SOUTH AFRICAN
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Bidders do battle at Strauss & Co inaugural auction at The Johannesburg Country Club. Its March 9 maiden sale at the Jo’burg Country Club was about 87% sold, and grossed R37m, against the pre-sale estimate of between R30m-R40m.
Slain Gold Magnate’s art sale may fetch SA record
Nicky Smith
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- The sale of the South Afri-
can art collection of murdered gold mining magnate
Brett Kebble may fetch the most ever paid for a
collection of local works.
The collection of 20th-century pieces may raise as
much as 100 million rand ($11 million) when it goes
under the hammer on May 7, Graham Britz, director
of sales of Graham’s Fine Art Gallery in Johan-
nesburg, said in an interview today. The collection
includes artists such as Irma Stern, J.H. Pierneef and
Walter Battiss.
“People will still pay top dollar for top quality,” said
Britz. “There is a lot at stake. We’re aiming for a
record price paid for a South African painting. It will
also be a record for a collective body of works sold
on South African soil in a single session.”
Kebble, died in his car in Johannesburg in Septem-
ber 2005 at the age of 41 after being shot seven
times in what the main suspect for his murder has
said was an “assisted suicide.” Since his death,
JCI Ltd. and RandGold & Exploration Co. Ltd. have
lodged a claim seeking 2 billion rand from his estate,
Art Bank Joburg faces challenges
Michael Coulson
Halfway through the initial five-year period in which it
was hoping to break even, the Jo’burg Metro’s strug-
gling pioneer art bank is to adopt a new business
plan and move to a new location.
The Canadian art bank on which Art Bank Joburg is
modeled took nine years to break even, and CEO
Antoinette Murdoch admitted recently that this sort of
time horizon is probably more realistic. The Joburg
Metro Council invested R5m in Art Bank Joburg, of
which R3.1m has been spent on art works. According
to Joburg cultural supremo Steven Sack, a council
report, which has not yet been publicly released,
estimates that another R4.5m is needed to make the
body self-sufficient.
So far, the art bank has acquired 30 clients, of which
60% are public-sector (mostly municipal) and the
balance private-sector. It owns 1 090 art works by
290 individual
saying he illegally sold assets during his tenure as
Chief Executive Officer of both companies.
During his 11-year gold mining career Kebble led
companies that created two of South Africa’s top
four gold producers, and began the development
of South Deep, the world’s largest gold deposit. He
also helped lead the 1997 acquisition of a 35 percent
stake in JCI from Anglo American Plc for $650 mil-
lion, at the time the biggest attempt after apartheid to
boost black ownership of South Africa’s economy.
Top Prices
The collection of 133 items includes Stern’s
“Woman Sewing Karos” and “Mother and Child,”
Alexis Preller’s “Christ Head” and Maria Magdalena
Laubser’s “Portrait of an Old Woman with Head
Scarf: Landscape in Background.” It also has pieces
from Vladimir Tretchikoff, William Kentridge, J.E.A.
Volschenk and Pieter Venning.
The sale, for which a catalog will become available
April 16, comes as the auction value increased for
South African art this year.
Strauss & Co. raised a record 38 million rand for
artists with a total value
of R3.1m. The average value of R2 830 reflects the
bank’s remit to encourage developing artists, and
Sack points out that the maximum price the bank
may pay for a work is R15 000.
They are hired out at 20% of market value, and
revalued every year, so this income should rise
gradually, but clearly not at a rate which will make the
venture economic in the foreseeable future.
Sack in fact would like to spend another R7m on art,
taking the stock to R10m, which should make the
art bank profitable but, he admits, will take several
years.
He concedes that current tight economic conditions
are unpropitious for raising funds from the corporate
sector, but has several creative ideas for getting
around this. For example, a client may be prepared
to buy art, donate it to the bank and display it in its
own premises, but only start to pay “rent” some years
later. He reminded me that the arts White Paper
recommended that the Department of Arts & Culture
South African art at an auction held March 8 in
Johannesburg, including 7.15 million rand for Stern’s
still life portrait “Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot,”
according to its Web site.
“Brett knew his art and over the years he has col-
lected quite valuable art,” Jack Rosewitz, deputy
chairman of Johannesburg-based Stephan Welz
& Co. in Association with Sotheby’s, said in an
interview. “He had an enormous collection and South
African art is quite hot on the local market.”
Missing Items
London-based Bonhams last month achieved
record prices for 12 South African artists, including
Laubser’s “Indian Girl With Poinsettias,” which sold
for 276,000 pounds ($402,546), beating pre-sale
estimates of 100,000 pounds to 150,000 pounds,
while a piece by Preller sold for more than double the
highest predicted amount, according its Web Site.
Kebble’s Stern painting of “Woman Sewing Karos,” a
1929 oil on canvas has been “conservatively valued”
at between 5 million rand and 7 million rand, Britz
said. The most ever paid for a Stern work was 7.39
million rand for her 1946 piece “Congolese Woman”
set up a national art bank. It hasn’t done so (which
will come as no surprise to cultural workers), which
could make it possible for Art Bank Joburg to take
over this role.
It’s also possible that the Metro Council could be
persuaded to supplement its original investment.
And, finally, when it can produce three years’ audited
accounts – which shouldn’t be that far away -- the
art bank could apply for national lottery money.
But the art bank is not sitting idly waiting for manna
from heaven. As well as developing its existing activi-
ties, it’s co-ordinating the commissioning of a large
tribute to Walter and Albertina Sisulu that the Metro
Council plans to erect in Loveday St in Braamfontein.
This will be a major piece of public sculpture, for
which there’s a budget for labour and materials of
up to R600 000 – though not all of this has yet been
raised. The target date for completion is June this
year, though this could be optimistic as it will require
a tight time scale and such projects trend to lag
behind schedule.
at a December 2007 Christie’s International Plc
auction, which included the “hammer price” and extra
charges, Britz said. Preller’s “Christ Head” has been
valued between 2 million rand and 3 million rand,
Britz said.
A team of forensic investigators is still trying to find
as many as 15 items missing from the collection,
Hans Klopper, the managing director of Independ-
ent Corporate Recovery Advisors, said in a phone
interview from Stellenbosch, South Africa. Klopper
is winding down Kebble’s estate, which includes
10 million rand of Kebble’s personal debts, such as
mortgages and car finance.
Galleries will be put on alert for the missing items
and rewards may be offered if pieces are returned,
he said. Kebble in 2003 started the Brett Kebble Art
Awards, which his family stopped after his death.
The administrators are also “chasing approximately
35 million rand to 40 million rand” missing from the
estate, Klopper said. “These were things such as
donations and payments made at a time when his
estate was hopelessly insolvent.”
http://www.bloomberg.com
The bank, which announced last year that it was
to move from Newtown to the old premises of the
Sandton Civic Gallery, is now to relocate to Spark,
the old electricity sub-station in Norwood which has
seen sporadic success as an art gallery and craft
centre but has never really fulfilled the potential held
out by its attractive space.
So it’s clear that the institution faces major challeng-
es. If the new business plan doesn’t bring it closer to
break-even fairly soon,
one must wonder for how long the Metro Council
– which doesn’t attach a high priority to the visual
arts, judging by how the Joburg Art Gallery is starved
of resources – will be prepared to carry it.
And there’s one last wild card in the pack. Murdoch
is widely tipped as a front-runner to succeed Clive
Kellner as curator of JAG. Should this happen,
for all Sack’s commitment to the art bank, another
unwelcome element of uncertainty would enter the
equation.
LATEST SOUTH AFRICA ART AUCTION MARKET UPDATE
Michael Coulson
After a spate of poor to mediocre results both in SA
and London, the latest two SA art auctions held by
long-established Stephan Welz/Sotheby’s (Swelco)
and newcomer Strauss & Co and brought bet-
ter results, in terms of the percentage of lots sold
and prices compared to pre-sale estimates. Is this
sustainable, or just a temporary rally in a bear market
– a dead cat bounce, in stock market parlance?
Both firms are guardedly optimistic. Strauss’s
Stephan Welz says “My gut tells me that it can last,”
while Swelco’s fine art expert in Cape Town, Phillippa
Duncan, is even more positive. “Certainly it’s sustain-
able,” she says. “People want to protect their art
collections, which they see as a major asset. If they
can’t get the price they want, they’ll simply hold on
for a less rainy day.”
But there are reservations.
Welz warns that “There’ll be serious problems at the
lower end of the market, which will have to reorien-
tate itself. Some artists’ work has been bought for
social and political reasons more than artistic merit.
“What you could call ‘calendar’ art may also face
tough times. The market for [Johan] Oldert has
virtually disappeared, while prices for, say, Gabriel de
Jongh have barely moved in the past five years.”
Duncan stresses that quality will be vital. Both clearly
feel that the fact that Bonham’s was left with 20 of
the 27 Irma Sterns in its pre-Christmas sale had as
much to do with their quality as with any weakness
in demand for the artist, though Welz (basking in the
near-record for Magnolias in his sale) does think that
she may have peaked for now – as may Pierneef,
and even Maggie Laubser.
Peak prices may themselves give people pause, he
says. “They may think, why I should I spend R4m or
whatever on a Stern when I can buy a very pleasant
Terrence McCaw for R60 000-R80 000? Or, higher
up the scale, a Hugo Naude?”
But if the market as a whole is sustainable, which
second-liners or outsiders may narrow the gap with
Stern and Pierneef in the months ahead?
Duncan is reluctant to be drawn. “It’s dangerous
to be a tipster. People must start buying what they
like again. And despite the collapse of the market
for contemporary art internationally, it’s becoming
stronger locally.
“However, contemporary artists must temper their
often unrealistic expectations. It’s taken [William]
Kentridge 20 years to reach his current status, and
he has every right to command the prices he does.
But it’s problematical when newcomers think they
can expect the same.”
Welz is more forthcoming – or foolhardy.
“There’s a lot of room for Hugo Naude still. The
market loves his cheerful floral landscapes. Alexis
Preller could come in for a run, helped by the im-
minent publication of an authoritative book on him
(sponsored by Gordon Schachat). And there’s always
interest in Maud Sumner. Two with a lot of steam left
in them are Freida Lock and Adolph Jentsch, though
they’re held back by a lack of supply.”
Supply is crucial. “I thought that after getting
R1.4m for a Dorothy Kay [who many think is unduly
neglected] we’d be inundated by her work, but we
haven’t been offered a thing! The good people of
Port Elizabeth [where she lived and worked] either
don’t follow the market or are inseparably attached to
their Kays.”
I throw another PE name, a favourite of mine, at
him: Fred Page. “He’s an amazing artist, but not
everyone’s idea of a pleasing picture. A book’s being
put together on him, too, though I hear they may be
looking for sponsorship.”
Recent interest in Tretchikoff, driven by one “total
aberration of a price”, he dismisses as speculative
rather than from genuine collectors – though he
insists that, despite neither of Strauss’s Tretchis be-
ing accorded a price in the post-sale list, he did sell
one of them.
Remarkably, neither Welz nor Duncan see the world
economic crisis as a major threat. Duncan reckons
that the rich will still be buying quality paintings; Welz
adds that his firm’s clients – though he’s not specific,
this means traditional middle- and upper-income
whites and the emerging black elite – haven’t been
hit by recession – yet. And he believes that, if Zim-
babwe is to be reconstructed, the knock-on benefits
for SA will be substantial.
He’s also encouraged by the breadth of buying at the
Strauss sale. “There weren’t just one or two buyers,
but a healthy spread.”
Next big test, both agree, will be the Brett Kebble
sale in May – but again with reservations. As Duncan
puts it, she fears that Kebble often bought by name
rather than quality. Well, we’ll soon find out.
 02 BUSINESS ART | APRIL 09
Stephen Sack
Michael Coulson
It’s ironic that one who worked so long to subvert
apartheid now operates from a building that was
once the head office of that bastion of separate
development, the Johannesburg Housing Depart-
ment. On the ground floor, next to the lift that leads
up to Stephen Sack’s office, is a 1980s plaque com-
memorating that use, replete with old-era names like
Venter, Du Toit, Burger (a brace of them, in fact) and
Du Toit. The building itself is somewhat older, and
Johannesburg’s director of arts, culture and heritage
occupies a pleasantly old-fashioned, 1950s-type
spacious wood-panelled office.
Not that spacious implies uncluttered. The room is
stacked with objects of art, prominent being the pro-
posed maquettes for the sculpture of legendary jazz
muso Kippie Moeketsi it’s planned to erect outside a
re-opened Kippie’s.
Sack’s father is the well-known architect Monty
Sack, so he grew up in a creative environment. He
studied fine art, art history and art education at Wits
and Unisa, and worked for a while as a teacher, but
he made his name as curator of The Negelected
Tradition.
This revisionist historical survey of SA art, which
he says converted him from a political activist to a
cultural activist, ran at the Jo’burg Art Gallery from
November 1988 to January 1989. Together with
Ricky Burnett’s Tributaries, it awakened white art
lovers to the realisation that alongside the Pierneefs,
Wennings and Coetzers was a whole parallel world
of black artists, the Mohls, Pembas, Ngatanes and
Sekotos, of which they knew nothing -- or, at any
rate, next to nothing.
Subsequently Sack curated a number of exhibitions,
including the People’s Park Pace Building, seen
in several SA museums and in Sweden, and The
African Carousel, which he describes as a functional
merry-go-round made by 10 artists for the Oliewen-
hout museum in Bloemfontein, from 1994-1996. His
initial five-year contract in Jo’burg expires at the end
of this year, though it may be renewed by mutual
consent.
Sack says his directorate has been housed in a
number of municipal departments but seems to feel
that its present home within the department of com-
munity development is appropriate. The department’s
main mandate is to overcome social poverty, and the
arts are a major tool in that effort.
Sack points out that few cities in Africa, and indeed
within SA, have a directorate like his.
His brief naturally covers more than the visual arts.
For instance, he says the city takes great pride in the
achievements of the Jo’burg (previously Civic) Thea-
tre, and recognises the importance of arts, culture
and -- especially -- heritage -- more specifically, the
heritage of the previously disadvantaged.
But given the seemingly limitless demands on the
public purse to provide far more basic services, how
does a municipal authority justify spending money on
what many see as luxuries, and what is its role in the
process?
He concedes that a municipality’s primary role is the
provision of basic infrastructural services. In cultural
services, it must be more of a catalyst, developing
partnerships with the community and private sector.
The Jo’burg Theatre, for instance, receives a R15m
annual grant and generates about R16m in box
office revenue, so in effect is a 50:50 public:private
partnership.
And the planned new R60m theatre in Soweto has
been made possible by making building it a condi-
tion of granting the rights to a major new property
development.
In terms of the visual arts, he sees the role of the
public sector as providing an enabling environment --
buildings and staff. The institution must then develop
its own resources -- as, he says, Clive Kellner did
at the Jo’burg Art Gallery, presenting exhibitions like
Africa Remix.
In effect, though, this means that Sack is basically a
fund-raiser -- as, he says, he was when he was work-
ing in national government.
“The important thing is the project, whatever it may
be. But we’re never fully budgeted at the start of the
year. We always have to work on keeping existing
partnerships going and finding new ones.”
Optimistically, Sack believes that, if you devise a
viable project, sponsorship and funding generally
fall into place. Last year’s Africa Day, for instance,
started with an R800 000 allocation but ended up
with R13m.
“It can be a harrowing process, but by the end of the
day if it’s a good project that excites people, spon-
sors will generally emerge.”
While this may have been true in more prosperous
times, it will surely be a much bigger challenge in a
recessionary phase. Companies are already cutting
back on arts spending as a “soft” way of making
economies.
