South African Modern Highlights - 24 June auction in Paris

HIGHLIGHTS BY

SOUTH AFRICAN MODERNISTS

AUCTION IN PARIS

CO-CURATED WITH PIASA

24 June 2020

Modern & Contemporary African Art

ENQUIRIES & SALE CONTACT MARELIZE VAN ZYL Senior Art Specialist +27 83 283 7427 | marelize@aspireart.net JACQUI CARNEY Senior Art Specialist +27 71 675 2991 | jacqui@aspireart.net

www.aspireart.net

IRMA STERN

Portrait of Dora Sowden

2

Irma Stern South African 1894–1966

Portrait of Dora Sowden 1943 oil on canvas signed and dated top left 57 x 51.5 cm

Estimate: €150 000 – 250 000

PROVENANCE

Die Kunskamer, Cape Town.

Irma Stern in her studio in Rosebank, Cape Town Image: The Irma Stern Museum

The numerous portraits Irma Stern painted sporadically throughout her life give insight into the artist’s close-knit circle of friends, social acquaintances, supporters and patrons. While many of the sitters served as subjects of aesthetic inspiration for Stern, a great number of her ‘society portraits’ were painted as formal commissions where the identity of the person was primary.

Dora Sowden was the eccentric music and arts critic for the former Johannesburg based progressive newspaper The Rand Daily Mail during the 1940s and 1950s. She was also married to the acclaimed novelist, poet and writer of cultural affairs Lewis Sowden, who in 1935 included Stern in his essay on Jewish Art in South Africa. The Sowden couple were prominent literary and cultural figures in Johannesburg at the time. Lewis also published a review of Stern’s 1943 November exhibition at the Gainsborough Galleries – the same year this exquisite portrait of Dora wearing her signature headscarf, posed in deep thought, was painted.

Stern beautifully renders the vivid image of this elegant woman with a warm sincerity. Expressively painted in vibrant colours, it is not void of emotion, yet not adorned with falsities. Set against a brilliant emerald green background (like many of the artist’s portraits at the time), Stern attentively focuses on the facial features of the sitter, effectively highlighting her intelligence. There is a calm sensuality in Dora’s portrayal as she leans a little forward and rests her face on her hand while her outward gaze lends a sense of mystery to the work.

Dora Sowden Image: Jewish Affairs – Pesach journal 3

JH PIERNEEF

Landscape near Golden Gate

4

Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef South African 1886–1957

Landscape near Golden Gate 1955 oil on board signed and dated bottom left 45.5 x 60.5 cm

Estimate: €50 000 – 75 000

PROVENANCE

Johans Borman Fine Art, Cape Town.

In this impressive painting from 1955, JH Pierneef presents a sweeping view of the Golden Gate Highlands area which is nestled in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa, near the Lesotho border. The landscape’s most notable features are the deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and majestic rock formations, which Pierneef masterfully captures here in the familiar warm tonalities of a dry winter.

Throughout the 1950s, during the last decade of his life, Pierneef undertook several painting trips across the country. The South African veld remained a major source of artistic inspiration for him and as an artist he continued to pursue the challenges and versatility of painting this landscape in all its natural light, colour and formal splendour. This painting was, in all likelihood, made during one of these trips – two years prior to his passing in 1957.

JH Pierneef Image: Wikipedia 5

EDOARDO VILLA

Figure with Drapery

Edoardo Villa South African 1915–2011

Figure with Drapery (Revised edition) 1953, cast in c.2000 bronze with a verdigris patina signed twice, dated and numbered 2/6 162 x 72 x 44 cm from an edition of 6 of which only 3 were cast

Estimate: €35 000 – 45 000

NOTES Cast at the Vignali Foundry by Carlos Gamberini.

PROVENANCE

Johans Borman Fine Art, Cape Town.

Edoardo Villa holds an indelible place in the history of South African sculpture. Villa first came to South Africa as a prisoner-of-war in 1942, and following the end of World War II, decided to stay in the country upon his release in 1947. Settling in Johannesburg, Villa went on to become the foremost abstract sculptor in South Africa, later as part of the influential Amadlozi Group, with a career spanning close to seven decades.

Figure with Drapery is an early work and a striking example of the initial formal development in Villa’s sculpture – a figurative composition modelled on a geometric framework. In this work, the figure (referencing the female form) is simplified to a structure with rhythmical movement as a carrier of meaning and expression.

The initial Figure with Drapery was modelled and cast in 1953 as an edition of 6. During the casting process, the original plaster mould was damaged and remained in Villa’s studio. In the early 2000s, a collector from Johannesburg (the current owner of the illustrated work) commissioned the artist to repair the mould and cast a further 3 sculptures as a revised edition of this work. Villa fixed and made some additions and changes to the original mould. The present lot is one of these new casts from the amended mould, showing slight variations to that of the first cast.

Left | Edoardo Villa Image: Wikipedia Right | Figure with Drapery first edition 6

Two views: front and back 7

8