Johannesburg: Dying Swan by Vladimir Tretchikoff, one of the most commercially successful artists of our time, will be sold by leading auction house, Strauss & Co, on 20 May 2013

Johannesburg: Frans Oerder’s still life, Blossom Time, will be sold at Strauss & Co’s much anticipated Evening Sale on Monday 20 May 2013 in the Wanderers Club Ballroom.

Controversial Russian born artist Vladimir Tretchikoff, nicknamed King of Kitsch, is top of the pops as auction prices for his paintings continue to soar, seemingly eclipsing the two long-time market leaders Pierneef and Stern.

Strauss & Co, Johannesburg: The much disputed decision by the Institute for Catholic Education to sell the Cecil Skotnes triptych removed from the Santa Sophia Chapel in Pretoria has had an astounding result.

Last Thursday evening a glamorous occasion took place in the Wanderers Club Ballroom Johannesburg, during which 50 magnificent garments of vintage couture from the private collection of South African fashion legend Chris Levin, went under the hammer.

Gregoire Boonzaier was, according to Dr Albert Werth, esteemed former director of the Pretoria Art Museum, the painter of Cape Town who was able, with his characteristic signature, to capture the city in all its changing beauty.1 That signature changed over time, making this early vision remarkable not only for what it reveals historically of the city in the 1940s but for its evidence of the artist’s early style.

The presence of these two impressive paintings by Robert Gwelo Goodman on one sale provides the rare opportunity of seeing some of the artists finest works and assessing how his French training and exposure to the international art world impacted on the development of his style. In 1895 he studied at Pariss famed Acadmie Julian where Henri Matisse was a fellow pupil. Following success in London when three landscape paintings were accepted at The Royal Academy in 1898 and a painting tour of India in 1903/4, he re-settled in South Africa in 1911.

An artist of uncompromising vision and brilliance…..

William Kentridge was commissioned to create ‘The Magic Flute’ by La Monnaie in Brussels where it opened in April 2005. Used in creating the animation sequences for his production, this drawing evokes the famous scene from the 1816 production with Karl Schinkels set designs in which the Queen of the Night appears beneath a star-studded vault.

A wide range of fine and decorative arts, furniture and jewellery will have punters spoilt for choice at Strauss & Cos upcoming auction to be held at the Vineyard Hotel, Newlands, on 8 October 2012.