He points out that his is by no means the only direc-
torate that has to find innovative sources of revenue,
citing the public:private partnership that’s redevelop-
ing the old Paterson Park sports facility in Norwood,
which is being extended to incorporate the old Spark!
art space, new home of the Jo’burg Art Bank.
There’s also potential to redeploy existing underused
assets. Here, he mentions the old mobile library
buses, which the Transport Museum’s chief curator
Peter Hall (son of John Hall, founder of the museum)
is converting into mobile museums that will be taken
to poor communities all over the city.
And a major achievement is the public art policy,
whereby all infrastructure projects costing more than
R10m must agree to spend part of the budget -- ide-
ally, 1% -- on art. This will apply, for instance, to all
the Bus Rapid Transit Stations, so will bring a lot of
art to the old Townships.
The Kippie Moeketsie statue is in fact part of this
initiative.
“We’ve created more public art in the past three
years than in the entire previous history of the city.
And much of it commemorates political figures
ignored or vilified by the previous regime, like the
Sisulus.”
To Sack, the art scene created space for a nonracial
community under apartheid, laying an important ba-
sis for the new SA. Old-era institutions like JAG have
already started to shift to embrace black artists, black
audiences and a progressive discourse. Whether he
renews his contract or not, the pressure to use art
as a transformational influence in society will clearly
continue.
ART PROFILES
Antoinette Murdoch
Antoinette Murdoch has had a long standing relation-
ship with the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Recently
appointed as the Chief Curator of JAG, Murdoch
was smitten with the gallery when a maverick young
school mate took her there for the first time on a date
during her matric year.
“I fell in love with JAG at that moment” says Mur-
doch. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for
the hapless chap! She describes standing in front of
Penny Siopis’s Melancholia as her “eureka” moment,
which led to a career of studying, practicing and
managing visual art. Now, a mere 18 years later, she
has been appointed to the helm of the institution she
revered.
“This position does not come up very often,” states
Murdoch.” With at least 5 year contracts, this sort
of position is usually held for 8 years or more.” She
explained about her decision to apply for the post at
this relatively early point in her career.
Murdoch’s contract is for 5 years.
However at 36, Murdoch is certainly not one of the
gallery’s youngest Chief Curators, as industry gossip
seems to believe. She joins the esteemed company
of late Pat Senior who took the helm at aged in 1977
(age 33), Christopher Till who was appointed to the
post in 1983 (age 32), Nel Erasmus (aged 36 at the
start of her tenure) and more recently, Clive Kelner,
who was appointed at 36 in 2004..
Undeterred by industry skepticism, Murdoch points
out that the same critical analyses dogged her
appointment as CEO of the Joburg Art Bank, an
organization she has managed for 3 years, from its
inception. It is significant to note that during this pe-
riod, Murdoch had to navigate the institution through
some very tough times, with operating funding cut
off suddenly in year three due to factors beyond her
control, despite the original business plan to the con-
trary. “It was either shut up shop or do other things to
survive the period.” Says Murdoch.
The Bank’s strategy of taking on projects and
diversifying their core tasks, although much criticized
and misunderstood by the industry, has seen the Art
Bank generate operational budget that now ensures
its return to its core function this year.
It is this sort of challenging experience that will stand
her in good stead for the task ahead of filling the
shoes, with her six 5 feet, left by previous Chief
Curator, Clive Kellner.
“Clive did a great job. He has done so much to re-vi-
talise JAG, having inherited an organization that was
fraught with challenges, both internal and external”
she says.
“When Clive took over, that part of town was a no go
area, which presents a real problem if you are in the
business of attracting visitors to a public facility.”
On a more personal note, Murdoch will surely
encounter some real challenges balancing her career
as a practicing visual artist and that of Chief Curator
of arguably the country’s foremost museum, and
the biggest gallery on the sub-continent. She won’t
be the first senior art manager to pursue a career
as an artist in tandem, but she will certainly be the
most watched one, for the moment. Murdoch is
unequivocal however, citing her foremost goal in life
is to ultimately only make art. However like all artists,
“there are bills to pay and life to be lived until one can
sustain oneself with art making alone.”
“ I faced that choice early on” says Murdoch.” I could
either work in an unrelated industry, or work where
Photo: Taryn Cohn
my knowledge and experience lies.”
Murdoch, who does not take up the position until
the 1 April is hesitant to give any specific plans she
has, citing her desire to get to grips with the detail
of the institution before committing herself publicly.
She does however believe that the role of a museum
goes beyond the local scope. “It has a significant
role in terms of how the South African art industry
is viewed internationally and we should continue to
engage in opportunities around leveraging JAG on
an international platform”
She expands on this by adding that while the role of
the museum is to accumulate and safeguard South
African heritage through its acquisition policies, a
less exploited role of the Museum should also be
to showcase international artists to a local audi-
ence, and hopes to consider bringing key artist’s to
exhibit in South Africa. (This is however said with the
disclaimer that at present Murdoch is not in posses-
sion of the budget nor detailed existing policies of the
Museum in this regard).
In the meantime, South Africa’s art industry is watch-
ing with interest to see if Murdoch’s love affair with
JAG will become a successful marriage.
Additional: For public interest
The Johannesburg Art Gallery operates in the follow-
ing manner:
Operational:
It falls under the City of Johannesburg, with the
director of Art Culture and Heritage Services as its
Director. This position is currently held by Stephen
Sack. Operating budgets are allocated by the city,
and expenditure is approved by the COJ on the
recommendation of the Chief Curator.
Exhibitions:
There is a Curatorial staff of 4
Chief Curator, Curator: Contemporary Collections,
Curator: Historical collections, Curator: Southern
African Traditional African Art.
Exhibitions are motivated by the Curator concerned
and approved by the Chief Curator in consultation
with the Curator concerned.
Acquisitions:
An acquisitions committee, made up of the Chief
Curator, the three curators listed above, independent
members of the public (from all walks of life, from art
professionals to others) and the gallery’s Registrar.
The acquisitions committee is independent of the
City and draws its main funds from the Angle Ameri-
can Centenary Trust Fund.
Works bequeathed by individuals or organizations
must also be approved by the acquisitions commit-
tee.
Additional project funding generated by sponsorships
and The Friends activities are handled on a case by
case basis.
Monna Mokoena
Director of The Momo Art Gallery, Johannesburg
People are drawn to become gallerists in many
strange ways. For Monna Mokoena, proprietor of
Momo gallery in Johannesburg’s Parktown North, the
early inspiration was the glamorous locations of the
fashion shoots and the articles on art in the fashion
magazines bought by his father, an itinerant seller of
clothing on the mines.
However, it wasn’t a straight line from there – it
seldom is. After matriculating, he wanted to become
a lawyer specialising in musicians’ rights. There was
no such specialist course available, so after doing a
BJuris at Fort Hare, rather than join a general legal
partnership he went into a successful partnership
selling air time for cell phones.
That collapsed while he was away on a prolonged
overseas trip. On his return he sat down to make the
hard decision on what he really wanted to be, and
that proved to be the crucial moment.
He’d often visited the Everard Read Gallery, which
he considered a great institution in a great space. He
persuaded Mark Read to take him on, in effect as an
unpaid intern, and spent two years there.
“It was the best education in the world. I hold the
people there, but especially Mark, in the highest
regard. No just for the quality of the business, but
also for the gallery’s business ethic. I tried to model
myself on how I saw Mark engaging with clients.
They also educated me in the history of art.”
After those two years it was time to move on, and
Mokoena set up as a private and corporate art
consultant. But he found that the first question a
consultant is asked is, “Do you have a gallery?” So
this led to the idea of establishing a space, and in
2003 Momo opened its doors.
Every gallery has to establish its niche, and Mokoe-
na’s USP was to concentrate on contemporary art.
He felt that no other gallery was doing this; even
the Goodman was then only handling established
artists (black and white), though it has become more
adventurous.
Mokoena is often seen as the purveyor of art to the
black diamonds, but he stresses that his gallery
does not specifically handle black artists. Indeed,
he wouldn’t want to be labeled like that. But it’s
inevitable that the demographics of contemporary art
should correspond ever more closely to those of the
population at large.
And Mokoena concedes that, whatever hangs on
his gallery’s walls, much of his business still consists
Now available:
South African Art Information Directory
Your understanding of the SA Art World starts here
Photo: Victor Dlamini
of dealing in the SA “masters”. He’s still active as a
consultant. At various times he’s advised the likes of
the JSE, Nedcor, Vodacom, the IDC, Allan Gray and
the Gauteng legislature; however much such bodies
want to be seen to encourage new artists, they can’t
ignore the established names.
And Mokoena the consultant has to wear a different
hat from Mokoena the gallerist. A corporate collection
has to have a policy and identity that may not be
the same as the gallery’s. You must resist the urge
to favour your own artists and be true to the cause
of building the collection, regardless of where you
source works.
Though he’s reluctant to give away trade secrets,
Mokoena is confident that he’s built up a successful
business with its own individual way of working that
doesn’t just replicate what his competitors are doing.
That it’s a risky business, especially when he started,
he doesn’t deny. All the more so, perhaps, in that
he has no institutional backing or wealthy individual
behind him. He may take all he profits, but he also
bears any losses in full.
He’s had approaches from potential investors, but so
far that’s the way he wants it. “Of course, there may
come a time when I want to cash in my chips.”
And he reckons the formula works. On the one side,
young artists approach him for shows. On the other,
his approach is becoming more global: he brings
foreign artists, often one with African links, to SA.
“That’s the next wave: art must be a two-way street,”
he says, and hints that his ultimate dream is to have
a string of galleries – or associates – elsewhere in
the continent.
But that may be some way away. He has no doubt
that the art market, though holding up reasonably
well, is suffering from the world economic crisis,
and fears that the next six months will see casualties
among some of the newer, less solidly established,
local galleries.
But Momo, he says, is fortunate in that it has already
built an international image. It’s acting as curator for
Culture France and its IFAS associate at the upcom-
ing Johannesburg Art Fair, and also at Photo Beijing
2009, in China.
“For us,” he says firmly, “there’ll be no change in
focus. The only change will be expansion.”
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Joburg Art Fair 09
Jo’burg’s art value-mart
First published in The Mail and Guardian
Ross Douglas
The second Joburg Art Fair will have its private
opening on April 2 for 1 500 invited guests. That
same day the G20 summit meets in London to agree
that the world is in a financial mess and to disagree
on how to fix it.
But what has this to do with the second Joburg Art
Fair?
After successfully producing William Kentridge’s
version of Mozart’s Magic Flute in late 2007,
Artlogic was able to secure sponsorship from FNB
to produce the first art fair in Africa. The bank took
a bold gamble on a big event to be executed by a
small company that had never visited an art fair,
let alone produced one. After visiting two of the big
European fairs, Basel in Switzerland and Frieze in
London, we started “reverse engineering” our very
own fair. Though the bank was bullish, much of the
art community was not. Most galleries felt the local
market was too small to warrant a fair and that the
real action was in London and New York. Some local
art journalists felt that an art fair was too commercial
and we would be better off with another Johannes-
burg Biennale, even though this was never an option
because of the massive costs.
Not one of the world’s 300-odd art fairs focuses on
contemporary art from Africa. Our intention with the
first fair was to fill this gap. It’s not that easy. Without
gallerists managing and promoting art, artists don’t
find the market they need to sustain their careers.
As with so much talent from the continent, Europe
and the United States provided the opportunities for
African greats such as Owusu-Ankomah, El Anatsui
and, more recently, Romuald Hazoume to exhibit.
Our solution last year was to commission Simon
Njami, who captured the world’s imagination with his
Africa Remix show and to a lesser extent the Africa
Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale. He chose
work mainly from younger artists starting to break
into the international art scene. Njami’s selection of
work, entitled As You Like It, attracted interest but
did not sell. By contrast, local galleries sold beyond
Mikhael Subotzky, Michelle, Mallies household, Rustdene Township, 2008 (Goodman Gallery)
our expectations. Between R25-million and R30-mil-
lion passed hands, giving the local contemporary art
market a major cash injection.
In May last year we sat to plan the 2009 fair. With
the absence of a biennale or any other perennial
contemporary art show in the country, there was
an opportunity for our fair to play a bigger role than
providing only a market for art from the continent. At
the same time art NGOs, foreign cultural institutions
and development organisations started to approach
us, as they were looking for an event that was well
managed with high visitor numbers that they could
contribute to.
The result is that the 2009 fair has 26 galler-
ies, much the same as last year, and 12 “special
projects”, most of which are new. The Gordon
Schachat collection will host South African Jane
Alexander’s Security, commissioned for the 27th
Sao Paolo Biennale and never seen before in her
home country.
The Gauteng provincial government provided the
budget to commission South Africa-born Tumelo
Mosaka, who is now curator at the Krannert Art Mu-
seum in Illinois, to select video art from the Global
South for a show, titled Here and Now. The BMW art
talks taking place inside the fair host local speakers,
including artists, curators and the Goethe Institute’s
selected guests, Agnes Wegner and Thomas W Eller
from Berlin’s Temporare Kunsthalle Museum.
The fair has introduced design on a unique scale.
Thirty-two of the country’s top designers have been
commissioned to make unique and unusual pieces
as part of the Southern Guild initiative. Cultures-
France is bringing out Encounters of Bamako, a
selling photographic exhibition from the continent
of Africa represented at the recent photographic
Bamako Biennale.We raised money from Siemens
for Funda, an art school in Soweto, to produce and
sell its students’ work at the fair.
Despite an impressive line-up for the second fair, we
were still missing one vital ingredient -- an influential
international audience. The world’s top fairs host the
world’s top art personalities with all-expenses-paid
packages. We will never have the budget to host
JOBURG ART FAIR 2009
Photo: (detail) John Hodgkiss
this set and, positioned on the tip of Africa, we are
slightly out the loop of who the “taste-makers” are.
Shortly after Damien Hirst’s Inside My Head
Forever exhibition at Sotheby’s sold $200-million in
September, the contemporary art world went into
freefall. It is no surprise that New York and London
became the contemporary art centres of the world. A
seemingly endless supply of easy-made cash fuelled
an endless supply of ready-made art. When The
Guardian broke the story that Hirst was not renewing
the contracts of 17 of the 22 factory workers who
make his work, it was clear the party was over.
A seemingly impossible international art market has
started to work in our favour. The contemporary
art world will not die. Buyers will go back to basics
and look for quality and value once again and are
prepared to travel to find it.South African-born and
educated Mark Coetzee, who headed the Miami-
based Rubell collection, was recently appointed
programme director for Puma Vision and chief
curator of Puma Creative. Wanting traction in Africa,
he approached us to assist with the fair. We quickly
struck a deal whereby he flies and accommodates
50 curators, collectors and writers from Africa and
abroad to attend the fair, giving us the audience we
have been sorely wanting.
This year’s fair will showcase the work of more than
400 artists and 32 designers from the continent,
with the majority coming from South Africa. As the
art world focuses more sharply on value, art from
Africa will become of greater interest. To capitalise
on this opportunity we need to create art events that
last long enough to become part of the international
art calendar. The start and collapse of the Johan-
nesburg Biennale and the stillbirth of Cape Africa
Platform reinforce negative perceptions of Africa.
The Joburg Art Fair has found an international audi-
ence in its second year. With the ongoing support of
FNB and secondary sponsors the fair will become
the single most important meeting place for collec-
tors, curators and writers and those curious about
contemporary art from the continent.
