Leading South African fine art auction house Strauss & Co will be at the Van Wouw House museum in Pretoria on Tuesday 20 August, giving local residents the opportunity to have the value of their artworks assessed.
Works are currently being sourced for consignment to Strauss & Co’s upcoming new format Saturday Live sale in October, and its much-anticipated Johannesburg live sale in November.
Those wishing to consign artworks or have their art valued for insurance purposes, or just for interest’s sake, can meet senior art specialist Dr Alastair Meredith and Executive Director Susie Goodman on Tuesday between 9.00am and 5.00pm. No consultancy fee will be charged.
There is a depth and breadth in South African art collections that frequently comes to light on Strauss & Co’s valuation days. They are highly enjoyable events, known for creating an atmosphere and experience akin to the popular BBC programme, Antiques Roadshow.
In recent years, there’s been palpable excitement with the discovery of some historically significant works such as Canadian war artist Mary Riter Hamilton’s Arras 1919, first unearthed at a valuation day in Pietermaritzburg, which sold for R 125 180 on Strauss’s May live sale this year.
Street Scene, 1958, by British artist John Craxton, was brought in to a valuation day in Johannesburg and achieved a total of R 364 160 at auction, indicating the resurgence of popularity this artist’s work is currently enjoying internationally. Perennial favourite Jacob Hendrik Pierneef’s Landscape with Foreground Trees sold for R 341 400 after being brought in to a Pretoria valuation day earlier this year.
Strauss & Co’s valuation days are part of the auction house’s dynamic role in the South African art market, which includes an ongoing series of online auctions – an accessible way for new art buyers and those situated outside Johannesburg and Cape Town to learn about and bid on fine art.
Themed auctions have also put the spotlight on different areas of the art market. The curated section of November’s auction, South African Artists and Paris, will show work by artists who lived, studied or exhibited in the French art capital, such as Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, William Kentridge, David Koloane, Eugene Labuschagne, Esther Mahlangu, Gerard Sekoto, and Maud Sumner.
Valuation day: Tuesday 20 August, 9.00am to 5.00pm
Venue: Van Wouw House, 299 Clark Street, Brooklyn, Pretoria
For bookings please contact:
Susie Goodman ǀ Strauss & Co ǀ 011 728 8246 ǀ jhb@straussart.co.za ǀ www.straussart.co.za