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THE LAST WORD EDITION DECEMBER 2009

The 2009 auction year in review

By Michael Coulson slightly less, at about R48.5m. The Kebble sale was unique, a Stern still life, R5.57m for Bonham’s October sale of
Stern’s portrait Carla, a world SA art grossed £2.36m by
Just how big is the SA art Rosewitz, incidentally, tells record both for the artist and an my count (the house claimed
auction market? Well, the only me that Swelco’s total turnover SA sculpture of £2.5m), against a low estimate
thing you can be sure of is that (all departments) in 2008 was R946 900 for Van Wouw’s of £2.49m, and was about 55%
any published figures -- includ- R180m, so it certainly took a Noitjie van die Onderveld and a sold by number.
ing those in this article -- will big knock from Strauss. He record R1.225m for Jean Welz’s These figures compare with
be wrong. Some reasons for admits Swelco had to cut its Still Life Cezannesque. £7.1m for a single, world
this are unavoidable: on the dividends but says it’s still record, sale of SA art in
one side, it’s not uncommon profitable and well capitalised, She also trumpets the defection September 2008, suggesting
for works not sold on the night flatly denying market rumours of “the key staff” from Swelco’s that the market for SA art held
to be sold afterwards by public a couple of months ago that he Cap office, though both Rose- up better at home and hardly
treaty; on the other, buyers and chairman Mark Kretschmer witz and Swelco chairman Mark bearing out Bonham’s repeated
caught away by the excitement had had to put in more capital. Kretschmer have separately as- claim that the centre of the SA
of the night may subsequently Turnover is back to where it serted to me that they didn’t rate art market is now in London.
renege (as apparently happened was in 2006 when they took Guy Tillim: Piazza dei Cinquecento to be seen at Michael Stevenson’s the trio that highly. A touch of Still, Bonham’s is persisting in
in large numbers at the Paris over, which was 50% up on the Summer 2009/10: Projects until 16 January 2010. exaggeration on the one hand, this market. Next March it holds
sale of the collection of the late previous year. For more see: www.michaelstevenson.com and deprecation on the other, both an SA sale in London and
Yves St Laurent). By my count, there were nine perhaps. a sale titled Africa Now in,
Neither of these events can sales by the three major auction- part of the market in SA art but and there can be no doubt interestingly, New York.
be captured in the price lists eers in 2009, summarised in the arguably not part of the SA art Strauss’s Stephan Welz pulled One of Swelco’s most remark- The third London sale, in Sep-
auction houses put out im- table below: market. out all the stops and used his able results came in its final tember was Sotheby’s Art for
mediately after the sale, which unequalled contacts to ensure sale, when it reached a world Africa charity sale, for which
are what media reports and the an unprecedented event. But record for William Kentridge: it waived buyer’s premium. A
houses’ own PR releases are Month House Venue Sold by Sold by Gross for this, some of the lots may R1.456m for a drawing, against gross £457 000 was in the up-
based on. Nor are they gener- number# value* revenue+ have been held back from 2008, an estimate of only R400 000- per range of the £358 500-£507
ally publicised later, the failed others may have appeared later R600 000. Among its other 000 estimate, with only two of
March Strauss Jhb 87 123 37.0
“Tretchikoff” at Graham Britz’s April Swelco Jhb 83 70 6.0 in the year and others may not triumphs was a record-equalling 38 lots unsold.
sale of the Brett Kebble collec- May Britz Jhb 92.5 101 50.6^ even have come on to market R3.136m for a Pierneef Baobab.
tion being a rare exception. The May Swelco CT 79.5 76 7.6 at all. A lesser record was R291 000 And the disaster of the year?
first event means that reports Aug Swelco Jhb 71 75,5 7.8 Still, after Kebble, Strauss’s for Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, Unquestionably, the cancella-
are understated, the second that Sep Strauss Jhb 73.5 102 23.5 sales were the year’s three big- amazing because the estimate tion of a R3.1m “Tretchikoff”
they are overstated. Oct Strauss CT 83 75.5 33.5 gest, indicating the impact this was a mere R14 000-R18 000. Lost Orchid at the Kebble sale,
Then, allowance must be made Oct Swelco CT 70 93 14.8 newcomer had. However, even In his single sale, Britz claimed which Britz insisted was kosher
Nov Swelco Jhb 77 107 12.3
for publicity-related hype. In it may not be immune from 26 world records, notably long after the Tretchikoff fam-
November, consultancy Artvault Total ZAR 193.1 M hype: Strauss claims its sales R3.85m for Preller’s Christ ily and most art historians had
estimated Stephan Welz & topped R100m. By my count, Head and R660 000 for a Vols- questioned it, if not rejected it
Co (Swelco)’s art sales to that Notes: # % of lots on offer; *% of total low estimates; ^Excl’s “Tretchikoff” it grossed just R91.5m from art, chenk Riverside landscape. outright.