Ross Douglas is the director of the Joburg Art Fair
APRIL 09 | BUSINESS ART 03
WHATS ON
PUMA brand experiments with the new, joining together creative spirits with major figures of the sports and fashion worlds – figures such as Usain Bolt and designer
Hussein Chalayan, now the creative director of the PUMA Sport Fashion collections, says Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of Puma. “We aim to
bring together individual artists and cultural organizations, and provide them with a platform for creative exchange and international exposure. We are delighted to be
able to express our PUMAVision through this collaboration with the Joburg Art Fair and Creative Africa Network. (Full press release to follow with details of the
Creative Africa Network’s involvement in the Fair.)
And here are some of the other highlights planned for this year:
o The gordonschachatcollection will be presenting SECURITY, a unique installation by internationally acclaimed South African artist Jane Alexander, originally
commissioned for the 27th São Paulo Biennale. Also shown in Göteborg, Sweden in 2007, Security makes reference to forced and voluntary migration, land resources
and attendant security.
o In a joint initiative with Artlogic, this year’s event will also boast a stand featuring a selection of the best of contemporary South African furniture design speciallycu-
rated by Trevyn and Julian McGowan of Source, a visionary local sourcing agent for the international retail market, including the Conran Shop in the UK and
Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and Terrain in the US. SOUTHERN GUILD is a the special collection of products being launched at the Art Fair that have been
selected, from a wide variety of disciplines, as the finest, most original, exciting pieces from the most interesting local talents. The collection will comprise entirely
new ‘one of a kind pieces’, limited editions as well as the launch of new lines.
o Junior art fiends will have plenty to entertain them while their parents are perusing the art on display at the 26 gallery stands. ROOM 13 has a packed programme of
creative activities planned for children, from tie-dye and block printing workshops to self-portraiture classes and poetry sessions. See the full programme of Room 13
activities attched here to plan your children’s Joburg Art Fair workshop schedule. The workhop fee is R80. If a school books more than three spaces, a discount of
R30 per booking will be granted. (Pre-booking essential. Please visit our website to book.)
o blank projects, an independent, artist-run exhibition space dedicated to new developments in contemporary South African Art, will be presenting BAD FORM:
THINGS AND STUFF, curated by Kathryn Smith and Christian Nerf, with Francis Burger. Bad Form is a multifaceted project, of which the second phase, Things And
Stuff is presented as a special project for the Joburg Art Fair. Bad Form is motivated by the need to document and reassess experimental practices in South
Africa from the 1960s to the present. This neglected history offers critical ways of understanding our contemporary art in relation to radical practices here and
elsewhere. ‘Bad form’ can be understood as referring to many things: in colloquial language, it refers to a fairly significant social faux pas. In aesthetic terms, it could
refer to something that is badly constructed, or not sufficiently considered or resolved in formalist terms. But more than anything, ‘bad form’ is relative,
relational; it is culturally, socially or even historically conditioned by whoever is declaring what constitutes the ‘good’, whether in taste or form. Bad Form
approaches critical questions facing art from the perspective of art practice. Things and Stuff is about things revealing themselves incrementally, no big
announcements. Shy art. Intractable art. Reticent things. Committed practice. blank projects was founded in Cape Town by Jonathan Garnham in 2005. Together with
Liza Grobler and then Pierre Fouché, blank has hosted over sixty exhibitions to date by artists including Bianca Baldi, Ralph Borland, Katherine Bull, Julia Rosa
Clark, Barend de Wet, Gimberg Nerf, the Gugulective, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Gabi Ngcobo, Peter Regli, James Webb and Ed Young.
o The ARTIST PROOF STUDIO, a quality Art Education Centre that specialises in printmaking through a variety of diverse partnerships, will be marketing their high
quality original prints, created by over 80 APS students, graduates and professional artists. Their Pro Print Studio has one of the largest and finest
Takach etching presses in the country which has enabled them to edition the work of important South African artists such as Wim Botha, Diane Victor, William
Kentridge, Willem Boshoff and many others who enjoy the experience of working in an environment filled with passion, creativity, and professionalism. They hope
to attract new collectors as well as established and emerging artists to join the Studio and collaborate with their professional print technicians. Situated in the
Newtown Cultural Precinct of inner city Johannesburg, the APS was established in response to a call by Nelson Mandela to all South Africans to participate in the
building of a new, democratic society that would promote reconciliation, cultural diversity, equality, and above all, a culture that celebrates human rights. APS
programmes embody a strong commitment to the use of art in promoting positive social change and development. Their project partners include NGOs such as
Men as Partners, Sonke Gender Justice Network, the Art Therapy Centre, Room 13, NOAH, Phumani Paper and others. The National Paper Prayers Campaign
involves both rural and urban communities nationally in the promotion of AIDS awareness.
o For the Screening Booth, Joburg-born Tumelo Mosaka has curated HERE AND NOW, a selection of moving image work from countries in the Global South.
Mosaka was recently appointed Curator of Contemporary Art at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He was previously an
associate curator at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, where he organised the exhibition Infinite Islands: Contemporary Caribbean Art, and was one of the
coordinating curators of ©Murakami.
o CULTURESFRANCE, in collaboration with Gallery MOMO and the French Institute of South Africa, will be presenting a selection of African photography, entitled
ENCOUNTERS OF BAMAKO.
o Siemens will be sponsoring a stand of selected art works by students at the legendary Sowetan arts and culture centre, FUNDA. There will be no shortage of op-
portunities for on-site networking action at this year’s Fair with the presence of:
o A designer READING BAR, with the best art and visual culture publications on offer by Boekehuis, Biblioteq and Clarke’s. Alexander Opper and Amir Livneh of the
young Johannesburg-based firm, Notion Architects (recently featured in Wallpaper magazine), have conceived of a city-inspired design for the reading bar that has at
its core ‘the celebration of the book as an object of beauty’.
o A VIDA E CAFFE and LOUNGE BAR with designer drinks by Grolsch, Meerlust, Tokara and Pommery, and Kartell furniture from Twiice International, in the heart of
all the networking and social action. So, once you’ve got your entry ticket, there’ll be no need to desert the main event in search of refreshment or some time out.
Make sure you’re part of this year’s Joburg Art Fair, set to be the hippest cultural event unfolding in Jozi in 2009.
For more information see www.joburgartfair.co.za or contact:Matthew McClure press@artlogic.co.za or +27 (0)11 482-445
JOBURG ART FAIR FLOOR PLAN
 04 BUSINESS ART | APRIL 09
The great comeback
Michael Coulson chats with Stefan Welz about Strauss & Co, South African art auctions,
as well as setting up shop in Cape Town and Johannesburg
Veteran art auctioneer and farmer Stefan Welz is as
happy as a boy with a new train set. The first sale
catalogue for his new firm, Strauss & Co, is going
to bed with 165 lots and a gross estimated between
R30m-R40m. The average low estimate of about
R190 000 is the highest he’s ever known for an auc-
tion of SA art.
Values range the full spectrum, from R4 000-R6 000
to R4m-R6m, the latter for an Irma Stern landscape,
White House in Madeira.
There’s also what Welz claims is internationally still
the best-known, and most reproduced, SA painting.
Frans Oerder’s still life
Magnolias was bought by the New York Graphic
Society (which bought the artist’s Blossomtime at the
same time) and published in 1939 as a print which
for many years was the biggest selling reproduction
of any still life painting in the world.
It came back home, bought by an SA collector, in
1956 and is now on offer with an estimate of R600
000-R900 000.
The gross may not be a record, but Welz no longer
sees size as a virtue. “The old company just got too
big, and we had to drive sales regardless of quality
just to pay the bills – the appetite was insatiable!
Also, I got bogged down in finances and day-to-day
management. Now I’m back to doing what I enjoy
most: looking at pictures, finding them, and persuad-
ing people to buy them. It’s important for me to
believe in what I’m selling.”
While he denies that he wasn’t proud of everything
he sold at Stephan Welz/Sotheby’s (now increas-
ingly known for brevity and clarity, if not elegance, as
Swelco), the subtext is that some work came danger-
ously close to the margin. He stresses that price
and quality are not synonymous – though Tretchikoff
does feature in Strauss’s first sale!
Busy as they have been assembling their first
Jo’burg fine art sale, Welz and his new colleagues
have not been letting the grass grow under their feet
in other areas. Welz confirms, with properly if barely
disguised glee, market rumours that Strauss has
poached three top people from the Cape branch of
his old firm.
As we spoke, Strauss chairman Conrad Strauss was
actually in Cape Town looking for new premises,
probably in the Claremont/Newlands area. “I know
the trendy galleries are moving to Woodstock,” says
Welz, “but it’s not ideal for us. We have a different,
somewhat older, clientele – on both the buying and
selling side. They come from the southern suburbs
and, rightly or wrongly, they’re not so keen to go into
what they see as less salubrious areas.”
Strauss plans to differentiate the venues. “We’ll keep
major art sales in Johannesburg. We will include art
in Cape Town in the two sales we plan each year,
but it may be lesser, more decorative items. On the
other hand, we’ll concentrate on things like furniture,
silverware and ceramics in Cape Town, where they
have a more developed market.
“After all, the Cape is where most old Cape furniture
comes from; it’s the natural place to sell it.”
Strauss will also preview highlights of its first sale in
Cape Town, on February 17/18, in the Dolphin Room
at the Castle.
Is Welz worried about re-entering the art market at
a time when it’s coming under huge strain interna-
tionally? Major auction houses like Sotheby’s itself,
Christie’s and Bonham’s are frantically laying off staff
and slashing costs.
SOUTH AFRICAN ART AUCTIONS
“Lesser work, of what one may call decorative value,
is what I believe will suffer most. Its buyers tended to
be indiscriminate and occasional.
“Also, people who bought in the mid to late 1980s,
when the market was depressed, are becoming sell-
ers as they reach an age where they’re scaling down
and moving into smaller properties.
“But the backbone of the market is the true collector,
who’s not after a quick buck, knows what he wants,
and is prepared to wait for it. That market may be
affected, but I think it will remain, and it’s what we
must focus on.
“The market may hold up better in SA, but it can’t
escape the trend. In particular, second-rate works
from major artists may be hit.”
What concerns Welz more is that the market is not
broadening. “The favoured names all appear in the
first edition of Esme Berman’s book [Art & Artists
of SA, published in 1970]. That’s a limited supply:
where are the new names we need desperately?
“And remember that the market for SA art is still an
SA market. The Russian oligarchs aren’t buying it!
And it’s unattractive for an SA resident to buy abroad
and repatriate art: the extra costs can add 40% to the
hammer price.”
Sage words potential buyers will do well to bear in
mind.
Oh, by the way: Welz has decided to resist a land
claim on his farm (“It’s completely frivolous”) and
Farmers Weekly chose one of his animals as Cow of
the Year. So there’s no let-up in that side of his life,
either.
Mark Kretschmer
Chairman and major shareholder in Stephan Welz & Co
in association with Sotheby’s (Swelco).
Michael Coulson
What makes somebody who admits he has no knowl-
edge of either art or the auction business buy into
arguably SA’s most respected art auction house? It’s
simple, says Mark Kretschmer, chairman and major
shareholder in Stephan Welz & Co in association
with Sotheby’s (hereinafter referred to as Swelco).
“My wife. Eight months after I retired from my
previous business [for 36 years he’d dealt in medical
supplies] she told me that while she’d married me for
better or worse, she hadn’t married me for lunch.
“So I had to find something to get me out of the
house. It happened that my auditor was also
Stephan Welz’s, and he knew Stephan wanted out.
So I took a look at it, and we just went on from there.”
Kretschmer says that while it’s been a steep learning
curve, there’ve been no major shocks or surprises.
“You have to come into a new business with an open
mind. But we [he and his business partner, deputy
chairman Jack Rosewitz] have seen areas where the
business could be improved and modernised, and
we’ve been trying to do that.”
Despite rumours in the art world that that the sweep-
ing of the new brooms upset many of the auction
house’s long-established staff, Kretschmer claims
that an area on which the new bosses have focussed
is staff relations. “We’ve tried to be innovative and
dynamic, looking for new products and other areas
where we could expand. Heads of departments have
been incentivised and given more autonomy.
“When we bought the business, we had two objec-
tives: to ensure continuity, and ultimately to hand it
over to the staff. After all, I’m 62, and Jack is 71, so
we won’t be around for 20 years!”
Kretschmer readily concedes that not all the new
initiatives have been successful.
“We tried to develop a contemporaray art sale, but
it didn’t materialise. Unlike New York or London, SA
isn’t ready for a contemporary art sale. We couldn’t
put a decent selection together and in any case we
think the latest contemporary art sales abroad show
that the bubble has burst for contemporary art.
“And contemporary art needs branding, as artists
like Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons or collectors like
Charles Saatchi have shown. With traditional art, the
branding is already there, and it’s much more a ques-
ART AT AUCTION
The results of art sold at auction are always regarded as important indicators of current market values as well as trends in
the art market. This can be misleading in many ways, as record prices are often the result of a ‘battle of egos’ and prices for
particular artist’s works are generally not always comparable because of the difference in quality, condition, period or sub-
ject matter. It is, however, a very important and supposedly transparent part of the art market and therefore deserves closer
scrutiny.
Secrets of the auction room
By Georgina Adam - Editor-at-large of The Art Newspaper.
Published: 2 January 2009 by the Financial Times at
http://www.ft.com/arts/collecting
The art market is often described as the last unregu-
lated financial market in the world. It has remained
stubbornly resistant to almost all efforts to bring
transparency to its operations, which still mainly func-
tion on the basis of highly personal relations and of-
ten secretive transactions. The problem is that these
transactions can today be worth tens of millions, and
that art was – at least until the recent global financial
crisis – increasingly touted as a “safe” alternative as-
set class and was even put into investment funds.
The advantage to auctions is that they have a certain
democratic, or rather meritocratic, element: for new
collectors, buying at auction is easier than braving
the haughty froideur of some top art galleries. At
auction, if you have the money you can simply bid for
a work, thereby avoiding the machinations of dealers
who have waiting lists for some artists and select
those to whom they will sell. The auction room is also
often seen as the only place where “hard” figures can
be obtained, with recorded transactions visible and
available to all. But even this apparently transparent
process is not all that it appears. Much of what is
going on is secret, one way or another.
Let’s start with the sales catalogue. The first secret
is the reserve for each work, the price below which
it cannot be sold. Disclosing this, argue the auction
houses, would disadvantage the seller by letting
bidders know what is the lowest possible price, and
discouraging them from bidding any higher. What
is open is the printed estimate, the price range that
most newcomers would imagine represents the
auction house specialists’ considered valuation of the
work. Buy it for less than the low estimate, and you’re
getting a bargain; above the high estimate, you’ve
overpaid, right?
Actually, no. Estimates can be meaningless. Vendors’
expectations can be too high; the auction house may
have agreed to an inflated estimate on one work in
order to bag others. Alternatively, the estimate can be
unrealistically low, to attract potential buyers. Proving
the point, Christie’s buries this disclaimer in its condi-
tions of sale: “Estimates of the selling price should
not be relied on as a statement of the price at which
the item will sell or its value for any other purpose.”
The salerooms’ conditions of sale also detail the
commission they take from buyers and sellers on
each sale. The buyer’s premium is on a sliding scale
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tion of supply and demand.
“Another new product we tried was vintage and
veteran motor cars. We had a very [as he spoke, the
last word was heavily underlined] success but we
didn’t see a future in it and decided not to proceed.
Still, we did sell a Merc for R8m.”
Swelco’s relationship with its old principal, the epony-
mous Stephan Welz, and his new firm Strauss & Co
is obviously a sore point.
