Business Art
ASPIRE Aspire Art Auctions Shrugs Off Sluggish Market In Latest Sale www.aspireart.net
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spire Art Auctions achieves sparkling results despite tight economic conditions, selling rare works by Irma Stern, and setting a new world mark for Peter Clarke. World records are also set for Zander Blom, Paul Stopforth and Andrezj Urbanski in a major coup in the contemporary segment. Aspire Art Auctions’ latest Johannesburg sale was held on 17 June 2018. In a slow and unresponsive market, amid tight economic conditions generally in South Africa, the dynamic and innovative auction house made impressive statements, and set several world records. Led by two rare and important Irma Stern still lifes, both of which were fresh to the market, the sale once again took place in the august and elegant surrounds of the Illovo campus of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and featured a world-class selection of contemporary, modern and historical fine art. The fine art was joined by a small, intimate private collection of antique furniture, an area into which Aspire has recently branched out. The top lot by value on the sale was the superb Irma Stern: Still life with magnolias, apples and bowl (1949), which fetched R6 828 000. While not a South African record by the artist, it is the highest price achieved for a work by Stern for over a year. The painting has an impeccable provenance, having been in the same family since 1950, when it was first purchased in Johannesburg, and has never been exhibited.
Irma Stern: Still life with magnolias, apples and bow, Oil on canvas, (1949)
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