date at R40m. Swelco told the with another R4.8m from its
Financial Mail that they were in first furniture and silver sales, at Of course, one can’t ignore How the reputational damage of
fact R55m, with another R15m This compares with a grossed- Errors and omissions excepted, its Cape sale. London, where there were three this will affect Britz’s planned
expected in the November sale. up figure from Artvault of about these figures are remarkably main sales including SA art. annual sales of SA art remains
R235m, though they work on symmetrical. They show that In a review of its year, Strauss Bonham’s sale of African to be seen. But there will surely
When I asked Swelco deputy hammer prices while, in line in its first year Strauss & Co chairman Elisabeth Bradley Contemporary Art in London on be changes in market share in
chairman Jack Rosewitz what with international practice, my captured as near as dammit 50% cites some of the artists for April 8 was a disaster. Overall, 2010. Neither Britz nor Strauss
Swelco’s total 2009 turnover prices include buyer’s premium. of the art auction market with whom the house achieved 50 of 95 lots sold, or 53%, but are likely to be able to repeat
was, and how much of it was On a comparable basis, the the balance split equally by record prices: Anton van £352 000 gross fell under half their best results of 2009. On
art, he put the total at R100m, Artvault figure would probably Britz and Swelco . Remarkably, Wouw, Irma Stern, Jean Welz the low estimate of £731 000. the other hand, Strauss plans to
of which about R80m was art. be somewhere above R260m. too, some 45% came in two of (father, of course, of Stephan), Of 35 works by SA artists, broaden its non-art coverage.
By both Artvault’s and my Artvault also includes some (but the first three sales of the year, Wolf Kibel, Frans Oerder, 35 sold. But because the two But on balance, Swelco could
calculations, this is a substantial not all) of the minor houses, like Strauss’s inaugural sale and the Freida Lock, Dorothy Kay, May highest estimates didn’t sell, the well recover market share at the
overstatement. Artvault’s figure Pretoria’s Bernardi Bros, as well Kebble sale. These were for dif- Hillhouse and Edoardo Villa. £105 000 gross was only 27% expense of both its competi-
would gross up to about R52m as sales in London, which it ferent reasons one-offs. As highlights, she mentions of the low £391 500 estimate. tors, though the total size of the
for the year, while I make it puts at R45m and are no doubt R7.24m, a world record for market could fall.

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PAGE 02
Collecting and Exhibiting in an Environment of Cultural Indifference
By Stefan Hundt
Curator: Sanlam Art Collection
I have taken some liberties
in presenting a paper at this
conference. First of all I must
describe the context I am com-
ing from and why I am making
this presentation. Let it be
known from the outset that I
stand here not behalf of anyone
or organisation and therefore
the opinions that express here
are entirely my own and I make
not pretensions to scientific
rigor.
My background is in the visual
arts as a student of painting
and the history of art. My
foray into the world of museum
began with a four-year stint as
curator of the Oliewenhuis Art
Museum in Bloemfontein and
then as curator for the Sanlam
Art Collection for the past
thirteen years.
What I wish to share is per-
sonal account of my experi-
ences in the public art museum
and corporate art collection
worlds over the last 17 years
and my intention is to sketch
out the landscape that these
collections inhabit. Beginning
with the private sector I will
discuss briefly the nature of the
corporate art collection, collec-
tors dealers speculators and the
rapid growth in the art market
in South Africa. Over the last
two decades publicly funded
art museums have because of
the enormous growth in the
South African art market seen
their ability to fulfil their core
function of collecting entirely
eroded. Government and pub-
lic indifference to their plight
has further contributed towards
these institutions becoming
progressively incapable of
participating meaningfully in
the South African artworld.
Art Collecting in the
Private Sector
Let me begin with what is clos-
er to home for me presently,
the world of the corporate art
collection.
The corporation collects works
under the direction of the com-
pany’s board. Often though
this is usually the result of the
initiative of a powerful chair-
man or chief executive officer.
In some instances in South
Africa it is common practice
in some corporations to hand
over the task of selecting the
artworks to be acquired to the
chairman’s wife. For these
companies the primary purpose
of acquiring art is for office
decoration and the acquisi-
tion of such “assets” is purely
utilitarian and of a temporary
nature - the value of which is
reflected in them being depreci-
ated on the same basis as office
furniture. Although this may
have been common practice
some forty years ago it is rarely
the case now and one cannot
generalise. There are of course
model examples of corporate
Public and Private:
Paper presented at the First Conference on Management of Cultural Organizations in times of economic crisis, Cape Town, 3-4 Dec. 2009
collections such as the Chase
Manhattan Bank Collection
( now JP Morgan Chase Col-
lection) where the explicit mo-
tivation for the collection was
more than decoration; in that
the art symbolically reflected
the company’s commitment to
idea of creativity and the recog-
nition of the cultural diversity
of its work force and clients.
The acquisition of these
artworks was dealt with, with
the same fiduciary prudence
that the acquisition of any asset
was. Rarely have corporations
seen their acquisitions of art
works as investments although
they may appear to have be-
come such now. The founding
of the Sanlam Art Collection
in 1965 was based on similar
principles and as a result the
collection today boasts some
of the finest examples of
works by South African artists.
Sanlam also understood its art
collection to have an “educa-
tional” function and a selection
of the collection was shown
in smaller towns throughout
South Africa, the then Rhodesia
and South West Africa. There
is no doubt that an element of
shrewd marketing was involved
here too. After all developing
an art collection is not the core
business of the company.
The Rembrandt van Rijn Art
Foundation or ‘Rembrandt
Art Collection’ as it was more
popularly known pursued
similar altruistic motives and
extensive tours of works drawn
from its international holdings
in the Stuyvesant Foundation
continued to be enjoyed by
the South African public on a
regular basis up until 2008.
There are a number of other
notable Corporate Collections
in South Africa that have sig-
nificant histories. I would like
to mention a few as examples:
Standard Bank Collection (+/-
1500 items), ABSA Collection
has by far the largest collec-
tion of works number over 22
000 and Sasol Collection with
about 1800 items.