“W bought the business with two provisos: that
Sotheby’s was happy, and that the main directors
would stay for five years. But if someone doesn’t
want to stay, there’s no point in forcing them.”
And he’s dismissive of the suggestion that that
the loss of three staff in the Cape Town branch,
presented by Strauss as a coup, was a major blow.
“Only one of them was in fact on the staff, the other
two were consultants, and only one of them was a
specialist, the other two were in PR and admin. In
fact, we’ve benefited from their departure, because
with the money we saved, we’ve been able to
employ more specialists in Cape Town.”
And though this is the sort of statement people
automatically make for public consumption, there’s
no reason to doubt his assertion that the arrival of
Strauss is positive. “It can only broaden the market,
and I’m always in favour of competition.”
While there may have been early setbacks, Swelco’s
latest Cape Town sale, if falling short of Strauss’s
recent bonanza, was one of the more successful
recent sales of SA art.
The firm has just released details of its next Jo’burg
sale, on April 20 and 21, brought forward a day to
avoid clashing with the general election. It includes
250 works of SA art, the highlight being an Irma
Stern portrait of a girl with her only known painting of
her father on the verso, valued at R800 000-R1.2m.
There are also major works by familiar names like
William Kentridge, Adriaan Boshoff, Francois Krige,
Walter Battiss, Gerald Bhengu, George Pemba,
Maud Sumner, Pierneef, Pieter Wenning and Gre-
goire Boonzaaier.
The sale also includes furniture, silver, ceramics
and jewellery. The estimate for the SA art section
is R8.6m-R12.7m, and the take will need to be well
above the low figure if Swelco is not to lose ground to
Strauss & Co in public perception.
from 25 per cent to 12 per cent, but here again,
there is a backstory going on. Until this autumn,
competition between the two main auction houses
was so intense to get the best property for sale, that
in some cases there was virtually an auction before
the auction, each firm vying to outbid the other with
more generous inducements for sellers. In some
cases the whole of the buyer’s premium was given
to the seller, as well as the vendor’s premium being
waived entirely. This is believed to be the arrange-
ment David Rockefeller made with Sotheby’s when
he sold Mark Rothko’s 1950 “White Center (Yellow,
Pink and Lavender on Rose)” for $72.8m (£36.7m) in
May last year.
Further secret financial arrangements are flagged
up in saleroom catalogues with a series of tiny
symbols. Some of these symbols indicate that the
work in question may have been guaranteed for an
undisclosed sum, meaning that the auction house
has promised this to the vendor, even if the work
doesn’t sell. A “third-party guarantee” is when the
saleroom farms out the risk to an outsider, who
agrees to underwrite the risk if the work doesn’t sell
– and benefits financially if it does. Another symbol
indicates that the firm itself owns or part-owns the
work – again, there is no detail as to what percent-
age it owns.
Much head-scratching has resulted from Sotheby’s
newly introduced symbol, the “irrevocable bid”, by
which someone agrees to leave a – yes – secret bid
on a work. This was first used in November’s New
York sales for Kasimir Malevich’s “Suprematist Com-
position” (1916), which sold for $60m, to whomever
had agreed to leave the irrevocable bid. If another
person had come in over that sum, then the irrevo-
cable bidder would have taken a cut in the difference
between his price and the price actually made.
Another newcomer – the “interested party symbol”
– indicates that someone who has a financial interest
in the lot may bid, and sometimes even “may have
knowledge of the reserve”.
All these arrangements were just dandy when the
market was rising, but guarantees have come back
to haunt the auction rooms in the financial meltdown
of the last few months. Sotheby’s has admitted it lost
$42m in guarantees in its third-quarter SEC filing;
Christie’s as a private company does not have to
disclose them, but certainly has taken a hit: a dozen
guaranteed works failed to sell in its November 12
sale of contemporary art in New York. Sotheby’s
CEO Bill Ruprecht has stated that for the foreseeable
Erik Laubscher’s “Still Life with Mandolin, Music Score and Fruit” selling for R1 120 000
Erik Laubscher sets record
auction price for SA living artist
Steve Kretzmann
The price paid for an artwork by Erik Laubscher which
went up on auction at the summer decorative and fine
arts auction in Kirstenbosch on February 24, has set a
new South African record for a living artist.
Laubscher’s painting from the 1950’s, ‘Still Life with
Mandolin, Music Score and Fruit’, sold for R1.14
million, five times the pre-sale estimate posted in the
catalogue by Stephan Welz & Co. in association with
Sotheby’s. Up until recently, work by Laubscher, who
is a master of virtually all genres of the abstract, has
sold in the region of R50 000 – R70 000. 82-year-old
future the firm is “sitting on the sidelines” as far as
guarantees are concerned.
So let’s actually watch the sale get under way. The
auctioneer starts off each lot a few increments
under the low estimate (each increment is usually
a rise of about 10 per cent). It’s a treat watching
him orchestrate the bids, arms waving, nodding to
someone here, picking up a bid there … except that
he may have no bids at all. He is doing what is called
“taking them off the chandelier”, inventing bids up to
the reserve, after which he has to find a real bidder. If
he hasn’t got one, then the giveaway is the omission
of the word “selling” before the hammer comes down,
and a quick “passed” or “unsold” blurred into “next
lot!” Chandelier bidding is not illegal; it would only be
so if the auctioneer continued to take fictitious bids
over the reserve. It adds to the theatre of the event,
but it is hardly transparent.
As for the real bidders, they too can be shrouded
in secrecy. At the major sales, the most important
potential buyers are hidden in windowed “sky boxes”
above the room, where they can observe the action
and bid by telephone. In the room, auction house
staffers pass on bids from the banks of telephones;
sometimes, to retain anonymity, a staffer holding an
unconnected telephone will be relaying bids from
someone who is actually in the room.
This anonymity – which is justifiable in many ways,
including for reasons of security – is carefully pro-
tected. To this day we don’t know who bought many
of the world’s most expensive works at auction, even
though they were sold openly.
Until a few years ago, auctioneers generally knew
in advance who would be bidding on the most
expensive art, and where they would be sitting. So
scratching your nose is unlikely to land you with a
Picasso. But with the arrival of many new buy-
ers from countries such as Russia or China, the
salerooms have had some big surprises. The best
known is the 2006 sale of Picasso’s 1941 “Dora Maar
au Chat”, for which a buyer buried half way down
Sotheby’s saleroom put in an unexpected and win-
ning bid of $95.2m. The painting’s owner is believed
to be Russian or Ukrainian, but nobody, even most
of the people at Sotheby’s, knows for sure. Which
just shows that, in the smoke-and-mirrors world of
the saleroom, even the auctioneers themselves don’t
always know what’s going on.
Laubscher, who lives in Cape Town and continues to
paint, said he was eating his “humble breakfast, bare-
foot, wearing old shorts”, when he was given the news.
“I am dazed,” he said. He said he could not imagine
the “incredible honour or the impact” the sale would
have on works he has kept for almost 60 years.
But he said he was being “quite cool” about it and “not
shouting yippee! You’ve got to wait for the next one
(sale).” It just makes drawing up my will a lot more
complicated.”
Erik Laubscher’s “Still Life with Mandolin, Music Score
and Fruit” selling for R1 120 000

Irma Stern’s Still Life with Magnolias went for R 7.15m
REVIEW
Strauss’s first maiden sale, Jhb
Michael Coulson
If new auction house Strauss & Co wanted to start
with a bang, it certainly succeeded. Its March 9
maiden sale at the Jo’burg Country Club was about
87% sold, and grossed R37m, against the pre-sale
estimate of between R30m-R40m. This was a record
for an auction of SA art in South Africa, though it falls
well short of the GBP7.1m Bonhams grossed last
September.
The average price per lot sold was R270 000.
Top price was R7.15m for Irma Stern’s Still Life with
Magnolias. Auctioneer Stephan Welz asked the
buyer if he’d like to pay an extra R100 000, so as
to match the highest price ever recorded for an SA
painting, but the suggestion was declined. Second
highest price was reached by Stern’s White Houses,
Madeira, at R5.72m (all prices include the buyer’s
premium, of 10%).
However, even Sterns weren’t guaranteed to sell,
showing that while Strauss itself was selective in its
choice of work, buyers were even more discerning.
Two of the biggest casualties were her White Sands,
bid up to only R2.2m, against the estimate of R2.5m-
R3m, and Still Life with Mask, where the best bid was
R1.3m, against the R1.6m-R2.2m estimate.
Several other artists also set new auction records,
led by Frans Oerder’s Magnolias, at R1.76m (est
R600 000-R900 00). This was bought by the New
York Graphic Society in 1939, which reproduced it
as a print that for years was the world’s best-selling
print ever, and is also said to be the best known SA
picture in the world – Tretchikoff prints notwithstand-
ing! It was repatriated to SA in 1956.
The seldom-seen Dorothy Kay’s Old Oyster Woman
was a record R1.4m (est R700 000-R1m). A Jean
Welz still life fetched R1.21m (est R700 000-R900
000). Other records close to the R1m-mark were
Pieter Wenning’s Cottage, Nelspruit (R990 000, est
R400 000-R600 000) and Anton van Wouw’s Noitjie
van die Onderveld (R935 000, est R200 000-R300
000), while a Freida Lock Interior reached R660 000
(est R200 000-R300 000).
AUCTION BUZZ
INAUGURAL STRAUSS AUCTION JOHANNESBURG COUNTRY CLUB
Sam Nhlengethwa, Julia Charleton, Fiona Rankin-Smith and Maureen Nhlengethwa
STRAUSS PRIVATE VIEWING, THE DOLPHIN ROOM, CASTLE, CAPE
Countess Sylvia Labia, Christopher Peter
and Count Natale Labia
Alberto Capri, Bina Genovese, Deon Viljoen
and Jan du Toit
The R616 000 record for a Skotnes wood panel set
at the Sotheby/Stephan Welz (Swelco) sale in Cape
Town only a few weeks before was just beaten, at
R668 400 for Mythical Figures (est R600 000-R900
000).
While nine Pierneefs were the most works by any
one artist on offer, they were not major, the top price
being R445 600 for Rainclouds & Sunshine, SWA
(est R300 000-R500 000).
Hugo Naude’s Walker Bay got R557 000 (est R500
000-R700 000) and there was good interest in
Ephraim Ngatane and George Pemba. The former’s
Going on Leave went for R501 300 (est R500 000-
R700 00) and Carlton Centre Under Construction
for R423 320 (est R300 000-R580 000), the latter’s
Guitar Player for R401 040 (est R300 000-R500 00)
and Dice Players for R311 920 (est R280 000-R350
000).
Two of the most notable failures came right at the
end. Welz didn’t even sound as if he expected to
sell the two Tretchikoffs and bidding petered out way
short of the low estimates: at R210 000 for Gladioli
(est R250 000-R350 000) and R400 000 for Flower
Seller (est R450 000-R550 000).
Coming on top of Swelco’s successful Cape Town
sale and disappointing results in London, this con-
firms that the market for SA art is in SA.
This will be further tested in Bonhams’ 93-lot April
sale in London of contemporary African art, in which
SA artists are well represented, headed by Dumile
Feni and William Kentridge. Bonhams’ next sale
devoted entirely to SA will be only in November, while
Christie’s calendar to August contains no date for an
SA sale.
At home, Swelco’s next Jo’burg sale is in late April,
with Graham Britz’s auction of the Brett Kebble col-
lection a fortnight later. Strauss & Co’s next dates are
September 14 in Jo’burg and October 8 for its first
Cape Town sale.
Francis Antoni, Mavis Shill and Louis Shill
Ian Lomberg, Countess de Quelen, Juliette Lomberg
and Count de Quelen
SOUTH AFRICAN ART AUCTIONS
Cecil Skotnes’ wood panel “Birds” (R616 000, est R350 000-R450 000)
REVIEW
Stephan Welz and Co.
In Association with Sotheby’s (SWELCO)
Stephan Welz and Co. In Association with Sotheby’s
Decorative and Fine Art auction in Cape Town last
month was far the best of the recent season in both
volume and prices. In the major section devoted to
SA art, 78% of 104 lots sold; an R8.47m gross was
well ahead of the minimum estimate of R6.97m. In
the absence of major Irma Sterns, other artists set
auction records.
Top price was a record R1.14m for an Erik
Laubscher Still Life (estimate R200 000-R300 000).
Other records were set by Cecil Skotnes’ wood panel
“Birds” (R616 000, est R350 000-R450 000) and
a Van Essche genre scene (R728 000, est R275
000-R320 000). The artist’s “In The Twilight” fetched
R616 000 (est R200 000-R300 000).
William Kentridge did well, two drawings going for
R537 600 (est R350 000-R450 000) and R268 800
(est R150 000-R200 000). Maggie Laubser’s Barge
on Canal reached R358 400 (est R180 000-R240
000) and two minor Pierneef landscapes went for
R313 600 each (est R250 000-R350 000 and R200
000-R300 000), one being a casein work on paper.
The earlier session of 82 minor works was 85%
sold and grossed almost R850 000, against the low
estimate of R607 000. Features were R56 000 for a
Tretchikoff portrait drawing (est R7 000-R10 000) and
R44 800 for a Kenneth Baker landscape (est R16
000-R20 000).
This was a big improvement on the firm’s November
sale in Johannesburg in November, when a gross
of almost R11m over three sessions fell short of the
minimum estimate of R15.6m, and about 47% of lots
sold. Among early casualties were a Pierneef Bush-
veld landscape, estimated at R1.2m-R1.6m.
Of the six lots with the highest estimates in the sec-
ond session, four didn’t sell: a Willie Bester sculpture,
two Kentridge graphics and a set of five lithographs
by Marlene Dumas. Another Kentridge graphic,
Sleeper & Ubu, fetched the top price in this section,
at R145 600 (estimate: R120 000-R160 000), fol-
lowed by Robert Hodgins’ oil, Clubmen of America, at
R95 200, well below the estimate of R100 000-R150
000.
The third and final session contained all the major
works: 57 of 116 lots were sold, for R8.3m, against
the R10.5m estimate. Top price was R896 000 for
an Adriaan Boshoff oil, August Winds (est R800
000-R1.2m). However, four other Boshoffs, with
estimates ranging from R180 000 minimum to R800
000 maximum, failed to sell. Just one of three Mag-
gie Laubser’s sold, an atypical Rural scene, for R560
000 (est: R300 000-R500 000).
Of other popular artists, an Alexis Preller painting on
fibreglass, Angel King, was bid up to R336 000 (est
R250 000-R300 000). George Pemba’s Initiation Cer-
emony went for R157 000 (est R150 000-R200 000).
Gerald Sekoto’s Walking Down the Road (1961)
just made the R300 000-R500 000 estimate, at
R302 000, but his Water Carriers did much better, at
R157 000 (est R100 000-R150 000). Two works by
Ephraim Ngatane, both estimated at R300 000-R500
000, went for R302 000 and R538 000. Tretchikoff’s
Proteas in a Silver Vase reached R224 000 (est:
R200 000-R300 000), though his Arum Lilies (est:
R150 000-R200 000) was passed.
APRIL 09 | BUSINESS ART 05
UPCOMMING AUCTIONS
Bonham’s auction in London last month gave much
cause for thought. Especially to “investors” in Irma
Stern: no less than 20 of the 27 Sterns offered didn’t
sell, including the five with the highest estimates.
These comprised three still lifes, with estimates of
GBP100 000-GBP150 000 and (twice) GBP150 000-
GBP200 000, plus Malay Girl (GBP70 000-GBP90
000) and Gathering Firewood (GBP125 000-GBP175
000). Many of these works are indeed reoffers from
previous sales.
