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Strauss & Co Showcases Online Auction and Stern Still Lifes at RMB Turbine Art Fair

9 Jul 2018

The auction opens on Monday July 9^th at 08h00 and closes on Monday July 16^th at 20h00. Still lifes by Heidi Herzog, Susan Helm Davies, Freida Lock and Carola Brotherton will provide an accessibly priced complement to Life Force, The Still Lifes of Irma Stern – a Strauss & Co exhibition from private collections that is set to be a highlight of the RMB TAF and provide inspiration for visitors.

Wilhelm van Rensburg, Strauss & Co Senior Art Specialist and Curator of the Stern exhibition, will give a talk under the THINK History theme, referencing the linked student art competition and addressing how emerging artists engage with Stern and the still life genre.

An important session of the online auction is a collection of works on paper by Cecil Skotnes, Wendy Vincent and Giuseppe Cattaneo, among others, printed in the studio of gallerist and dealer Egon Guenther and donated by his daughter Miriam. The sale of these works is part of a broader fundraising effort for the University of Johannesburg’s award-winning choir.

The July online auction underlines Strauss & Co’s ongoing support for initiatives like the RMB TAF and powerfully illustrates the auction house’s belief in providing early stage collectors with easy access to important works across a broad range of artistic styles and periods. It features an exceptionally diverse array of works by South African and international artists including William Kentridge, Penny Siopis, Robert Hodgins, Phillemon Hlungwani, David Hockney and Shepard Fairey.

Work by acclaimed artist and art activist David Koloane is also part of Strauss & Co’s online sale. This gives collectors an opportunity to be part of a broader tribute to Koloane at this year’s RMB TAF in the form of the exhibition, This landscape. This landscape! The Quintessential Metaphor for Life, by David Koloane in collaboration with LL Editions.

Collectors of contemporary works are well-served with a wide choice of popular prints by artists including Deborah Bell, Norman Catherine, Peter Clarke, John Muafangejo, and J H Pierneef. Prints by international masters such as Henry Moore, Tracey Emin, Barry Flanagan, Alex Katz, Mel Ramos and Ronald Searle will also be available. A rare Philip Pearlstein watercolour and a William Russell Flint nude drawing further bolster the sale’s offerings along with Edward Roworth and Allerley Glossop’s naturalistic expressions and works by mid-century modernists such as Alexander Podlashuc and Jan Vermeiren.

The Decorative Arts aspect of July’s online auction provides ample scope for both collectors and those looking for gifts for weddings and special birthdays. Highlights include silver ranging from classic Georgian flatware and ornately chased Victorian pieces, to a small collection of elegant German WMF Art Nouveau collectables. There are several unusual and intricately decorated Dutch and Colonial Indian silver items as well as berry spoons, snuff boxes, Corinthian candlesticks and salvers. Those looking to collect jewellery have a good selection of period pieces from which to choose, including Georgian mourning rings, Victorian brooches and elegant Edwardian pendants.

A final, fashion-inspired highlight of Strauss & Co’s July online auction is an impeccably preserved single-owner collection of timeless Hermès scarves and chic French crocodile skin handbags.

A selection of lots from the July online sale will be on display at the Strauss & Co exhibition stand located at DK1 at the RMB Turbine Art Fair.