Although the notion of a corpo-
rate collection was not foreign
in the South African art world
it was not until the mid 1990s
that concept of the art collec-
tion as an effective corporate
symbol reached maturity.
From 1994 until about 2001
corporate collections in South
Africa became a growth indus-
try. By acquiring an art collec-
tion, a corporation was able to
demonstrate its commitment to
the new political dispensation
in South Africa in a cost effec-
tive way. Starting this trend
was the founding of the Gencor
Collection in 1995. The moti-
vation behind establishing the
collection was
“ … a visual expression of the
new unbundled Gencor, its
dynamism, its globalisation
strategy and its embrace of the
new democratic South Africa”
New “collections” rapidly
followed: MTN Collection,
Vodacom Collection, Telkom
Collection, SABC Collection,
Didata Collection to name a
few.
“Corporate Collection” became
the buzzword in the South
African artworld as critics, art
historians, chief executives,
art consultants and artists
discussed the relative merits
of the various collections in
comparison to each other. One
can in some sense speak of a
“golden age”. Perhaps this
may now be over. None of the
collections listed above pursue
active acquisitions programmes
any longer. More recently
Sasol announced its discon-
tinuation of its art collecting
programme and has curtailed
its visual arts sponsorships.
The reasons given: that the
company strategy and that of
the collection no longer cor-
related. There is little doubt
that the economic crisis has
had some effect on corporate
art collections as budget cuts
become have become the
order of the day. However the
“demise” of these collections
already began before this crisis
hit South Africa. Could it be
that owning an art collection
had lost its relevance?
The word relevant has its his-
tory in the visual arts in South
Africa as a term used to distin-
guish between art that could be
considered worthy of recogni-
tion because it contributed to
“Struggle” as opposed to art
produced in the pursuit of aes-
thetic propositions. Needless
to say amongst many artists
and curators today the word
has attained equivalence to the
worst explicative imaginable.
However relevance to the
core business has become the
critical criterion today. The
art collection if it doesn’t con-
tribute to the bottom line needs
to be slotted in somewhere in
the business hierarchy. As the
desperate pursuit of profits be-
comes ever more competitive,
non-profit generating expendi-
ture requires significant justi-
fication. Unable to justify the
continuation of the collection
within a profit driven business
model as marketing expense,
companies are inclined to slot
the art collection into their
Public Affairs department or
Corporate Social Investment
department. However as art is
an acquired taste and histori-
cally enjoyed by the privileged
and wealthy few, the possibil-
ity that the acquisitions of
artworks could be recognised
as contributing to Black Eco-
nomic Empowerment Balanced
Score Cards, which require that
75% of the recipients of the
spend be black, the role of the
art collection within the CSI
programme of any corporation,
is difficult to justify.
Does this mean that the role
of the corporation in support-
ing the visual arts through
collecting is threatened?
Under present circumstances
in South Africa this may be the
case. Clearly the honeymoon
between art collecting and the
corporation is over and the
future significance that these
collections will hold, will
depend on other participants
in the artworld namely the
private collector, the state and
museums.
The Private Collector
The private collector is moti-
vated significantly differently
to the corporate or the museum.
I would like to distinguish
clearly between the collector
that acquires artworks as part
of inner necessity and interest
in the object where the value of
the work is more of symbolic
than financial significance as
opposed to a collector whose
motivation is the maximisation
of return on their investment,
who is essentially a speculator.
For the speculator price is hard
and necessary fact, the pursuit
of its maximisation is the
ultimate goal and symbolism is
irrelevant.
Although this difference may
be simple enough to describe
in words to identify such in
reality proves much more dif-
ficult. Dealers often present
themselves in both guises. In
the gallery he or she hangs the
commercial bread and butter
stock of the trade while in the
stock room are kept the works
reserved for specific clients /
collectors and museums. Their
speech emulates that of the
museum curator, emphasis-
ing the cultural and heritage
significance of the artwork and
the desirability that it should
become part of the public
domain.
Both genuine collectors and
dealer-collectors have become
significant participants in the
make-up the art economy in
South African. Both have
vested interests in the way
art museums operate in this
economy.
There is a third category of art
market operator – the agent.
Most commercial galleries in
the contemporary art market
in South Africa are little more
than agents. Some more
established than others. As the
art market has grown, so has
the number of agents. Agents
may hold but don’t usualy own
stock and their investment in
the art market is limited and
often purely speculative with
relatively short-term objectives.
The relative high transaction
costs associated with acquir-
ing art works militates against
the holding of stock over an
extended period of time. Con-
sequently, of all the participants
in the art markets, rapidly
increasing prices irrespective
of the long-term sustainability
of such, are crucial to their suc-
cess or failure.
A cursory look at the South
African art market over the last
five years reveals an enormous
growth. The auction market
provides a good barometer to
BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
gauge what has been happen- demand. Only time will tell to
ing. ( see below graph) what extent these prices will
Auctions Houses selling South African Art
Auction House Location Approx. Sales
per Annum
Stephan Welz & Co Johannesburg& Cape Town 6
Strauss & Co Johannesburg& Cape Town 2
Ashbeys Galleries Cape Town 4
Bernardi Auctioneers Pretoria 4
Westgat Walding Auctioneers Johannesburg 3-4
Graham’s Gallery Johannesburg 1
Russel Kaplan Auctioneers Johannesburg 3-4
Christies London 1
Bonhams London 2
A little less than ten years ago remain sustainable and a clear
the market was dominated by indication of stress in the
a single auction house Stephan future will be to see how many
Welz & Co in association with of these agents survive over the
Sotheby’s. Over the last three next three years.