This left the way open for Maggie Laubser to head
the value list, her Indian Girl with Poinsettias reach-
ing GBP276 000, against the estimate of GBP100
000-GBP150 000.
The main section of Bonham’s sale saw 68 of 135
lots sell, as near as doesn’t matter to 50%. The
gross was about GP1.5m, against the low estimate
of GBP2.4m.
Of other leading artists, eight of 12 Sekotos sold,
five of eight Van Essches, five of seven Gregoire
Boonzaaiers and three of four Pierneeefs; but only
two of seven Prellers, three of eight Francois Kriges
and none of the three Tretchikoffs
Only one other work topped GBP100 000: GBP132 William Joseph Kentridge (1955-) THE HIGHVELD STYLE MASKED BALL signed and dated ‘88.
000 for Preller’s Still Life with Crocodile (estimate R 500 000 - R 700 000 Lot 329, SWELCO Sale
GBP40 000-GBP60 000). But there were a few
notable and record prices. Like GBP52 800 for Anton 8 April 2009
Van Wouw’s bronze Shangaan, estimated at only Bonham’s London
GBP7 000-GBP10 000, and GBP60 000 for a Battiss Africa Now
semiabstract (GBP12 000-GBP18 000). An auction of contemporary African Art
The only other works to top GBP40 000 were a Hugo Enquiries: Giles Peppiatt + 44 (0) 20 7468 8355 giles.peppiatt@bonhams.com
Naude landscape (GBP40 800, est GBP35 000- Hannah O’Leary + 44 (0) 20 7468 8213 hannah.oleary@bonhams.com
GBP55 00), a Sekoto interior scene (GBP48 000, est Or log onto: www.bonhams.com
GBP40 000-GBP46 000), and two Pierneefs: Golden
Gate (GBP72 000, est GBP60 000-GBP90 000) and
Acacia Trees (GBP43 200, est GBP40 000-GBP60 20 & 21 April 2009
000). Viewing 17-19 April 09
At Bonham’s sale of minor works the previous day, SWELCO
88 of 147 lots sold for a gross of GBP1.45m, against Stephan Welz and Company, in association with Sotheby’s
the low estimate of GBP1.7m. Top price of GBP9 Fine & Decorative Arts, Furniture, Silver, Ceramics and Jewellery
000 was shared by William Syme’s 19th-century Johannesburg
view of Table Bay (est GBP1 000-GBP1 500) and a Venue: 13 Biermann Ave, Rosebank Johannesburg
J K Moehl At Johannesburg Station (est GBP2 000- Venue: The Great Cellar, Alphen Hotel, Alphen Hotel, Constantia
GBP3 000), closely followed by a Terrence McCaw See www.swelco.co.za for further details
view of Hout Bay (GBP7 800, est GBP3 000-GBP5
000).
Viewing at: Graham’s Fine Art Gallery : 16th April – 1 May 2009
This was, however, a much better result than Chris- Summerplace: 4th – 6th May 2009
tie’s sale of Australian and SA art in December, which Auction: Summerplace: 7th May 2009
was 60% unsold. Only seven of the 16 SA works Grahams Art Gallery
sold, grossing GBP392 000 against a low estimate of Brett Kebble Art Viewing
GBP827 000, the only notable price being GBP301 Contact the following for auction catalogue www.brettkebbleartcollection.co.za
250 for an Irma Stern portrait (est GBP250 000- www.grahamsfineartgallery.co.za
GBP300 000). Call Grahams Art Gallery 011 27 11 4659192
Neither Pierneef, only one of three Francois Kriges
and one of five Dylan Lewises sold. 14 September 2009 at 8 p.m
Strauss & Co Fine Art Auctioneers
All prices quoted above include the buyer’s premium, 89 Central Street, Houghton, Gauteng 2198
of 12%-20%. Important South African Paintings, Watercolours and Sculpture
The next couple of months will see the first sale (Entries open till 10 July 2009)
by the new auction house, Strauss & Co, plus a The Johannesburg Country Club 8pm
Stephan Welz and Co. In Association with Sotheby’s Tel. 011 728 8246
sale in Johannesburg and Graham Britz’s disposal www.straussart.co.za, jhb@straussart.co.za
of the late Brett Kebble’s collection. These will test Cape Town Office, 078 044 8185
whether the Stephan Welz and Co. In Association ct@straussart.co.za
with Sotheby’s Cape sale marks a genuine market
recovery, or was just a flash in the pan.
 06 BUSINESS ART | APRIL 09
ART INVESTMENT AND COLLECTING
Art – Pleasure or Investment?
Johans Borman
With Damien Hirst recently making headlines with his
£111m mould-breaking auction sale at Sotheby’s, a
quote attributed to him came to mind;
“Art is about life and the art market is about money”.
As gallerist I am continuously questioned about
the investment potential of art and have by now
formulated a response that usually covers most of
the relevant aspects:
I do not see art as a typical financial investment
instrument, as it is not created to be that in the first
place. Artists usually set out to capture a mood, emo-
tion or underlying message and communicate this
to the viewer using their particular approach, style
and medium. Unlike financial investments art does
not pay dividends, interest or rent – the ‘return on
investment’ or the result of the interaction with a work
of art lies in the emotional stimulation and ‘cerebral
gymnastics’ experienced during this appreciation
process.
In my opinion, the concept of ‘investment art’
distracts from the real purpose of art and is being
emphasized to motivate non art lovers to spend
more money in the ‘art industry’ – trusting that they
will realise a healthy profit. This concept is largely
promoted by auction houses and profit driven dealers
who do not feel any responsibility towards maintain-
ing a healthy and stable market. This approach is
also not beneficial to living artists - whose livelihood
depends on a stable market for their work, or the
Masters market where a lot of hype around a par-
ticular collection or artist can result in unsustainable
Value judgments
By Jo-Marie Rabe
This article was first published in Personal Finance
magazine, 2nd Quarter 2008. February 17, 2009
The ability to spot a bankable artist or piece of art
is a gift very few possess. As for the majority of
would-be collectors and investors, We consider what
history and contemporary trends can teach us about
the tricky relationship between aesthetic value and
investment potential.
For centuries, collecting art was the domain of
institutions and wealthy individuals in search of
rewards beyond the purely financial. The church
was the single most important patron of the arts. For
more than a thousand years, art had one purpose: to
explain and glorify the invisible and immaterial realm
of God. Artists were anonymous; they were artisans
in the service of this greater ideal.
By 1500 art had started to liberate itself, and the
artist had found a name. Universal men such as Le-
onardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Titian and Raphael
realised their own talent and demanded recognition.
And the world was ready for them.
But even during that time, the church was still the
main patron of the arts, and although laymen started
to play a more dynamic role as collectors, artists still
worked to commissions only. The idea of acquiring
canvas, brush and paint, and creating art without the
slightest idea for whom you were doing it, or for the
sole purpose of your own artistic expression, had not
entered the Renaissance mind.
During the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, the
artist became the visual biographer of his time. A
perfect rendering of reality was the challenge. By the
last decades of the 19th century, all of this changed
dramatically. Two of the factors responsible were the
development of low-cost photographic equipment
and the appearance of the commercial art dealer.
George Eastman’s box camera, “Kodak”, was offered
for sale for the first time in 1888. By 1900, he had
reached the mass market with his “Brownie”. Sud-
denly, the artist as renderer of reality had become
redundant – anyone could do it with the click of a
button. One of the traditional functions of art had
become obsolete. This caused immense unrest.
Artists had to start looking within rather than without
for inspiration. It heralded the birth of modernism
in art. “Art is the expression of imagination, not the
duplication of reality,” sculptor Henry Moore would
exclaim later.
At the same time, the commercial art dealer started
to play a more important role in the world of art
(which at that time meant Paris). The power of the
state-sponsored salon system, which had for more
that two centuries regulated exhibitions and the sale
of art with an iron fist, was in decline. In the wake of
this, many small art enterprises made their appear-
ance along the streets and boulevards of Paris. This
was a key moment in the history of painting, because
in order to sell their art, the young entrepreneurs
offered prospective buyers a new incentive: a return
on their investment.
An idea is born
Selling art as an investment has an ironic early
proponent. In 1903, the struggling French artist Henri
Matisse informed a friend that he had come up with
an idea to generate an alternative income from his
paintings. His plan was to find 12 investors, who
would each pay him 200 francs a year. In exchange
for this, he would furnish them with two paintings
a month. In itself, this proposal was not unique or
particularly special. The history of art is littered with
examples of artists engaged in complex, symbiotic,
often even abusive relationships with a patron or
patrons who took responsibility for their day-to-day
expenses in exchange for works of art.
high prices. One has to realise that the objective of
any auction house is only to earn the most possible
commission from every lot on every sale, where they
have about 60 seconds to sell that particular lot. The
actual price realised is less important to them as they
rarely have to accept any responsibility for the result.
Art must, however, be the cheapest pleasure avail-
able to anybody who does appreciate it. For the price
of an overseas holiday or one year’s depreciation on
a luxury car, you can acquire a valuable and unique
work of art that will provide you with unlimited hours
of pleasure for the rest of your life and that of who-
ever you pass it on to. The holding cost is minimal,
no maintenance is required and should you ever
decide to sell it, the capital gain is not taxable when
privately owned in South Africa.
The real investment value of art therefore lies in the
quality it adds to our lives and the very accessible
pleasure it affords us without any inhibiting owner-
ship costs.
Like any good asset acquired with the necessary
care, thought and professional advice, art can also
be an extraordinary investment and store of wealth
in financial terms. This aspect should however not
be the motivating factor to buy art, as it does not
apply to every single work of art and requires a lot of
research, knowledge and patience – characteristics
usually found with most successful collectors.
Market stability
In comparison to other asset classes like shares and
property, the monetary value of art is the most stable
– as illustrated in the current performance of stock
Matisse’s idea, however, had an interesting new
twist to it. He intended to offer his art to this group
on the grounds of its investment potential. He had
envisaged that the 24 paintings would be exhibited
and sold some years later (for what he hoped would
be a profit).
For Matisse, nothing came of this dream, but an idea
was born, one that would change the way art was
assessed and appreciated forever. Only one year
later (1904), André Level, an astute French financier
and a client of Matisse, persuaded 12 investors to
contribute 212 francs each to an investment fund that
would target an unusual new market: contemporary
art.
With ironic flair, Level called it La Peau de l’Ours
(“The skin of the bear”), from the French expression
il ne faut pas vendre la peau d’ours avant de l’avoir
tué. Roughly translated, it has the same meaning as
“don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched”.
Between 1904 and 1914, the syndicate bought art
by a group of relatively unknown artists that was
shunned, neglected or ignored by the art establish-
ment in Paris. They focused on paintings by Matisse,
Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.
While Level made the purchases, members of the
syndicate were encouraged to display these modern
works of art in their homes.
In 1914 the entire collection was auctioned off at the
Hôtel Drouot in Paris. The sale was an enormous
success. Prices of up to 10 times the purchase price
were achieved. The initial investment had quadru-
pled. The news travelled fast. Art as an alternative
asset class, a commodity to trade, had arrived.
At the same time that Level was acquiring paint-
ings for his syndicate, a group of art collectors was
building private collections of incredible importance.
Among those who focused their attention on the
same artists were the Americans Leo and Gertrude
Stein, Albert C Barnes, and Claribel and Etta Cone,
the Germans Count Harry Kessler and Karl-Ernst
Osthaus, and the Russian billionaires Ivan Mozorov
and Sergei Shchukin.
They often bought works from the artists themselves,
but a key figure – someone they trusted to identify,
exhibit and sell to them “the next big name” – had
appeared on the Paris art scene. He was a young art
dealer called Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939).
Talent-spotter extraordinaire
Vollard would play a pivotal part in the aesthetic and
commercial upheaval of the first decades of the 20th
century. His brilliant career has been chronicled in a
recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New
York and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The accom-
panying book, called, like the exhibition, Cézanne to
Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, patron of the avant-garde,
is a constant testament to his uncanny ability for tal-
ent-spotting – an astute skill that cannot be taught.
Vollard arrived in Paris in 1887. As the eldest son of
a prominent Reunion family, it was fitting for him to
go to the motherland to study law. He was an unin-
terested student, preferring rather to wander though
the book stalls on the banks of the Seine looking for
prints and drawings.
According to his biographers, Vollard had a preco-
cious visual sense and a collector’s instinct, even
as a small boy living happily on his island paradise.
He also was, as an outsider, free from the regulated,
controlled, conservative and incredibly stifling influ-
ence of the powerful art salons.
Vollard abandoned his studies in 1888, thereby for-
feiting the allowance his father sent him. He wanted
to be an art dealer, nothing else. Despite financial
hardship, his business grew. Unable to buy the works
of the established Impressionists, Vollard had to find
ART AND INVESTMENT
markets and property prices versus the art market
worldwide. The reasons for this are a combination of
the following:
1. Unlike other assets, ‘the heart wills the mind’
when buying a work of art as there is a well defined
passion involved – it is not just another ‘investment’
where an unemotional rational decision based purely
on financial principles is concerned.
2. Art purchases are usually not financed – works are
bought for cash by art lovers who can afford them.
This inevitably means that it is highly unlikely that
owners would come under pressure to sell, as there
is no debt to service and we are dealing with people
who know how to generate wealth (which enabled
them to purchase it in the first instance). When art
lovers do experience financial pressure, it is most
likely that they will sell financed assets such as
sports cars and holiday homes, but not the painting
adorning their bedroom wall that they are so passion-
ate and/or sentimental about.
3. The stability of the art market can also be at-
tributed to the fact that it is a relatively small market
with a very small percentage of the general popula-
tion participating in it. At any given time a hand full
of able buyers/collectors can ensure that it stays
healthy and that prices are stable – in stark contrast
to stock markets where panic selling can result in
an investment’s value being halved (or devalued to
even lower percentages as is currently the case) in a
matter of weeks.
International value
From a South African perspective, where we have
exchange control regulations in place regulating and
limiting overseas investments, another factor has
now started to influence the SA art market – the es-
other ways to facilitate his dream.
Vollard’s inventiveness and famously persuasive
persona helped him to convince Madame Manet,
Édouard Manet’s widow, to sell him the artist’s
unfinished paintings and drawings. These he
exhibited in his first gallery, situated at 37 rue Lafitte,
in November 1894. The gallery was no more that a
hole in a wall.
The exhibition was a huge success for more than the
obvious reasons. Vollard sold well, yes, but he also
sold to the right people. Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
and Edgar Degas (1834-1917) came to the exhibi-
tion. Renoir became a life-long friend and mentor,
and Degas a life-long client and supplier. In the early
days of Vollard’s career, they also acted as advisers.
It was probably at their suggestion that Vollard of-
fered Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) his first one-man
show in 1895. Cézanne, already an old man by the
time he met Vollard, had retreated to his native Aix-
en-Provence after repeated rebuffs by the estab-
lished Parisian art world.
Vollard later said about his initial meeting with Cé-
zanne: “An innovator like Cézanne was considered a
madman or an impostor ... On the spot ... I managed
to buy 150 canvasses from him, almost his entire
output ... I risked a great deal of money by doing that
– everything I owned, my entire fortune, went into
it. And I anxiously wondered whether my audacity
might not turn out to be the ruin of me. I did not even
have enough money left over to frame Cézanne’s
canvasses decently.” This quote chronicles the
development of a mad passion, but also points to the
danger and chances that Vollard was willing to take
in the course of his illustrious career.
He loved to challenge the establishment.
