Strauss & Co’s annual International Sale returns with bold works by modernist icons Chagall and Picasso

9 Oct 2024

Straddling a transformative period in art history from the seventeenth century to the present day, the two-part International Sale includes paintings by Cecil Beaton, Thomas Buttersworth, Merlyn Evans, John Piper, Edward Seago and Jack Vettriano, sculptures by Lucas Samaras, Jesús Rafael Soto and Albert Toft, and photographs by Isaac Julien and Joel Sternfeld. The strong graphics selection includes works by Francis Bacon, Shepard Fairey, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Robert Longo, Henry Moore and David Shrigley.

“Owing to our geography and the parent cultures of many South African collectors, British and European artists feature strongly in the International Sale,” says Ian Hunter, Head of Sale, Strauss & Co. “But there is a more complex push and pull that brings different things into South Africa, ranging from connoisseurship and taste to business dealings and migration routes, hence wide range of talented artists from America, Australia, Cuba, Israel, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Venezuela and Ukraine in this sale.”

Adds Ian Hunter: “Our inaugural International Sale in 2023 included a firecracker work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which sold for well above estimate. The catalogue for the 2024 edition includes absorbing works by Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso, compelling icons of modernism. There are many pioneers in this sale, among them Merlyn Evans, a pivotal figure in mid-century British art, and Shepard Fairey, a key protagonist in the street art movement of the past two decades. Our strong line-up of British painters includes three high-value works by Jack Vettriano. We are proud to debut at auction in South Africa works by influential artists John Baldessari, Louise Bourgeois and Robert Longo.”

Dated 1974, Chagall’s mixed-media drawing La Fenêtre à Paris / Window in Paris (estimate R6 – 8 million / $345 025 – 460 030) depicts a small figure seated beside a large flower arrangement. Picasso’s Tête / Head (estimate R6 – 8 million / $345 025 – 460 030) is a recto-verso drawing from 1967 portraying a male figure in zesty colours. Both works have impeccable provenance and will be offered to the public in the premier Evening Sale, on Tuesday, 22 October 2024 at 7pm. The sale has a total of five works by Picasso, including three clay pieces.

One of the most celebrated artists of recent times, Louise Bourgeois’s graphic Scissors (estimate R30 000 – 50 000 / $1 742 – 2 905) is from a small edition produced in 1994 and references her early sketches. Robert Longo’s lithograph Untitled (Frank) (estimate R500 000 – 700 000 / $29 020 – 40 630) is from his influential Men in the Cities series, featuring 60 hyper-realistic drawings of men and women in contorted poses.

The Evening Sale includes a strong line-up of British painters, ranging from Merlyn Evans to Jack Vettriano. The Evans oil (estimate R100 000 – 150 000 / $5 810 – 8 710) is from 1932 and predates his brief teaching stint in South Africa (1938-42); it has been in the same family collection for a half-century. Vettriano – best known for his 1992 painting The Singing Butler – has three works in the sale. They include Good Information (estimate R1.6 – 1.8 million / $91 955 – 103 450), which shows three gentlemen deep in contemplation, and The Proposal (estimate 1.2 – 1.5 million / $68 965 – 86 200), a romantic study of a barefoot couple in formal wear frolicking on a beach.

The International Sale commences with an online-only Day Sale that concludes on Tuesday, 22 October 2024 at 7pm. The catalogue includes a Continental School crucifixion scene from the seventeenth century and two collaborative graphics by artists Yoshitomo Nara and David Shrigley from 2002. Select works from the International Sale will be on view at Strauss & Co’s Cape Town gallery from 14 to 22 October 2024.