years this has change dramati-
cally with 9 companies trading The Public Institutions –
South African art works as Museums
distinct categories in their
offering. Two of which trade
out of London – Bonhams What is the position of the
and Christies. There is a huge art museum in all of this?
gap between the turn-overs of
Stephan Welz & Co and Strauss From a museuological per-
& Co and the other smaller spective Art Museums are of
companies. Yet what this indi- particular species. Natural
cates is an enormous growth in history collections, which are
the supply of both purchasers largely amassed as a result
as well as sellers. Some fifteen of scientific research, are to
years ago when the total sales some extent the by-product of
of art works at an auction crept the pursuit of knowledge. Art
over the R 1 000 000 mark this collections are constituted of
was celebrated as significant objects, which are an end in
record. Results exceeding R 15 themselves. Today, they rarely
000 000 pers sale event is now found / discovered but made
common expectation. Given for the specific purpose of
these figure one can hardly ending up in a collection such
speak of economic crisis in the as a museum. Although there
market for tradition art. is a market for natural history
specimens it is insignificant in
comparison to the art market.
Rarely does the natural history
Stephan Welz & Co
museum have to price its in-
selected sale 07 - 08
dividual holdings and actively
seek for what is supplied. The
20 April 2007 R 36 M
art museum as a participant in
1 June 2007 R 23 M
7 August 2007 R 28 M this market is exposed to its vi-
28 April 2008 R 39 M cissitudes and the influence of
other participants. Its ability to
29 May 2008 R 27 M
22 Nov 2008 R 43 M tolerate these, is largely forged
by the status with which the
Strauss & Co participants regard the museum
selected Sales 2009 and its resources to compete
on the open market for prize
March 2009 R 38 M
works.
June 2009 R 24 M
October 2009 R 38 M
Public Art museums in South
Africa are in an unenviable
position. Some of them have
By far the biggest spend- suffered considerable decline
ers on these auctions have in the past decade. Given the
been individuals, who have current market conditions none
forked out considerable sums of these museums command
for established “modernist” sufficient funds to compete in
or in more popular parlance the market for quality works.
“old masters”. Some of these
buyers are genuine collectors In fact most of these public
building up significant collec- institutions do not have acqui-
tions that now begin to rival sitions budgets of any kind and
the holdings of established their funds for operational ex-
public art collections. There penditure barely cover the costs
are also a considerable number of staff and maintenance. In
of speculators / agents and col- the instance of Iziko Museums
lector-dealers in the market that which received R 44 639 000
have the ability to significantly from the Department of Arts
influence prices. It is my Culture, in 2008-2009 Annual
opinion that there is a compo- Report, 87% of this was paid
nent of manipulation at work out in the form of remuneration
in the market and that the rapid (13.77% to the senior manage-
price increase we have seen ment team of 11 members).
over the last five years are not
purely the results of supply and
 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
Fortunately fiscal prudence on
the part of the museum and
further income from sponsor-
ships, cash donations, interest
received, admission fees and
rental and other unspecified
income brought the museums
revenue to R 61 846 561.00.
However the CEO remarks
under capacity constraints in
the report that:
“Due to insufficient funding
Iziko is not able to grow its hu-
man capital to its full potential
and is unable to employ the
necessary staff required to fulfil
its core function activities to
the maximum potential”.
Nothing in the annual report
of 2008 - 2009 makes mention
of the incapacity of the South
African National Gallery to ac-
quire representative examples
of significant contemporary
and historical South African
art. It should be born in mind
though that the government
does not prescribe the manner
in which the subsidy provided
to the museum is allocated by
the museum. The executive
management team of the mu-
seum determines the amount
set aside for acquisitions. The
museum council later approves
this. Given the legacy of under
funding final responsibility lies
with the government of the day.
In the instance of Iziko Museums which
received R 44 639 000 from the Department of
Arts Culture, in 2008-2009 Annual Report, 87%
of this was paid out in the form of remuneration
(13.77% to the senior management team of
11 members).
In 1980 the South African
National Gallery’s purchasing
budget was a mere R 30 000
which led the then director
Dr Raymund van Niekerk to
comment in a Sunday paper as
follows:
“I have reached the stage that
when overseas visitors ask me
what our purchasing grant is,
I reply ‘nothing’. This has, I
believe, a bleak dignity which
would be destroyed if I told
them what the amount really
was”.
Funding from the state over the
past two decades has been at
a level that no funds were set
aside for purchases from 1997
– 2001. This state of affairs
has not improved with the pur-
chasing budget of the museum
for 2005 – 2006 being a mere
R 141 000.00. Seen against the
backdrop of prices for artworks
currently this figure looks
rather negligible especially
in comparison to other two
much smaller state funded art
museums in the country over
the same period. William
Humphreys Art Gallery R 776
966.00 and the
Oliewenhuis Art Museum R
200 000.00.
To show up this dismal state of
affairs in stark contrast the Na-
tional Gallery, Hayden Proud
compiled an exhibition in 2007
titled “Why Collect?” focuss-
ing on the continuous failure of
the past and present gvern-
ments to provide adequate
funding to the institution to
pursue its core functions. The
figures stated on the wall of
the gallery that made the most
trenchant statement were:
“R30,000 was allocated to the
Gallery for acquisitions that
year (1980)from the national
cultural budget of R16.5 mil-
lion. This was for “the preser-
vation, development, fostering
and extension of the culture
of the white population of the
Republic”. Other aspects of
this budget are worth noting.