Indeed, it would become Vollard’s calling-card:
identifying and promoting avant-garde talents who
were misunderstood, disregarded and even despised
by the establishment. “One goes to Vollard’s gallery
to be shocked,” a contemporary commented.
Besides Renoir, Degas and Cézanne, Vollard hosted
one-man exhibitions for and represented the work of
artists such as Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) and
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). Many of these artists are
today considered to be the most important artists of
their time and are even counted among the all-time
great masters of art.
For Vollard, Level and the collectors who bought
these artists’ work, time has been their great cor-
roborator: it turned out that they had made the right
choices. Their experience with art proved enormous-
ly satisfying, but the “returns” on their “investment”
differed. The speculators made a huge profit from
selling their art, while the collectors benefited from
keeping it.
What we can learn
Looking at the relationship between art and com-
merce in recent history might be interesting, but
it does not help us to decide what art to invest in
today. Or does it? Can we take some lessons from
the past? I believe that it does, that despite the
semblance of change, things often are the same
below the surface. People are still people and art will
always be art.
As it happens, Level’s La Peau de l’Ours was not
only the first art investment fund, it was also the last
one to work well. Despite numerous international
attempts to cash in on the art market boom, art
investment funds have not lived up to their potential;
they have more media appeal than real practition-
ers. Remember the recent Van Gogh advert for
one of our premier fund management companies?
The question is, does art form part of its portfolio of
assets?
tablishment of a proven market in London, pioneered
by Bonhams auctioneers over the last 3 years. The
international value of top SA art works has not yet
been fully digested by the market and should prove
to be a very useful stimulant in these uncertain times.
Not only is this aspect a comforting idea, but it is also
broadening the collector base for SA artworks which
could lead to some very exciting developments as
important museums and collectors get involved.
Pitfalls
In light of the above, there are a number of obvious
pitfalls to watch out for when exchanging your hard
earned cash for a work of art:
1. Run a mile when the ‘salesperson’ is focussing
on the ‘investment’ potential of the work and not on
its artistic merit and its success as a work of art by a
reputable artist.
2. When starting out, with relatively little experience
or knowledge, do not buy from mobile auctioneers
who typically have their sales in warehouses and ho-
tels. They are usually selling their own stock and you
will be bidding against the cupboard in the corner,
the driver and the auctioneer’s girlfriend in the back
row until the price they are prepared to sell it at is
reached. When you experience a problem with condi-
tion or authenticity afterwards, they may also prove
very difficult to get hold of and the ‘fine print’ on the
back of the registration card will most certainly make
sure all the risk (and loss) will be for your account.
3. Do not buy paintings by the square cm – all artists
have more, or less, desirable periods or subject mat-
ter and produced experimental works. Values may
therefore differ dramatically for similar sized works by
the same artist.
4. Rarity may often count against the value of an
According to gallery owner and South African mas-
ters specialist Johans Borman, the reason there is so
little real interest in art investment funds is obvious:
people who spend their money on art want to live
with it. “The local art market is driven by individual
collectors, not corporate participation,” he asserts. As
was the case centuries ago, art has indeed become
one of the most recognisable trophies of success for
the world’s wealthiest people.
But there are other reasons why art investment funds
are not performing to potential. To start with, it is
almost impossible to forecast art prices, an exercise
once described by American economist William
Baumol as a “floating crap game”.
Despite academic attempts at art market analysis
by heavyweights such as the Belgian economists
Nathalie Buelens and Victor Ginsburgh, who looked
at the prices of paintings between 1700 and 1961,
and Jiangping Mei and Michael Moses, economists
at New York University who developed the Mei Mo-
ses Fine Art index (based on the records of paintings
with a previous auction history that Christie’s and
Sotheby’s had sold since 1950), the truth is that it is
impossible to predict the art market.
First of all, it is extremely difficult to put an intrinsic
value on art, and, in addition, the market is unregu-
lated, it is fraught with variables and it is almost
exclusively driven by emotion. Besides ego (which
can be an exquisitely expensive indulgence at times),
personal preference, taste and fashion play deciding
roles in what will become the “next big thing” in the
world of high art.
For love or money
Popular articles on the subject of art as an invest-
ment are plagued by platitudes.
“Don’t buy art as an investment, rather buy what you
like” is one that almost always comes up. The idea is
that, should your investment turn out to be a dud, at
least you have the pleasure of living with something
that you like. I often wonder to whom this piece of
advice is addressed.
Here is a scenario: the investor is offered two pieces
of art. One is dark, abstract, dense and difficult to
understand, and our speculator does not really like it
(he thinks). The other he finds a pleasant, beautiful
and accessible painting – he feels this will be easy
“to live with”. However, he is assured by the vendor
that the first could yield 10 times the return on invest-
ment that the second painting could. Which one will
he choose? He will choose the dense work that he
did not understand or like initially, and then start
believing in it (even passionately loving it) as soon
as it is his. Because that is our nature. The investor
did not buy with his eyes; he bought with his ears. He
has successfully acquired a name by square-centi-
metre investment, not a piece of art.
Second scenario: art lover, same paintings, same
reaction (displeased by one but loves the other),
same prediction (high predicted growth on the unap-
preciated work). The art lover will buy the one he
likes, because that is his nature – he buys only what
he loves in any case. So telling the art lover to buy
art he loves is superfluous.
To the investor, art is a commodity. For you, as a
potential investor, a too-definite idea about what you
“love” could literally stand in the way of your making
a good profit. Of course, buying art you love and then
having it grow in value is the ideal, but giving yourself
a mandate that reflects your true objective will clear
some of the fuzziness of the “buying what you love”
sentiment. It is a case of “art-buyer, know thyself”.
So, the point to remember about Level and the
success of his syndicate is their clear mandate to
themselves: buy to sell. Personal preference aside,
artist’s work as it may be an uncharacteristic style
or subject matter that would generally not be sought
after by buyers of that artist’s work. Unique or experi-
mental works are usually only of interest to collectors
who like to cover a broader spectrum of a particular
artist’s oeuvre.
5. Do not buy to ‘just get into the market’, as you
may find it difficult to re-sell a mediocre work and
the transactional costs can be punishing. Be patient
– there will always be an opportunity to purchase the
right quality at the right price.
6. Beware of fakes. With the current values of most
well known SA artists works, fakes have become a
real problem. Most criminals rely on uninformed or
ignorant dealers and auctioneers to sell fakes, which
in many cases are old paintings bought at household
sales which have simply been altered with the sig-
nature of a desirable artist. SA legislation regarding
fakes is not well defined and trying to get your money
back may prove to be very difficult.
Guidelines
1. Allow yourself enough time to educate yourself
about the particular section of the art market you are
interested in before you decide what you like and do
not like. Nobody can judge caviar if they have only
tasted hake before.
2. Frequent as many galleries, exhibitions and auc-
tions as you can - without buying anything, until you
feel comfortable about your ability to judge quality
and value. This will mean that you are able to make
an informed decision when considering a purchase.
3. Build up relationships with reputable galleries
– professional gallerists are always willing to help
educate serious art lovers and can always be ap-
proached for an opinion and advice. Be, however,
they focused on the profitability aspect of their ac-
quisitions. In short, they did not necessarily buy what
they liked. That was not the point of the purchase!
The point was making money. The success of this
venture was based on business acumen and sound
advice, not the impassioned fervour of the die-hard
collector.
“Buy the best you can afford” is another of those
fuzzy “truths”. Like all other sectors of the investment
market, the art world has its blue chips. Currently,
almost any of the Zanzibar paintings by Irma Stern
is sure to yield a high return. But for these works the
entry level is prohibitively high.
So, to those with a bit of “spare cash”, what to do?
What is “the best you can afford”? Do you buy a bad
work by a high-yielding artist (too many of those
around) or a brilliant work by someone who has yet
to prove his or her worth on an auction floor?
Even for those investors/collectors who are in the
privileged position to be able to buy at the very
top end, there are still many things to consider. To
those who intend to sell again, buying at the top
would probably mean that you will have to wait a
while before putting it on the market again. Art as an
investment should in any case be seen as a medium-
to long-term investment.
Another factor to consider is that a paper-trail makes
for good returns. Pieces with a known history or
those that have previously belonged to famous
collectors always have a better chance of surviving
market trends than those without.
An example of how important provenance is can be
found in the auction results achieved by a collection
of South African art that was sold by Stephan Welz &
Company in association with Sotheby’s a year ago.
Jack and Helene Kahn had put together their collec-
tion over a period of 50 years. The Kahns were true
art lovers and could not bear to part with these pre-
cious works. The collection was sold posthumously.
All the lots were sold, nine new artists’ records were
established, five works sold for over R1 million each
and the highest price ever paid for a South African
painting was achieved: The Indian woman sold for
R7.26 million.
“The final total was a spectacular R23 945 300, three
times the pre-sale estimate,” I read on the post-sale
press release.
If the art world is under the influence of emotion,
single-owner sales are the drunken brawls of the
industry. All the rules are broken and all hell breaks
loose. This is a pattern that is repeated over time,
genres and continents. We love that which has a
proven record of having been loved before.
The Kahn collection has set new benchmarks, but
some of those have already been surpassed.
After the Kahn sale the questions on everyone’s
minds were the same: is the art market in a bub-
ble? Can these prices be sustained? Is there more
growth potential? Well, like all good answers there
is a yes and no to consider. As far as the blue-chip
items (those iconic pieces that represent the best
of a genre or the oeuvre of an individual artist) are
concerned, many feel the market has not reached a
pinnacle at all. “In terms of international prices, our
best art is still undervalued,” Borman says.
It is the middle market that seems to be precarious.
“Bad” works by “good” artists are unsold, and medio-
cre artists fetch mediocre prices. So if there is some
sort of bubble, this middle of the market is probably
the area that will be affected should it burst.
But rather than a bubble, the South African art world
seems to be caught in a frenetic feeding frenzy.
Specialist advice essential
aware that every gallery has a particular focus and
stable of artists that it promotes and may therefore
be biased towards those artists.
4. Buy the very best work you can afford. This simple
rule will mean that should you ever become a seller
you won’t have any difficulty finding a buyer and will
realise a better price because you own a desirable
work which buyers will compete for.
5. Do not buy to speculate. In most mature markets
you may be blacklisted by galleries if you merely buy
work to sell for a quick profit at auction. The idea is
to live with works of art that you find stimulating and
enjoy and not to compete with galleries who put a
lot of time, energy and money in promoting artist’s
careers.
6. Educate yourself about the conservational aspects
of the different art mediums and how they should be
framed. Realise that moisture and the ultra violet in
sunlight have the most damaging effects on any work
of art. Make sure you use framers who understand
and practice conservation framing – there are many
horror stories of the values of wonderful works
having been destroyed by ignorant framers. Inspect
works on paper or any work framed behind glass out
of the frame before purchasing it – staples, glue or
double-sided tape may already have damaged the
work and halved the value!
7. Enjoy the journey – collecting art is not a race!
The fun lies in the search for that special piece that
will take your breath away and make you shiver with
excitement. You will encounter many interesting and
some tempting works along the way, but buy with
your heart and not your head.
Johans Borman is the Director of
Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town
It’s auction night. I am on my way to my car. A guy I
have never seen or met shows me a work of art he
has just bought. “Do you like my painting?” he asks
me before he puts it in his car boot. He is desperate
for me to say yes. He has just paid R180 000 for it.
“The market kept running away from me and I had to
get in, I just had to ...”
So, is art a good investment? Yes it is, provided you
buy right. Art is a high-risk niche investment sector
and should form part of a larger, more comprehen-
sive portfolio. Take some advice from the biggest art
buyer currently active in Europe, His Serene High-
ness Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, Europe’s
fourth-smallest country: it is good business policy
to invest surplus cash in art. Not your salary, but “sur-
plus cash” – an interesting notion to most of us.
To buy “well”, information and good advice are
paramount for success. Investing in art means
investing in your own aesthetic, but there is more to
it than that. Getting to know the market is incredibly
important. Study, look, learn and get an adviser.
Nobody in their right mind decides on a blue Monday
to invest their money on the stock market and then
phones the JSE, books a telephone line and starts
bidding ferociously! But this is exactly what people
do with art.
Like the world of shares, stocks and bonds, the art
world is a minefield that has to be negotiated with
great care. If financial return is the aim, do what you
would do if you decided to play the stock exchange:
find a broker. Having an art dealer, a curator or an
art consultant at your disposal means that you can
rely on someone who knows the art and artists, can
read the trends, assess the nuances and can give
informed advice on what to look out for or avoid.
The role of the specialist art adviser has been
important since the time of Vollard and his contempo-
raries. In today’s art market, it is an imperative. The
art adviser has become indispensable. Even Prince
Hans-Adam acknowledges this: “Sometimes I do
not like the piece or I think the price is too high, and
sometimes I like the piece and I would pay a very
high price, but I am not an art expert myself. There-
fore I am very glad to have an excellent advisory
board, which usually succeeds in convincing me to
take the right decision.”
And why exactly is it ironic that the idea of art as
an investment was thought up by an artist? Well,
because artists do not create art for the sake of
investment; they create it to communicate emotion.
And artists are rarely the ones who benefit when art
prices go through the roof. The “droit de suite” is a
movement that intends to rectify this: the scheme
aims to secure a share of the revenue from sales
after the initial sale for the creator of the work. It is
controversial, but they argue that if most other art
forms benefit from royalties earned, why can the
creators of visual art not benefit from subsequent
sales of their work. I say Hear! Hear!
And on this note: as to the question of what to buy
– the old masters or young, living, contemporary
artists? Buy the old masters by all means, but also
invest some of your time and money on the living.
Because by buying the work of a young artist you
give him or her a mandate to keep creating. Most
artists can work only if they sell their art. With your
financial support, you might be nurturing the next
Cézanne, Pollock, Stern or Dumas.
Jo-Marie Rabe is a cultural historian and
co-owns Piér Rabe Antiques in Stellenbosch.
 ARTIST PROFILE
Avant Car Guard
Avant Car Guard are putting up a new exhibition. Mary Corrigall meets with the irreverent group and discovers
that they prize freedom over convention
The Avant Car Guard (ACG) collective are not ideal
candidates for an interview. For starters Zander
Blom, Michael McGarry and Jan-Henri Booyens,
the trio that constitute this irreverent group, are on
a quest to undermine and interrogate the mechan-
ics that drive the art world and interviewing is, after
all, part of the machinery that elevates the artist,
promulgating the status of the artist-genius. But it’s
not just that ACG eschew the artist-genius tag and
culture but they have already satirised the ubiquitous
press interview in their work – long before they found
themselves at the centre of attention. Titled Avant
Car Guard at Home 1996 the trio are photographed
seated at a table in front of microphones.
Of course, a number of elements disrupt this mise-
en-scène; the suburban garden in the background
and the date in the title; in 1996 the trio were
presumably still students. It’s not that they foretold
their future but rather were representing the typical
artist-genius narrative in which the artist is cast as
a genius in retrospect. Our interview will no doubt
cement their status too but it plays out under different
conditions. Held up in Pretoria Booyens is absent
and taking place at an outdoor café in Joburg it
doesn’t resemble the constructed or artificial process
their art work references.
Blom and McGarry are here to promote ACG’s up
and coming solo at Whatiftheworld gallery in Cape
Town but they also seem to relish the opportunity to
expand on ACG’s ethos, which they say is so often
adumbrated by the unruly nature of their art.
“We have kind of wanted to resist becoming the art
world’s entertainment. We are always referred to as
quirky, rabble-rousers; very few people engage with
what we are saying,” notes McGarry.
