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Distinguished single-owner collections lead Strauss & Co's Cape Town Auction Week

31 Aug 2022

Led by an excellent presentation of artworks by Dorothy Kay, William Kentridge, J. H. Pierneef, Alexis Preller, Gerard Sekoto and Irma Stern, many fresh to market and all offered at favourable estimates, Cape Town Auction Week also includes distinguished single-owner collections of South African painting, Cape silver and East Asian ceramic pieces.

“It is delight to once again be offering Dorothy Kay’s celebrated painting, Old Oyster Woman, which appeared on the cover of Strauss & Co’s first-ever auction catalogue in March 2009 and which recently featured in the exhibition Dream Invisible Connections: Mary Sibande and Dororthy Kay, held in July 2022 at Strauss & Co in Johannesburg,” says Bina Genovese, a Managing Executive at Strauss & Co. “In the ensuing years, we have earned a solid reputation for handling large single-owner collections and creatively promoting artists in our curated sessions. The catalogue for Cape Town Auction Week includes a strong focus on private collections of art and design. Important painters such as Albert Adams, Robert Hodgins, Alfred Thoba and Vladimir Tretchikoff are also the subject of in-session artist focuses designed to guide collectors with their selections.”

Cape Town Auction Week commences on Sunday, 18 September 2022 at 11am with a presentation by Strauss & Co’s wine department. Composed of a total of eight sessions held over four days at Brickfield Canvas in Woodstock, Cape Town, the programme for Cape Town Auction Week includes three evening sessions. Two of these premier slots are devoted to single-owner collections.

Among the 13 pieces in the Louis and Mavis Shill Collection (sale opens Monday, 19 September 2022 at 6pm) are fine examples of historical pieces by Cape silversmiths Daniel H. Schmidt and Carel D. Lotter. The Oliver Powell and Timely Investments Trust Collection (sale opens Tuesday, 20 September 2022 at 7pm) contains a good cross-section of modern and contemporary painting, sculpture and photography, notably by Kate Gottgens, Robert Hodgins, Brett Murray, Fred Page, Stanley Pinker, Jo Ractliffe and Simon Stone.

An early still life painted in 1920 by Irma Stern, Still Life with Fish (estimate R2.5 – 3.5 million), leads the excellent art consignment in the culminating session of Cape Town Auction Week (sale opens Wednesday, 21 September 2022 at 7pm). Highlights include Alexis Preller’s intaglio and oil on fibreglass composition Primavera (estimate R1.5 – 2.5 million) and Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Balinese Dancer (estimate R1 – 1.5 million). Both these works were directly acquired from the artists in the 1970s and have not previously been traded.

Opening shortly after Cape Town Auction Week, William Kentridge’s large-scale exhibition at the Royal Academy in London foregrounds his tree and flower compositions. Strauss & Co is thrilled to offer fine examples of both, notably a proof of Kentridge’s acclaimed 1994 etching Dutch Iris (estimate R800 000 – 1.2 million). Other notable works from the 1990s include Keith Alexander’s realist landscape Night Caller (estimate R400 000 – 600 000) and Deborah Bell’s mystical composition A World on Fire (estimate R500 000 – 700 000).

The decorative arts department will be presenting four sessions during Cape Town Auction Week. Notable lots include a rare collection of 17 Qing Dynasty giltwood Lohans and a figure of Buddha (estimate R1.2 – 1.6 million) acquired by a South African collector in Hong Kong in 1996 and an 18th-century Cape silver tessie-on-stand by Daniel H. Schmidt (estimate R150 000 – 200 000) from the Shill Collection. The jewellery session includes a handsome assortment of pieces by Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Charles Greig, Katz & Lourie, Piaget and Rolex.
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CAPE TOWN AUCTION WEEK
18-21 September 2022
Modern and Contemporary Art, Decorative Arts, Jewellery and Wine
Brickfield Canvas, 35 Brickfield Road, Woodstock, Cape Town