R107,000 was spent on “the
erection and maintenance of
camping sites”, while another
R62,000 was given to camp-
ers under the heading of “land
service and other youth work”.
In those days, R30,000 could
buy one tenth of a painting
by the French Impressionist
Claude Monet at Sotheby’s in
London.”
And following:
“R 52 Billion for the Arms Deal
R 13.3 Billion in 2007 for 2010
Soccer World Cup
R 90 million for our State
President’s new security fence
In 2006 only R 141 000.00 for
the Iziko South African Nation
al Gallery to purchase works of
art plus zero tax incentives
for donors to our museum and
galleries”
Although the exhibition was
covered in the press under a
headline in the Weekender
newspaper of ”National Gal-
lery’s pleas for funds fall on
deaf ears”, this elicited no
public response from the state
and very little from the general
public. Amongst peers in the
museum environment the exhi-
bition was favourably received
yet few were vocal in their
support because of a fear of the
recriminations that may follow.
The exhibition presented an
ideal opportunity for the issue
of the legacy of inadequate
funding of these institutions
to be debated publicly and to
solicit support. Unfortunately
this opportunity for public
participation in the current
and future development of the
museum was missed.
Indifference describes
adequately what the reac-
tion to this exhibition and the
highlighted state affairs of the
museum had been. Indiffer-
ence perhaps as the result of
years of neglect and lack of
growth which had made the
part played by the museum in
the South African art world less
than relevant.
The present and future outlook
is no better when one considers
government policy on culture.
Drawing from the latest annual
report, strategic plan and recent
statements by the minister of
Arts and Culture published by
the Department and Arts and
Culture it is clearly evident
that the state sees art as a
therapeutic tool to aid healing
and promote nation building.
The minister had made it quite
clear:
“ In partnership with other
departments, the Department of
Arts and Culture will continue
to support cultural projects,
which promote positive values.
Art can greatly help even in the
rehabilitation of offenders.
Art can help those who are in
pain to express themselves.
Art can help our nation to heal
its wounds that come from so
deep in our past.
Art can provide a space for
national contemplation and
strengthen dialogue and allow
us to see different ways of
thinking in order for us to bring
it all together.
In our determination to build
a People’s Culture, we are
putting more resources into
programmes that will be held in
community art centres, in rural
areas and in all areas devoid
of the cultural infrastructure
necessary for our people to live
productive cultural lives.”
(Opening remarks by the
Minister of Arts and Culture,
Ms Lulu Xingwana MP at the
Moral Regeneration Confer-
ence Gala Dinner Birchwood
Hotel 26 November 2009.)
There is little hope that the
state will see the inability of
the South National Gallery to
acquire significant works of art
as a priority. Its indifference is
further illustrated by its contin-
uing refusal to support a South
Africa presence at the Venice
Biennale and its prescription
that additional funds will only
be made available for acquisi-
tions that support established
government determined focus
areas such as “Youth Develop-
ment” and “Aids Awareness”.
Within the artworld the Mu-
seum has always provided a
stable point of reference for
its participants. Acceptance
into the collection of the art
museum is for most artists a
significant stamp of approval
and for collectors, dealers, col-
lector-dealers agents and critics
an indication that artist has
considerable potential. In this
respect the art museum holds
incredible power. It makes
judgements about the worthi-
ness and quality of the artwork
and anoints it with a new status
through acquisition or the ac-
ceptance of a donation.
It can however only exercise
that power effectively if it has
the resources to do so – mean-
ing the ability to acquire
important works of historical
and aesthetic value that reflect
the diversity of the best quality
works produced in country.
Without these resources the
institution’s independence may
become exposed to pressures
from the other participants in
the artworld and its role as
aesthetic arbiter compromised.
A recent example of this form
of compromise is the exhibition
of Damien Hirst paintings at
the Wallace collection in Lon-
don. Where the artist paid the
gallery the amount of BPS 230
000.00 to host his exhibition.
The critical fall out from this
exhibition has been extensive.
Furthermore, an art museum
that is no longer able to fulfil
its core function in terms of
collecting lose its relevance
in the art world. Over time
the collection will no longer
be representative of South
African art history and for
contemporary audiences it will
be symbolic of a vision of the
past. Within the current con-
text of a dynamic artworld the
South African National Gallery
is progressively losing its status
as the pre-eminent art collect-
ing institution in South Africa.
This all seems such a contra-
diction in an art market flush
with money. Clearly there is
money around and persons
with deep pockets are willing
to spend considerable amounts
of money on art works for their
private collections. Why are
public art museums not able to
benefit in some way from this?
One perspective on this matter
may be that art, which was
previously not considered
seriously in South Africa as
an investment commodity, has
become a viable alternative
investment that can purport-
edly be a hedge against stock
market vagaries. Evidence of
this is seen the world over with
establishment of numerous art
funds in Europe, the United
States and many in India. The
success of these art funds still
needs to be proven. Judging by
the literature that the purveyors
of his funds publish, much is
stated about potential returns
and very few actual figures
presented. There are also a
number of art funds that have
begun with incredible fanfare
but because they couldn’t raise
the projected capital envisaged,
never got off the ground.
More recently auction houses
and dealers in South Africa
have begun to brazenly declare
their wares to be investments
and urge potential buyers and
sellers to consider entering the
Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book
of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.
Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others,
but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last.
16 year old mother and child: Transkaroo train journey 1981. by Jenny Altschuler.