The art of ACG has been compelled by a number
of different ideas since they launched Volume I at
Bell Roberts in December 2006. Though they found
notoriety quickly with their derisive attacks on the
South African art world, a period Blom terms their
“bitchy phase”, their initial impetus was driven by a
desire to destabilise notions of authorship. It wasn’t
just a clichéd postmodern/Foucaultian compulsion;
they genuinely couldn’t see themselves following
the archetypal artist career path that would involve
producing serious solo exhibitions every two years.
“You kind of feel like you are being cheated when you
get caught in that cycle. There is no space to have
fun. You make a whole bunch of shit and then you
have product, it gets shown and then you make more
shit. There is little fun in that,” observes Blom.
Experimenting in the context of a residency didn’t
appeal to the trio either.
“That form of art making is also really lame because
it doesn’t really deliver anything. Even in a residency
where you put a whole lot of people together, you will
find that everyone still want to put their own stamp
on what you produce. It is cool to develop one thing,”
asserts Blom.
ACG is like the product of an advertising or brand
campaign, in which a team of people develop a
powerful identity that is distinct from their own, they
suggest.
“There is a branding and a concept that we work
towards it’s an independent thing,” says Blom.
Nevertheless Blom and McGarry are quick to assert
that while ACG’s identity is independent of them,
its essence is tied to them; in other words if one of
them had to leave the collective, ACG would cease
to exist.
Being part of ACG has freed them from the conven-
tions that their individual expression is unable to
afford them.
“We can say stuff with Avant Car Guard that we can’t
and don’t necessarily want to say with our own stuff
and because there are three of us the blame or the
authorship is diluted. It’s also a bit lame to do that
stuff by yourself,” says McGarry.
Working as a collective has had an impact not only
on ACG’s aesthetic but their process too.
“It is a fast way of working; an idea happens quickly
or goes away quickly, whereas if you are working by
yourself you get stuck. You learn not to be precious.
And you learn to take the piss out of yourself,”
observes Blom.
The immediacy of their conceptual process obviously
made photography an automatic choice as their
primary mode of expression. Using a timer they take
all their own pictures.
“It makes it more difficult but it makes our art more
peformative in a way,” suggests McGarry.
“We prefer it to do it ourselves because we have
grown used to being comfortable with just the three
of us, the space between sitting and running has also
created an effect,” proposes Blom.
Volume III, the title of their up-and-coming What-
iftheworld exhibition, will see the trio expand their
distinctive idiom into the realm of painting.
“With the photographs we were always acting out
some scenario, we would mimic an idea. In the
painting we are not mimicking some situation we are
working directly (with the subject),” says Blom.
“The process is totally different; we are perhaps
acting out what a normal artist does,” comments
McGarry
He also suggests that painting has developed the
ACG aesthetic into a less figurative and one dimen-
sional form of expression.
“Volume II was very much like looking at the art world
and doing one liner cell based cartoon things that
are activated by the title. We only directly attacked
anyone with the “Berni Seal” (in reference to Berni
Searle) photograph, but this show is very much about
attacking the icons, its bigger and more fun. Not as
one dimensional, the paintings are more lyrical and
abstract,” says McGarry.
Despite their overt attempts at challenging the art
world they have no desire to transform it; Blom and
McGarry say they derive pleasure simply from creat-
ing satirical work.
“In a micro way in terms of how we are read as
individuals or what young contemporary practice is, I
think that we have changed the way we see it. If we
did our solo work without Avant Car Guard it would
be death,” observes McGarry.
Nevertheless, they don’t deny they have had an
impact.
“It is difficult to imagine the art world without us,”
says McGarry. But it’s not a comment born from
arrogance; he suggests that “anybody could have
been us we ended up being us, it’s healthy and it’s a
sign that the hegemony that was around has relaxed.
There are a lot more younger galleries and that
power dynamic that was in place is no longer there
anymore and you can shit on big names and nothing
really happens anymore.”
• Volume III opens at Whatiftheworld Gallery in
Cape Town on March 26
EASTERN CAPE Titus Matiyane.
East London cnr Kingsway and Universiteits Rd, Auckland Park
Ann Bryant Art Gallery Exhibition of SA’s leading artists.
Until 3 Apr, ABSA L’Atelier Awards Regional Exhibition; 25 Apr-
9 May, Anything but painting, East London Fine Art Society
exhibition.
9 St Marks Road, Southernwood, East London
T. 043 722 4044, annbryant@intekom.co.za
Port Elizabeth 62 Kloof Street, Gardens, T. 021 422 1255
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum
Until 5 Apr, Beyond the Documentary Photograph, Contempo-
rary South African Photography, curated by Heidi Erdmann &
Jacob Lebeko
1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth, Tel. (041) 506 2000
www.artmuseum.co.za the public for the weekend. Visitors are invited to meander
FREE STATE 028 3819636/083 4442613
Bloemfontein
Oliewenhuis Art Museum Rust-en-Vrede
Until 08 April,Transitions, Travelling Exhibition and film, by
Paul Emmanuel.
22 Apr-24 May, Decade,Highlights from 10 years of collecting
from the Sanlam Art Collection.
16 Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein T. 051 447 9609
GAUTENG 3RD i Gallery
Artspace - JHB exhibition by Leon Botha.
1-25 Apr, Justice, Just Us, Just Icing: print and mixed media
solo exhibition by Philippa Levitt.
Chester Court, 142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood,
Johannesburg. T. 011 880 8802 www.artspace-jhb.co.za Until 20 Apr, Lomographic Itineraries, photography exhibition
Brodie/Stevenson
Until 25 Apr, Self/Not Self, a two-part curated exhibition that
explores modes of self-representation across a range of
contemporary art practices. Pieter Hugo, Lunga Kama, Anton
Kannemeyer, Nandipha Mntambo, Zanele Muholi, Serge Alain
Nitegeka,Tracy Payne, Berni Searle and Lerato Shadi.
373 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg T. 011 326 0034,
www.artextra.co.za
David Brown Fine Art
Until 18 Apr, recent abstract paintings by Aurora Wolpe.
39 Keyes Ave,off Jellicoe, Rosebank, Johannesburg.
T. 011 788 4435 www.davidbrownfineart.co.za
David Krut Projects
Until 4 Apr, Hidden noise, curated by Phil Sandres, Master
printer at the Robert Blackburn Workshop, and includes work
by Glen Baldridge, Alex Dodge, Joseph Hart, Jason Jagel, Phil
Sanders and Tatiana Simonova.
Until 25 Apr, Collaborations, etchings by Deborah Bell.
142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg
T. 011 447 0627 www.davidkrutpublishing.com
Everard Read Gallery Jhb
Until 19 Apr, The Great South African Nude, paintings and
sculptures by various Everard Read Artists,
6 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg
T. 011 788 4805 www.everard.co.za
Gallery AOP Naude Modern
Until 15 Apr, New etchings, monotypes and watercolours by
Robert Hodgins.
18 Apr-16 May, Drawings by Walter Battis.
44 Stanley Ave, Braamfontein Werf (Milpark),
Tel. (011) 726 2234 www.artonpaper.co.za
Gallery MOMO PAM - North Gallery
Until 14 Apr, The return of the man behind, Multi-disciplinary
work by Rodney Place;Ransome Stanley, In touch, Solo
exhibition of paintings. 26-30 Apr, Art Beijing 2009, in collabo-
ration with IFAS and CULTURESFRANCE: The Encounters of
Bamako. 16 Apr-11 May, group show.
52 7th Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg
T.011 327 3247 www.gallerymomo.com
Gallery on the Square
1-14 April, group show, including (mis)adventure art collective,
Mapula embroidery project.
32 Maude Street, Nelson Mandela Square at Sandton City,
Sandton, Johanesburg. T.(011) 784 2847
www.galleryonthesquare.co.za
Alliance Francaise, Johannesburg
Until 2 Apr, The Gautrain Constructivism & Urbanism, exhibi-
tion by Patric de Mervelec.
17 Lower Park Drive (corner of Kerry Road),Parkview,
Johannesburg. T. 011 646 1169 www.alliance.org.za
Goethe Institute
For Apr, Shebeen Blues, photography by Ananias Léki Dago.
119 Jan Smuts Ave, Entrance on New Port Road, Parkwood.
T. 011 4423232 www.goethe.de/ins/za
Goodman Gallery 01-18 Apr,Kelp, children, women and growing up: mixed
Until 25 Apr, Jeremy Wafer; 30 Apr - 23 May, Peter Friedl.
163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg,
T. 011 788 1113 www.goodman-gallery.com
Kliptown Art Project
From 28 Mar, Guard on Shift, Open Air Installation by Sue
Pam-Grant & Xoli Norman.
Battery Centre, Kliptown, Soweto. www.jozi-artlab.co.za
Nirox Foundation and Goodman Gallery
Until 5 Jun, Contemporary Sculpture in the Landscape, vari-
ous artists, at the Cradle of Humankind. Contact the Goodman
Gallery for viewing and walkabouts, by appointment only.
T. 011 788 1113 www.goodman-gallery.com
GordArt Gallery www.artspacedurban.co.za
GordArt Gallery (main Space)
Until 04 Apr, sculptural works and Found objects, Sarel Petrus
and Edzard Du Plessis; 18 Apr-9 May, Debbie Cloete.
GordArt Project Room (Upstairs) Until 04 Apr, Kirsten Watson,
works in mixed media. 18 Apr-9 May, Stompie Selebi.
Shop 1 Parkwood Mansions, 144 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood,
TF 011 880 5928 gordon@gordartgallery.com
Graham Fine Art Gallery
South African Investment Art, From the permanent collection;
Auction of the Brett Kebble art collection: viewing: 16 Apr - 1
May.
Shop 31, Broadacres Lifestyle Centre, Cnr. Valley & Cedar
Roads Fourways, Johannesburg. T.011 465 9192
www.grahamsgallery.co.za
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Until 7 Jun, For Tshepo, Ten Years Later, Mphapho “Ra”
Hlasane, Artist at the Nando’s Project Room #4.
King George Street, Joubert Park, Johannesburg
T. 011 725 3180 www.joburg.org.za
Obert Contemporary at Melrosearch
1-15 Apr, Off the reservation, John Vlismas.
14 The High Street, Melrose Arch, T. 011 684 1214
www.obertcontemporary.com
Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre
Until 5 Apr, Pieter Van der Westhuizen, exhibition of works.
Cnr. Glenhove Rd & 4th Street Houghton, East of the M1.
T. 011 728 8088
Resolution
Until 7 Apr, Small Worlds: Rail technology, nostalgia and South
African landscape, by Wits School of the Arts Head of Digital
Arts Christo Doherty.
142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg
T. 011 880 4054 www.resolutiongallery.com
Rooke Gallery
Until 01 May, The Travels of Bad, Major Solo Exhibition and
publication by Zander Blom. By Appointment, The Newtown,
37 Quinn Street Newtown Johannesburg. T. 072 658 0762
www.rookegallery.co.za
Standard Bank Gallery
Main Gallery, 14 Apr - 23 May, Past/Present, Andrew Verster.
Art & Artifact Gallery, 14 Apr - 23 May, Eduardo Villa
Miniatures.
Cnr. Simmonds & Frederick Streets, Johannesburg, 2001
Tel: 011 631 1889 www.standardbankgallery.co.za
Seippel Gallery
Mbongeni Richman Buthelezi, Cedric Nunn, Bonile Bam,
Jurgen Schadeberg, Pierre Crocquet, Andrew Tshabangu.
August House, 76-82 End Street, Doornfontein.
T. 011 401 1421 www.seippel-gallery.com
The Art Place, Gallery & Art Centre
4 Apr–2 May, All Things Bright & Beautiful, features all media
by leading floral artists & painted ceramics.
144 Milner Ave,Roosevelt Park, T 011 888-9120
University of Johannesburg Arts Centre Gallery
Until 15 Apr, Cities of the World, solo exibition of drawings by
SOUTH AFRICAN ART GALLERY LISTINGS
University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Kingsway campus
T. 011 559 2099/2556
Warren Siebrits Modern & Contemporary Art William Humphreys Art Gallery 31 Kommandeur Road, Welgemoed, Belville
Until 8 May, Main Gallery Joburg Art Fair exhibition.
140 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg,
T. 011 327 0000 www.warrensiebrits.co.za Civic Centre, Cullinan Crescent, Kimberley, T. 053 831 1724,
The South African Art Information Directory 09
is now available at wwww.saaid.co.za at R 169,-
Pretoria Unit B203, 2nd floor, Woodstock Industrial Centre, 66-68
Alette Wessels Kunskamer
Exhibition of Old Masters and
selected leading contemporary artists.
Maroelana Centre, Maroelana.
GPS : S25º 46.748 EO28º 15.615
T. 012 346 0728 C. 084 589 0711
www.artwessels.co.za
Centurion Art Gallery
Art Gallery collection of works.
T. 012 358 3477
www.pretoriaartmuseum.co.za
Fried Contemporary Art Gallery
Until 11 Apr, Heart, Lianna Loubser, Tshepo Setshwidi, Marli
de Weerdt, Sybran Wiechers. 18 Apr-16 May, Four women
and a man, Ruhan Janse van Vuuren, Anna Gous, Jackie
Schoombie, Marina Aucamp, Esme Kruger.
430 Charles Str, Brooklyn, Pretoria T. 012 346 0158
www.friedcontemporary.com
Until 22 Apr, 180 Degrees, inaugural exhibition by Andre
Naude
254a St Patrick’s Road, Muckleneuk Ridge, Pretoria,
T. 012 440 2201 www.art.co.za/andrenaude
Pretoria Art Museum Bell-Roberts Contemporary Art Gallery
PAM - Henry Preiss Hall, until 19 Apr, Kilimanjaro in relation
to global warming: origins of the Rift – ordered chaos to a
disordered present
PAM - Albert Werth Hall, until 19 Apr, Africa Rifting/ Bloodlines
PAM - East Gallery, until 22 Jun, from the Museum’s Perma-
nent Collection,Artists
from Polly Street and Rorke’s Drift T.012 344 1807/8
www.art.museum@tshwane.gov.za
Pretoria Association of Arts
Main Gallery, Until 9 Apr, St Sebastian. Until 9 Apr, Rina
Stutzer. 19 Apr-7 May, Jaco Benade & M J Lourens.
24 April to 13 May, Galerie Chaton / Black Box, Mimi van der
Merwe.
173 Mackie Street, New Muckleneuk, Pretoria, Gauteng,
0181, Tel. (012) 346 3100 www.artsassociationpta.co.za
UNISA Art Gallery
Until 08 May, Then and now, Images by 8 SA Photographers:
Graeme Williams, Gisele Wulfsohn, Paul Weinberg, Eric Miller,
George Hallett, David Goldblatt, Guy Tillim and Cedric Nunn.
Theo van Wijk Building, Goldfields entrance, 5th floor. Unisa
Campus, Pretoria. T.012 429 6823 www.unisa.ac.za/gallery
KWAZULU-NATAL Curious, Whetstone & Frankley Prinsloo and local artist David Butler.
Durban media illustrations,by Colwyn Thomas
Artisan Contemporary
Until 4 Apr, Lost Girl, an exhibition of works on canvas by
Victoria Verbaan
344 Florida Rd, Morningside,
T. 031 312 4364 sue@artisan.co.za
Art Space - DBN
April: ABSA L’Atelier Regional Competition entries.
Until 18 Apr, YEStoDAY, Sculpture by Gerald Baise in the
Main Gallery. Shadow Dance, paintings by Greg Bauermeister
in the Middle Gallery.
