This year, private esteemed collections including the outstanding Labia Family Collection and the Peter and Regina Strack Collection open up to new collectors and buyers, presenting an exciting opportunity to view (and if the price is right purchase) some incredible artworks.
Much excitement surrounds Irma Stern's 1947 oil painting Dahlias (which carries an estimate of R8–R12 million), just one of 22 paintings released from the Labia Family Collection. Meanwhile from the Strack Collection there are 20 artworks in the sale, including three rare oil paintings by the much-sought after German-Namibian painter Adolph Jentsch. Peter and Regina Strack have been collecting Namibian art for 50 years and had hoped to open an art gallery in Swakopmund, although their expensive requirements for light and climate control of the space made their dream eventually impossible to fulfil.
Among other major artworks in the sale are important pieces by earlier twentieth-century masters like South African painter and founder of Cape Impressionism Pieter Wenning, British modernist Ivon Hitchens, artworks from the Irma Stern Trust Collection, including Stern's 1949 portrait Woman with Orange Headscarf (estimate R250K–R350K) and works by lesser-known mid-century abstract painter Kenneth Bakker, the first South African to receive an award at the São Paulo Biennale. Famous South African artists who always prove particularly popular at auction such as JH Pierneef, Cecil Skotnes and William Kentridge also feature prominently.
In addition to fine art there is a strong focus on jewellery and decorative arts with a stunning collection of Edwardian and Victorian jewellery made with precious and semi-precious stones on sale as well as highly collectable Chinese furniture and decorative items made from jade and silver.
The artworks from the auction are on show to the public at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town from October 12–14 from 10:00–17:00.
The live auction takes place on Monday October 15. If you can't be there in person to bid at the live auction, arrange with Strauss & Co to bid by phone or put in an absentee written bid for your chosen lot(s).
All lots from the auction can be viewed online at the Strauss & Co website.