Part of her MFA body of work (Michaelis) entitled: Platform 4 : Between Forever and Never
market. Like any market tim-
ing is crucial. The art market
boom for historically important
works, still seems to be holding
out, but for contemporary
works with the exception of top
class examples we have already
begun to witness a serious pres-
sure on sales and prices. For
the dealer, collector, artist and
speculator the art museum as
adjudicator of quality and
value has become secondary
in importance to the results
achieved by auctioneer.
Previously collectors were well
inclined to donate to an institu-
tion such as the South African
National Gallery, as the public
recognition and gratitude was
of sufficient symbolic value to
appease the ego and compen-
sate for the loss of the potential
financial windfall. However
because the gallery is no longer
perceived as a pre-eminent in
its role and the fact that there
is so little public recognition
given to such donations many
collectors are now more in-
clined to place the work on the
auction market where the price
achieved and attendant public-
ity, brings in more recognition
for the collector’s vision and
acumen than what would be
obtained from such a donation
to a public institution.
In addition the fact the Re-
ceiver of Revenue has persisted
in not considering donations
to these institution as tax
deductible has made donating
unattractive, specially in the
case where the value of the art
contents of a deceased estate
may now attract substantial
death duties.
What do public art museum
such as the South African
National Gallery stand to do
to stem its slow progression
toward irrelevance? The gov-
ernment’s indifference towards
culture and the visual arts in
general needs to be
contested vigorously and pub
licly. Friends have to be found
Page 03
and groomed in the corporate
sector and amongst collec-
tors and these incorporated as
stakeholders. Art Museums
in the United States have been
expert at this for some time by
incorporating such stakeholders
in the development of museum
infrastructure and collections.
To be included in the Museum
of Modern Art or Metropolitan
Museum of Art directors circle
for example requires a substan-
tial donation. Equivalent sym-
bolic recognition is provided
in return. Tax incentives for
donations to public museums
and galleries need to be lobbied
for and implemented to make
donating to a museum not
only a public good but also an
attractive fiscal consideration.
Art Museums need to collabo
rate more intimately not only in
terms of exhibitions but also in
terms of acquisitions. Perhaps
its feasible that the acquisition
priorities of nationally funded
art museums should be set
jointly, funds pooled and the
resulting growing collections
actively shared and exchanged.
There is little doubt in my mind
that if present circumstances
of under funding and govern-
ment and public indifference
persist public art museums in
South Africa will be rapidly
approaching a crisis of confi-
dence and credibility. Ruskin
encapsulated eloquently the
importance of art to nation
when he wrote:
Great nations write their
autobiographies in three manu-
scripts, the book of their deeds,
the book of their words and the
book of their art.
Not one of these books can be
understood unless we read the
two others, but of the three the
only trustworthy one is the last.
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
What will future generations be
left with, without their book of
their art?
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
PAGE 04
Free State
Bloemfontein
Oliewenhuis Art Museum
20 Oct-10 Jan 2010,
David Goldblatt: Some
Afrikaners Revisited
(Main Building).
28 Jan-14 March 2010, works
by Walter Meyer (Main Build-
ing). 26 Nov-7 Dec, Planet Pixl
(in the Reservoir).
16 Harry Smith Str.,
Bloemfontein T. 051 447 9609
Johan Smith Art Gallery
A fine selection of paintings,
ceramics, glass, bronze and
other works of art.
Windmill Centre Main Street
Clarens T. 058 256 1620
www.johansmith.co.za
Blou Donki Art Gallery
Contemporary Art, Steel
Sculptures, Functional Art,
Photography, Ceramics.
Windmill Centre Main Street
Clarens T. 058 256 1757
www.bloudonki.co.za
Gauteng
Johannesburg
Afronova
27 Nov-19 Dec,
The Summer Show.
Safe Parking- Cnr of Miriam
Makeba and Gwigwi Mrwebi
Str., Newton C. 083 726 5906
www.afronova.com
Alliance Francaise of
Johannesburg
Gallery Gerard Sekoto
24 Nov-5 Dec, Messages from
Hillbrow, works by Boitumelo
Project.
17 Lower Park Drive, cnr of
Kerry Rd., Parkview- opp.
Zoo Lake T.011 646 1169
culture.jhb@alliance.org.za
Artist’s Proof Studio
1-11 Dec, an Artist Proof
Studio Collaboration of large
prints and embroideries.
Inside the Bus Factory,
3 President Street, Newton
T. 011 492 1278
Email: aspgallery@mweb.co.za
www.artistproofstudio.org.za
Art on Paper
21 Nov-10 Dec, mixed media
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by Sanel Aggenbach.
44 Stanley Ave., Braamfontein
Werf (Milpark),
T. 011 726 2234
www.artonpaper.co.za
Artspace-JHB
11 Nov-2 Dec, Frugi Bonae
(‘to or for the good fruit’),
mixed media works by Kim
Gurney that explores relations
between humankind and the
environment. 5 Dec-19 Dec,
Oppitafel IX- Babette’s Feast, a
group exhibition of functional,
decorative and fine art.
Chester Court, 142 Jan Smuts
Ave., Parkwood, Johannesburg
T. 011 880 8802
www.artspace-jhb.co.za
Brodie/Stevenson
12 Nov-15 Dec, a variety of
original drawings and edi-
tioned prints by Anton
Kannemeyer. 14 Jan-13 Feb,
works by Daniel Naudé.