20 Apr-9 May, Nic Crooks
3 Millar Road, Durban. T.031 312 0793
Bank Gallery and Durban Art Gallery
Imaging South Africa, Durban Art Gallery,
Until 26 Apr, Stamps & Newspapers, collection projects by
Siemon Allen.
23 Apr- 28 May, Situation, works by Vaughn Sadie at the Bank
Gallery.
Bank Gallery, Morningside, Durban T. 031 312 6911, www.
bankgallery.co.za
Durban Art Gallery, Second Floor, City Hall, Smith Street,
Durban T. 031 300 6238
Durban Art Gallery
Until 17 May, Not Alone, an international project of Make
Art-Stop Aids, curated by Carol Brown and David Gere. Until
Dec 2009, Pic(k) Of The DAG, South African works from the
gallery’s Permanent Collection.
Second Floor, City Hall, Anton Lembede Street, Durban
T. 031 311 2268
Kizo
Until 26 Apr, An exhibition of mixed media works by
Lara Mellon, Maggie Strachan, Joan Martin, Lesley Magwood-
Fraser and Rene Leslie.
Shop G350 Palm Boulevard Gateway Theatre of Shopping
Umhlanga T. 031 566 4322 www.kizo.co.za
KZNSA Gallery
Until 19 Apr, Harbour, group show by various artists, curated
by Brenton Maart: the expression of containment in contempo-
rary SA Art. Until 19 Apr, All eyes in
African, new works by Mbhekeni Mbili.
21 Apr-10 May, KZNSA Members professional practice course
exhibition, Liam Lynch.
Until 20 May, ‘Not Alone - An international project of Make
Art/Stop Aids’ includes works by artists from Brazil, the USA,
India and South Africa in a variety of media including painting,
sculpture, photography and embroidery.
166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, T. 031 2023686,
www.kznsagallery.co.za
Tatham Art Gallery
Schreiner Gallery: Until 3 May, Zotha Shange, Rolling Ball
Sculpture exhibition; Ceramics Room: Curriculum Curricula
exhibition - Ceramics and Applied arts, exhibition extended.
Until 10 May, Main Exhibition Room, KZN Matric Art
Exhibition.
Cnr. Of Chief Albert Luthuli (Commercial) Rd. and Church
Street, Pietermaritzburg. T. 033 342 1804 www.tatham.org.za
Shongweni Studio, Andrew Walford, Potter
10-13 Apr, Hot Pots and Hot Cross buns, Easter Exhibition by
potter Andrew Walford at the Shongweni Studio, Shongweni
Valley.
B9, Zig Zag Farm, Shongweni T. 031 769 1363/082 794 7796
andrewwalford@telkomsa.net
MPUMALANGA
Casterbridge
White River Gallery
Until 10 Apr, Wilma Cruise.
CASTERBRIDGE Lifestyle Centre, Cnr. Numbi + R40
Hazyview White River T. 082 553 8919.
NORTHERN CAPE T.021 788 6571 kbmodern@iafrica.com
Kimberley
Permanent Collection Exhibition - Includes works of a variety
of contemporary SA artists
www.museumsnc.co.za Until 18 Apr, Edges - an exploration of meeting points, works
WESTERN CAPE www.kunsthouse.co.za
Baardskeerdersbos
02-03 May, Autumn Art Route, The artists of this quirky,
creative Overberg hamlet throw open their rural studios to
between the very individual spaces, 10am -5pm, enjoying art,
craft, pastoral bliss and refreshing country hospitality.
www.baardskeerdersbosartroute.comCape Town 3 Vredehoek Avenue, Oranjezicht, T. 021 465 3551
Cape Town
34 Long Until 30 Apr, Landscapes in oil by Brahm van Zyl.
Until 11 April, Tears and Castles, mixed media, Motel 7, debut
solo exhibition. Until 16 May, Prehistoric idols, works by
Paul du Toit.
34 Long Street, Cape Town T. 021 426 4594,
www.34long.com
Until 24 Apr, Liquid Swords: Slices of Lemon, Solo painting
95 Waterkant Street, De Waterkant. T. 021 425 2266
Alliance Française
by Aurelie Bieswesch
155 Loop Street, Cape Town. T. 021 4235699
www.alliance.org.za
Alex Hamiltion Art Studio
8 Apr-8 May, Afrotize, is a new series of pop art, stenciled
works by Cape Town artist, Alex Hamilton.
Albert Road Woodstock, T. 021 447 2396
www.alexhamilton.co.za
Art B Gallery From 26 Apr, , Prints by Sam Nhlengethwa and Friends.
Until 14 Apr, ABSA L’Atelier Regional Competition entries.
Library Centre, Carel van Aswegen Street, Bellville
T. 021 918 2301, www.artb.co.za
Artist’s Gallery
Until 4 Apr, solo exhibition of recent photographic images
captured in the Western Cape by Michel le Sueur.
36 St George’s Street, Simonstown, T. 021 786 5952
Association for Visual Arts (AVA)
Until 30 Apr, Social Pattern,
Lynette Bester, Kevin Brand, Paul Cooper, Paul Edmunds,
Justin Fiske, Carol-Anne Gainer, Bronwyn Lace, Fritha
Langerman, Kim Lieberman, Vaughn Sadie, Fabain Saptou,
Rowan Smith, Greg Streak, Cobus van Bosch Curated by
Kirsty Cockerill.
35 Church Street, Cape Town, T. 021 424 7436,
www.ava.co.za
Atlantic Art Gallery
A permanent display showcasing leading contemporary
South African artists.
25 Wale Street Cape Town, T. 021 423 5775
Until 11 Apr, Coming from Where I’m From, Paintings by
Fahamu Pecou;
176 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock,
T. 021 465 9108 www.bell-roberts.com
Cape Gallery
Until 4 Apr, Shadow Boxes, an exhibition of new paintings,
etchings and constructions by Judy Woodborne and ceramics
by Wiebke von Bismarck. 26 Apr-16 May, New paintings in
oil and etchings by Diane Johnson-Ackerman and Marilyn
Southey.
60 Church Street, Cape Town, T. 021 423 5309
www.capegallery.co.za
Cape Town School of Photography
From 1 Apr, Nostalgia - the passing of time, Exhibition of
Student work.
4th Floor, 62 Roeland Street, Cape Town, T. 021 4652152
www.ctsp.co.za
Christopher MǾller Art
Until 8 Apr, Three Perspectives, Group exhibition featuring
Geoff Burr, Alan McKerron and David Porter.
82 Church Street, Cape Town, T. 021 439 3517
www.christophermollerart.co.za
87 Station Road, Observatory
www.curiouswhetstoneandfrankley.com George
Erdmann Contemporary /Photographers Gallery Strydom Gallery
Until 18 Apr, The World Needs Me, new paintings, sculpture
and photography by Norman O’Flynn.
63 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town T. 021 422 2762
www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za
Everard Read Gallery - Cape Town
1-14 April, One Summer in Cape Town, recent paintings by
Nick Botting.
Until 1 May, New painings by Ed hodgkinson.
Portswood Rd, V&A Waterfront T. 021 418 4527
www.everard-read-capetown.co.za
Exposure Gallery
For April, You are here, photography by Tom Buchanan.
The Old Biscuit Mill, 373 Albert Road, Woodstock.
T. 021 447 4124 www.exposuregallery.co.za
Focus Contemporary, Fine Young Art
Until 25 Apr, Cold Sweat, works by Christiaan Diedericks.
2 Long Street Cape Town, T. 021 419 8888,
www.focuscontemporary.co.za
Gallery F
Until 30 Apr, Exhibita - New Landscapes (Photography) by
Jonathan Taylor
May-June, The spirit of District 6 collection, photography by
Cloete Breytenbach.
221 Long Street, Cape Town, T. 021 422 5246
www.galleryf.co.za
Gallery Odes
For April, The Unbearable likeness of seeing; by Gordon Clark
The Old Biscuit Mill, 357 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
T. 021 423 4687 www.gordonclark.co.za
Gill Allderman Gallery
Until 15 Apr, Art Sale, established and emerging fine artists.
278 Main Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town T. 083 556 2540
www.gillalldermangallery.co.za
Goodman Gallery, Cape
Until 25 Apr, Nation State, curated by
Storm Janse van Rensburg.
3rd Floor, Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Road
Woodstock, Cape Town T. 021 462 7573/4,
www.goodmangallerycape.com
Hello Again
1-30 Apr, In No Particular Order, group show featuring
Michaela Jansen, Dylan Jones, Bruce Mackay, Jess Olivier,
Johan Truter and Michael Tymbios.
44 Bloem Street, Cape Town, T. 021 426 0242
Irma Stern Museum see, Hannes Harrs, Elzaby Laubscher, Cecil Skotnes, Pippa
22 Apr-9 May, Exodus, works by Roxandra Dardagan Britz.
Cecil Road, Rosebank, Cape Town T. 021 685 5686
www.irmastern.co.za
Iziko - South African National Gallery
1 Apr-14 Jun, The Tropics, Views from the middle of the globe;
Until Jul 09, Scratches on the Face. Until 10 May, Wonder-
land: Nontsikelelo Veleko, Standard Bank Young Artist 2008;
Until end May, What We See. Voice, Image and Versioning, at
the Iziko Slave Lodge; 6 Apr - 28 Jun, ‘Dis-ease’, a collection
of recent video art drawn from the Rijksakademie archives,
Curated by Greg Streak.
Government Avenue, Company’s Garden T. The 021 467
4660, www.iziko.org.za
João Ferreira Gallery
8 Apr-1 May, works by David Brown.
70 Loop Street,Cape Town, T. 021 423 5403
www.joaoferreiragallery.com
Kalk Bay Modern
15 Apr-15 May,Paintings and Prints by Nicolaas Maritz.
APRIL 09 | BUSINESS ART 07
1st Floor, Olympia Buildings, 136 Main Road Kalk Bay.
Lindy van Niekerk Art Gallery
T. 021 913 7204/5 www.artpro.co.za
Kunst House
by Fiona Ewan Rowett.
Michael Stevenson Contemporary
Until 9 Apr, In Boksburg, David Goldblatt; Recent Prints by
Claudette Schreuders. 16 Apr-30 May, Works by Penny Siopis
and Nandipha Mntambo.
Ground Floor, Buchanan Building, 160 Sir Lowry Road,
Cape Town, T. 021 462 1500 www.michaelstevenson.com
Muti Gallery
mutigalery@mutifilms.co.za
10 Wellington Road, Durbanville. T. 021 976 4691
www.rust-en-vrede.com
Salon91 Contemporary
Until 20 April, Lovecity, A collection of drawings, prints and
wallpaper designs by Lorenzo Nassimbeni; 22 Apr-10 May,
Through the looking glass, Mixed Media paintings by Dagmar
Sissolak.
91 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town 021 424 6930
www.salon91art.co.za
South Gallery
showcasing creativity from Kwazulu-Natal;
For April, Ardmore Ceramic Art.
Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Road Woodstock,
Ground Floor. T. 021 465 4672 info@southgallery.co.za
Urban Contemporary Art
Until 02 May, The exploits of the incomparable Shamila, works
by Christopher Slack.
46 Lower Main Road, Observatory, Cape Town
T. 021 447 4132, www.urbancontemporaryart.co.za
The South African Print Gallery
107 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town, T. 021 462 6851
www.printgallery.co.za
What if the World…
Until 25 Apr, Volume III, Large-scale paintings, editioned works
and a limited edition publication, by Avant Car Guard.
First floor, 208 Albert Road Woodstock T. 021 448 1438
www.whatiftheworld.com
Franschoek
Gallery Grande Provence
Until 15 Apr, Viewpoints, Paintings and Drawings by
Louis Van Heerden.
Main Road Franschoek, T. 021 876 8600
www.grandeprovence.co.za
Galerie L’ Art
Until 11 Apr, Diversity, Solo Art Exhibition by
Johannes du Plessis.
Shop no 3, The Ivy, Krugerstreet, Franschoek T. 021 876 2497
www.galart.co.za
Tulbagh
Kismet Kamal Gallery
Until end April, 4 Women, works by Rochelle Beresford, Thea
Smith, Petro Shingalala, Annette Du Plessis.
Epicentre, Van der Stel/Church Street, Tulbagh, T. 023 232
0822
Knysna
Knysna Art Gallery
Until 17 Apr, The Knysna River Red Bridge Exhibition, oils,
watercolours & mixed media, solo exhibition by Sally Bekker.
The Old Gaol, Cnr. Queen & Main Str.’s, Knysna, 6570,T. 044
382 7124
www.knysnafinearts.co.za
Knysna Fine Art
Until Apr 10, Exhibition of works by Keith Joubert; 01-08 May,
The Tattoo Show.
8 Grey Street Knysna, T.044 382 5107
www.finearts.co.za
Plettenberg Bay
Upper Deck Gallery
From 8 Apr, exhibition featuring the work of Raymond
Andrews, Sibley McAdam, Claire Denarie Soffieti, Marieke
The Upper Deck lifestyle centre, 3 Strand Street, Plettenberg
bay. T. 044 533 6914 www.upperdeckgallery.co.za
5-3 Apr, Nothing new: artworks on art; A Selection of South
African artists, inclduing Hennie Meyer,Christina Bryer, An-
nette Pretorius, Jacobus Kloppers, Lien Botha, Hardy Botha,
Nel Erasmus, Andries Botha , Anton Karstel, Johann Louw,
Leon Vermeulen, Guy du Toit, Santu Mofokeng, Norman
Catherine, William Kentridge, Robert Hodgins, Mary-Rose
Hendrikse, Louise Linder, David Brown, Carl Roberts, Simon
Stone Francine Greenblatt, Gert Swart, Kate Gottgens and
Diane Victor.
Marklaan Centre, 79 Market Street, George, T. 044 874 4027.
www.artaffair.co.za
Stellenbosch
Dorp Straat Gallery
Until Apr 23, Stillewe, an exhibition by Varenka Paschke and
book launch by singer/writer Stef Bos.
144 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch T. 021 887 2256
www.dorpstraatgalery.co.za
Red Black and White
Until 09 Apr, Half-Mens/Heel-Mens, Shany Van Den Berg
18 Apr - 09 May, Brotherhood 2009
curated by Johann du Plessis.
5a Distillery Road, Bosman’s Crossing, Stellenbosch.
T. 021 886 6281 www.redblackandwhite.co.za
University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery
Until 16 Apr, works from the film Agenda, by Marinda Du Toit.
Stellenbosch University, cnr of Bird and Dorp Streets,
Stellenbosch T. 021 808 3489 www.sun.ac.za/artgallery
SMAC Art Gallery
Until 10 May, Locations, works by Jonathan Guaitamacchi;
Until 10 May, Echoes, paintings by Jake Aikman.
De Wet Centre, Church Street, Stellenbosch T. 021 887 3607
www.smacgallery.com
Stellenbosch Art Gallery
Permanent exhibition of Conrad Theys, John Kramer,
Gregoire Boonzaier, Adriaan Boshoff and other artists.
34 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch
T. 021-8878343 www.stellenboschartgallery.co.za
Worldart
2-30 Apr, SOAK, works by Marlise Keith.
54 Church Street Cape Town CBD, T. 021 423 3075
www.worldart.co.za
Hermanus
Abalone Gallery
Until 6 Apr, Works by Walter Battis, Joan Clare, Christo Coet-
Skotnes, Fred Schimmel, Edoardo Villa.
8 Apr-8 May, Anthology, Lien Botha.
2 Harbour Rd, The Courtyard, Hermanus. T. 028 313 2935
www.abalonegallery.co.za