ability to create texture, interest and the illusion of three-dimensionality on a flat surface. Morrie Shain, owner of the Crescent Pottery Studio and all-round art lover, owned the work for over 50 years, and appreciated the piece for its generous layering of impasto. This work offers collectors the opportunity to invest in a characteristically ‘Tretchikoff’ work, never exposed to the market before.
Not only has Walter Battiss’ Figure on pink never been seen on auction, but offers Battiss lovers an unexpected example of the artist’s paintings. This work alludes to the artist’s more delicate, yet often chaotic ink drawings of intertwined figures. The artist’s use of line is bold and unapologetic, but maintains the fluidity and movement that he is known for. Battiss’ depiction of a topsy-turvy figure painting with his toes highlights his disregard for art world traditionalists, challenging concepts of fine art and techniques with a rebellious sense of humour.
Walter Whall Battiss (South African 1906 - 1982): Figure On Pink, signed, oil on board, 40 by 52,5cm excluding frame; 44,5 by 56,5 by 1,5cm including frame, R 100 000 – R 150 000
Pieter Hugo Naudé (South African 1896 – 1941): Hex River, signed, oil on board, 35 by 45cm excluding frame; 56 by 66 by 5cm including frame, R 150 000 – R 200 000
Maud Frances Eyston Sumner (South African 1902 – 1985): Warehouses On The Thames, signed, oil on canvas, 66 by 92cm excluding frame; 73,5 by 99,5 by 5,5cm including frame, R 150 000 – R 200 000
Irma Stern (South African 1894 – 1966): Portrait Of A Woman, signed and dated 1927, charcoal on paper, 47 by 34,5 cm excluding frame; 70 by 57 by 2,5cm including frame, R 150 000 – R 200 000 Pranas Domšaitis (South African 1880 - 1965): Three Figures signed, oil on paper laid down on board, 53,5 by 46cm excluding frame; 62 by 55 by 2cm including frame, R 40 000 – R 60 000
Our specialists are pleased to present another unexpected example from a wellloved South African favourite: District 6 by Gregoire Boonzaier. Boonzaier is known for his depictions of District 6 from a ‘first person perspective’, where he would paint scenes from the streets of these areas and capture a snippet of daily life. However, the work available on our upcoming sale depicts District 6 with a sense of detachment, looking down on the houses and streets from above, the view intersected by a blossoming tree. Boonzaier was enamoured with the bustling melting pot of cultures found in the area, and documented this aspect, as well as the political turbulence which eventually tore it apart, with sensitivity and dignity. District 6’s symbolic nature is combined in this example with the recognisable symbol of a blossoming tree, indicating new life and growth.
Accompanying these rare works, is Maud Sumner’s Warehouses On The Thames, which illustrates a period in the artist’s career, between 1947 and 1953, while living between London and Paris, where Sumner’s style was drastically altered. Upon her return to Europe after waiting out World War II in South Africa, the artist was met with a shift in art practice towards abstraction, which had slowly taken over the European art scene. Sumner began to favour more simplified planes of vibrant colour and geometric shape, and created a hauntingly intense series of views of the Thames River during this period of experimentation. The artist’s use of contrasting light, shadow, and uncomplicated geometry to depict buildings and bridges along the river, paired with a considered palette, results in evocative, moody works that contain a certain freshness and depth. Warehouses On The Thames wonderfully illustrates Sumner’s individual depiction of uniquely European scenes during this period.
These works will be offered alongside works by the likes of Hugo Naude, Edoardo Villa, Pranas Domšaitis, Irma Stern and David Shepherd on the upcoming November Premium Online Auction. To view the available lots, register or bid, visit www.swelco.co.za. For condition report requests, and to book your viewing appointment, contact us on 0118803125 or support@swelco.co.za.