373 Jan Smuts Ave.,
Johannesburg T. 011 326 0034,
www.artextra.co.za
www.brodiestevenson.com
CIRCA on Jellicoe
From 7 Nov-Mid Jan 2010,
Penelope and the Cosmos,
works by Willem Boshoff and
Karel Nel.
2 Jellicoe Ave. T. 011 788 4805
Email: gallery@circaonjel-
licoe.co.za
CO-OP
26 Nov-15 Jan 2010, X Store,
a selection of products by local
and international designers.
T 68 Juta Str., Braamfontein T.
011 023 0336
www.co-opjoburg.com
David Brown Fine Art
12 Nov-11 Dec, Back from
Brussels, works by
Suzy Davidson.
39 Keyes Ave., off Jellicoe,
Rosebank, Johannesburg
T. 011 788 4435
www.davidbrownfineart.co.za
David Krut Projects
28 Nov-25 Jan 2010, Journey,
an exhibition of paintings,
drawings and artist’s books by
Gail Behrmann.
140 Jan Smuts Ave., Parkwood,
Johannesburg T. 011 447 0627
www.davidkrutpublishing.com
Everard Read Gallery JHB
10 Dec- Jan 2010, works by
Phillemon Hlungwani.
SHOW LISTINGS IN FREE STATE, GAUTENG AND MPUMALANGA
6 Jellicoe Ave., Rosebank,
Johannesburg T. 011 788 4805
www.everard-read.co.za
Gallery MOMO houdt, Leonora de Lange and
3-31 Dec, group exhibition.
14 Jan-8 Feb, group exhibition.
52 7th Avenue, Parktown
North, Johannesburg
T. 011 327 3247
www.gallerymomo.com
Gallery on the Square
2-5 Dec, Transformation,
works by Charles Morwape
Shop 32 Nelson Mandela
Square, Cnr. 5th & Maude Str.,
Sandton Central, Johannesburg.
T. 011 784 2847
www.galleryonthesquare.co.za
Goodman Gallery tion by twelve students.
25 Nov-18 Dec, works by
Moshekwa Langa.
163 Jan Smuts Ave., Parkwood,
Johannesburg T. 011 788 1113
www.goodman-gallery.com
Graham Fine Art Gallery
5 Nov-15 Dec, A Journey
Untold: Personal Evocations of
the South African Landscape,
works by Scats Esterhuyse.
Shop 31, Broadacres Lifestyle
Centre, Cnr. Valley & Cedar
Rd.’s Fourways, Johannesburg
T.011 465 9192
www.grahamsgallery.co.za
Johannesburg Art Gallery
15 Nov-Feb 2010, Remember-
ing the Black Consciousness
Movement: A Selection of
Works from the JAG
Collection, including artists
such as Charles Nkosi and
John Muafangejo.
Also exhibiting is ‘Contours:
6 Stories/6 Hours/6 Artists’,
a condensed presentation of
documentation done by artists
from six different countries:
Donna Kukama (RSA),
Lucy Azubuike (Nigeria),
Nicolas Simo (Cameroon),
Jimmy Ogonga (Kenya),
Marian Kunonga (Zimbabwe/
Malawi) and Sonia Sultuane
Mozambique). This project
forms part of a larger project,
dubbed Multipistes
(www.multipistes.org).
King George Str., Joubert Park,
Johannesburg T. 011 725 3130
Email: khwezig@joburg.org.za
www.joburg.org.za
Manor Gallery
6 Nov-7 Dec, annual sale.
22-30 Jan 2010, New Dawns,
a mixed media exhibition. Art-
works featured will be sourced
from three top Watercolour
Society artists Zanne Bezuiden-
Susan Orpen and their pupils.
Norscot Manor Centre,
Penguin Drive T. 011 465 7934
Email: gallery@wssa.org.za
www.wssa.org.za
Market to Workshop
Until 4 Dec, Short Change,
the Market to Workshop’s 20th
Anniversary exhibition with
works by various tographers
interrogating the subtle and
often complex shifts that have
emerged in post-apartheid
South Africa. From 9 Dec,
Portfolio 09, tographic exhibi-
www.markettoworkshop.co.za
Museum Africa
25 May-24 Dec 2010,
l’Afrique: A Tribute to Maria
Stein-Lessing and Leopold
Spiegel; co-curated by
Nessa Leibhammer and Natalie
Knight.
121 Bree Str., Newtown,
Johannesburg
T. 011 833 5624
www.knightgalleries.net
Rabbi Cyril Harris
Community Centre RCHCC
22 Nov-13 Dec, works by
Jeff Kodesh.
Cnr of Glenhove Rd. & 4th
Street, Houghton, East of the
M1 T. 011 728 8088/8378 or
T. 011 728 8378,
Email: hazelc@greatpark.
co.za/renes@greatpark.co.za
Resolution Gallery
Until Feb 2010, Fifteen years
after, works by
Sam Nhlengethwa.
142 Jan Smuts Ave., Parkwood,
Johannesburg T. 011 880 4054
www.resolutiongallery.com
Rooke Gallery
17 Sep-1 Dec, The Unseen
Works, a rare collection of
unseen works by two respective
iconic artists, Mark Kanne-
meyer: The Berlin paintings,
and Roger Ballen:
The vintage tographs
By Appointment, The New-
town, 37 Quinn Str., Newtown,
Johannesburg T. 072 658 0762
www.rookegallery.co.za
Sally Thompson Gallery
8 Nov-15 Dec, Unveiling Soul
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Masks, photography by Bob
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Judith Mason.
