Works Available for Private Sale

Marlene Dumas

South African/ Dutch 1953-

Love Lost

signed, dated 1973/4, inscribed with the title, ‘vir Boeta van Marlene’ and ‘Michaelis BA Fine Art’ on the reverse oil, collage and graphite on cotton duck

122 by 91cm

Marlene Dumas, the world-renowned contemporary artist born in South Africa and currently residing in the Netherlands, is widely recognized as one of the most influential painters of our time. In 2005, a painting based on a school photo set the record for the highest price achieved by a living female artist at auction.

The recently published ArtTactic Report (2016-2023) underscores her enduring appeal at market: “Marlene Dumas maintains her position as the top selling artist for the region and for the African continent overall.” Dumas was the top-selling Southern African artist between 2016 and 2023, achieving $55.7 million in auction sales during this period from 117 lots sold. “Dumas also ranks as the top selling African artist overall for the period 2016 to 2023,” reports ArtTactic.

“In 2023, Dumas was ranked 2nd in terms of auction sales, and made up 37.6% of the total sales value for the South African region last year and 14.5% of the African market overall.”

Dumas’ work delves into the complexities of identity, sexuality, and representation, often focusing on the human form. Her paintings and drawings derive from a diverse array of source materials, including art historical references, mass media imagery, and personal photographs, reflecting her multifaceted exploration of human experience.

During the early 1970s, Dumas commenced her formal artistic education at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town. It was during this period that she began to develop her distinctive style, characterised by expressive brushwork, vibrant colours and a keen emphasis on fi guration. These early works laid the groundwork for her intense and recurring exploration of the human psyche and emotions, themes that have remained central to her artistic practice throughout her career.

Love Lost, created between 1973-74, is a rare example of her work from this early period. This piece holds significant importance in tracing the trajectory of her artistic development and the thematic underpinnings that define her oeuvre. While Dumas’ style has evolved over the years, her early work concretised the themes of identity, memory, sexuality and social commentary that reverberate throughout her later pieces. As Love Lost clearly shows, there is continuity and evolution in her artistic vision.

Dumas’ career gained momentum when she relocated to the Netherlands in the late 1970s. Throughout the following decades, she garnered acclaim for her provocative and emotionally charged paintings, which tackled humanist themes of love, loss, memory and mortality. Dumas’ ability to evoke empathy and introspection in her paintings solidified her reputation as one of the most significant contemporary artists of her generation.

The artist is represented in major museum collections worldwide, including esteemed institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London. Over the years, Dumas has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, showcasing the breadth and depth of her artistic output. Notable retrospectives include “Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden” (2014), “Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave” (2008), and recent presentations at venues such as the Palazzo Grassi in Venice and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Moshekwa Langa

South African 1975-

Dinonwane (Stories)

mixed media on paper

162 by 122cm

PROVENANCE
Acquired from the artist by the current owner, 2019.

EXHIBITED
Stevenson, Cape Town, Moshekwa Langa: Tropic of Capricorn,
28 November 2019 to 18 January 2020.

Born in 1975 in Bakenberg, Limpopo, Moshekwa Langa pursued his studies at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 1997, where he continued to live and work.

Rising to international prominence in the late 1990s, he was an active participant in what is now considered the golden age of biennales, including those of Johannesburg (1997), Istanbul (1997), Havana (1997), São Paulo (1998 and 2010), Gwangju (2000), Venice (2003 and 2009) and Lyon (2011). Langa’s work is included in the permanent collections of major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Tate Modern, London, among others.

Langa often draws parallels between himself and South African artist Marlene Dumas, who has resided in Amsterdam since 1976. Langa met Dumas in Amsterdam in the mid-1990s, and the two artists have remained friends since, maintaining correspondence to this day. Dumas has supported Langa’s career, offering assistance with accommodation and studio space in Amsterdam. In 2002, Langa held a residency at the South African National Gallery, Cape Town, funded by a gift from Dumas. In 2006, Dumas painted an oil portrait of Langa titled “Moshekwa”. It has been widely exhibited, notably at the Stedelijk Museum as part of her solo exhibition, “Marlene Dumas – The Image as Burden” (2014–2015), and also appears on the cover of her 2009 Phaidon monograph.

The present work Dinonwane (stories) was exhibited as part a Moshekwa Langa’s 2019 solo show at Stevenson entitled “Tropic of Capricorn”. It effortlessly forms part of his career-long exploration of materials and biography.

The Tropic of Capricorn, according to the cartography of South Africa, falls across the artist’s home province of Limpopo. In the early 2010s, Langa resettled in Johannesburg after living in Amsterdam since 1997. Langa made frequent trips to rural Bakenberg, where he spent his first eleven years. Its location in South Africa’s rapidly transforming and socially volatile platinum belt meant things had unavoidably changed from his time there in the late 1970s. His extended family also viewed him with suspicion and community members labelled him a foreigner. Langa permanently returned to Holland in 2014. Commenting on the works appearing in Tropic of Capricorn, Langa remarked: “‘I’m still a fugitive. I suppose it’s all like coming homewards but there is also no home.”