Aspire Art Auctions achieves sparkling results

Aspire Art Auctions’ latest Johannesburg sale was held on 17 June 2018. The dynamic and innovative auction house made impressive statements, and set several world records, 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. 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.

Lazy Day, Peter Clarke, 1975

Another significant Stern still life, one which has also never been at auction before, was sold. Still life with chrysanthemums in the artist’s handmade ceramic jug, from 1950, sold for R3 414 000.

Among other mid-twentieth century fine art to attract substantial bids and sale results were two works by Alexis Preller, The Wounded Soldier (1944) and Celestial Twins (1955). Preller’s work has been solidifying its reputation in the auction market in recent times, and these two fine examples proved no exception, fetching R796 600 and R1 046 960 respectively, both in line with estimates.

Aspire has led the auction market recently with sales of work by Cape Town artist Peter Clarke, achieving a world record for one of his gouaches in 2017. The company has now proved itself to be the premier purveyor of Clarke’s work in the country, achieving a substantial world record – and beating their own previous best – for his seductive acrylic and gouache on paper from 1975, Lazy Day, which sold for R1 479 400, a mark which also obliterates his overall auction record achieved in 2016 for one of his oil paintings. The success Aspire has cemented with the market for Clarke was extended with a price of R432 440 achieved for his gouache Sunset at Windemere (1957), more than double its high estimate. The sale of both works ensures that Clarke’s reputation in the auction market as a subtly ironic commentator on apartheid life is maintained.

A0037 47/47/16, Andrezj Urbanski, 2016

Taken as a group, work by the 1960s Amadlozi Group, based around collector Egon Guenther and the Polly Street Art Centre under Cecil Skotnes, is becoming more and more significant among collectors. Several works by Skotnes himself appeared on the auction, and the top lot among them, The Legend of the Judean War (1984), sold for R819 360, just below its high estimate and a resounding price for a work from this period. A sculpture by perhaps the best known Amadlozi alumnus, Edoardo Villa, fetched a world record with Aspire in 2017, when his Vertical Composition (1958) sold for R1 818 880. Villa’s work is, at last, being provided with an appropriate retrospective exhibition context, with the newlyopened Norval Foundation staging a major show. On this sale, Villa’s successful association with Aspire continued, with his Sculpture VIII fetching R1 138 000.

Aspire has since its inception been a leader in the industry for contemporary fine art. The segment is a specific strategic focus for Aspire, and its contemporary benchmark was set in November 2017 when the company achieved a South African record price for a drawing by contemporary doyen William Kentridge. His Drawing from Mine (Soho with coffee plunger and cup) (1991), sold for R5 456 640.

Still life with magnolias, apples and bowl, Irma Stern, 1949

On this sale, the company set a number of records for contemporary work. World records were achieved for an early abstract by Zander Blom, Untitled 1.5 (2010), which fetched R386 920; and for a new artist at auction, Andrezj Urbanski, whose work A0037 47/47/16 (2016) reached over its high estimate at R125 180. At the other end of the contemporary experience spectrum, the elder statesman of South African fine art photography, David Goldblatt, achieved the second highest South African price ever of R318 640 for his magisterial photograph from 2003, Johannesburg from the Southwest. Finally, another world record for a contemporary artist was reached when Paul Stopforth’s Steve Biko’s Right Hand (1980) sold for R79 660, an important record to have achieved in the context of postapartheid South Africa. These successes in very different areas of the market segment provide definitive evidence that Aspire is the chosen destination for sellers and buyers of contemporary art at auction in the country. CF

UPCOMING AUCTION DETAILS:

Aspire’s next sale is on 28 October 2018, at GIBS in Johannesburg.

For gratis and obligation-free valuations, and to consign works of art to the upcoming Johannesburg live auction on 28 October, please contact:

Johannesburg Jacqui Carney | jacqui@aspireart.net | 071 675 2991 Mary-Jane Darroll | mj@aspireart.net | 082 567 1925 Ruarc Peffers | ruarc@aspireart.net | 084 444 8004

Cape Town Emma Bedford | emma@aspireart.net | 083 391 7235 Marelize van Zyl | marelize@aspireart.net | 083 283 7427