78 Third Ave., Melville,
T. 011 482 9719
www.thompsongallery.co.za
Seippel Gallery
Until 12 Dec, Enter Exit, pho-
tography exhibition by
Pierre Crocquet.
1 Oct-12 Dec, Revision,
photography by Cedric Nunn
(in the Bailey Seippel Gallery).
Cnr of Fox and Berea,
Johannesburg T. 011 401 1421
www.seippel-gallery.com
Standard Bank Gallery
14 Oct-5 Dec, Africa, the Sun
and Shadows, paintings by
Alexis Preller.
Cnr of Simmonds & Frederick
Str.’s, Johannesburg, 2001
T. 011 631 1889
www.standardbankgallery.co.za
University of Johannesburg
Art Gallery
11 Nov-4 Dec, Ontwortel/
Uprooted, multimedia works
in found material, rusted
material, bitumen, wood, paper
and charcoal by Jan van der
Merwe.
University of Johannesburg,
Auckland Park Kingsway
campus cnr. Kingsway and
Universiteits Rd., Auckland
Park T. 011 559 2099/2556
www.uj.ac.za/artsacademy
Upstairs@Bamboo
28 Nov-6 Dec, Ceramics by
Caroline Schulz Vieira
Upstairs@Bamboo, cnr of
9th Str. & Rustenburg Rd.,
Melville, Johannesburg
T. 082 401 4213
Pretoria
Alette Wessels Kunskamer
Exhibition of Old Masters and
selected leading
contemporary artists.
Maroelana Centre, Maroelana.
GPS : S25º 46.748 EO28º
15.615
T. 012 346 0728
C. 084 589 0711
www.artwessels.co.za
Cameo Framers and Trent
Gallery
25 Nov-22 Dec, Wearable Art/
Pret-a-Porter, a fun exhibition
of wearable art.
198 Long Str., Pretoria
T. 012 460 5497
Printed in ful colour on gloss
Platform on 18th
26 Nov-5 Dec, ‘Einde van die
wêreld’, works by Robert van
den Berg, Willem Snyman and
Fabian Oliver Wargau.
232 18th Str., Rietondale,
Pretoria T. 084 764 4258
www.platformon18th.co.za
Pretoria Art Museum
12 Oct-28 Feb 2010, the
Pelmama Permanent Art
Collection. Until 1 Dec, A
selection of artworks tells a
brief story of South African
art from the time of the first
San artists, includes early 20th
century painters, Resistance
artists and artists of the 21st
century. Also on show until
Dec, the Corobrik Collection,
showcasing the development of
ceramics in South Africa in the
past thirty years.
T.012 344 1807/8
/www.pretoriaartmuseum.co.za
St. Lorient Art Gallery
15 Nov-30 Dec, Untitled, a
group exhibition, including
works by Tay Dall, Isabel Le
Roux, John Coumbias, Anne-
Lynne Marais, Thelma van
Rensburg, Mike Hyam, Sielja
Voss, Elmarie van Niekerk,
Amanda Nell, Martin de Kock,
Jimmy Moore, Petra Stigling,
Anton Gericke and Maryna
Joubert.
492 Fehrsen Str., Brooklyn
Circle, Brooklyn, Pretoria
T. 021 460 0284
www.stlorient.co.za
UNISA Art Gallery
28 Nov-22 Jan 2010, an exhibi-
tion by final year visual arts
students.
Theo van Wijk Building, Gold-
fields entrance, 5th floor. Unisa
Campus, Pretoria
T.012 429 6823
E-mail: hattif@unisa.ac.za
www.unisa.ac.za/gallery
Mpumalanga
The Loop Art Foundry &
Sculpture Gallery
Casterbridge Complex Corner
R40 and Numbi Roads
White River
T. 013 751 2435
www.tlafoundry.co.za
 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010 ALEX DODD COLUMN | ART LEADER
Alex Dodd
I am delighted to sing out
through my own imaginary
vuvuzela (which sounds more
like distant whalesong than
amplified bullfrogs on heat)
that my year of art loving (and,
okay, some loathing) has ended
with a sublime burst of inner
fireworks rather than a damp
fizzle. I had Brett Murray to
thank for dispelling the dark
spell of imminent despair
cast over the art world by the
black plague of banking at the
shaky outset of 2009. It was his
wildly satirical, immaculately
executed Goodman Gallery
solo, Crocodile Tears, in Febru-
ary this year, that signalled the
start of this ballsy, steadfast
year of the ox.
It was a year in which some
key stars in our local constel-
lation, around which many of
us had grown used to gently
orbiting, tumbled out of our
known galaxy, leaving us feel-
ing somewhat like the crew
of Star Trek, navigating our
way through an increasingly
unknowable future fogged up
with interstellar clouds. First
it was Warren Siebrits Modern
and Contemporary, then it
was Bell-Roberts, then it was
the quarterly arts publication,
Business Day Art that ignited
into fiery exhalation… But as
known bodies imploded into
the stratosphere, bold new
structures took shape, with Arts
on Main proving to be a gravi-
tational system beyond our
boldest predictions and Circa
touching down on the corner
of Jellicoe and Jan Smuts like
some elegant spaceship from
the beyond.
But back on planet earth, I have
Sanell Aggenbach to thank for
a suitably charged closure to
this most strangely nebulous
of years. Her Graceland show,
currently on at Art on Paper,
is one of those exhibitions you
just want to roll up and take
home with you. For it’s not one
work or the other that makes
the logic of the show hum
through you; it’s the sublimely
sensuous intertextuality that
runs through the works render-
ing them part of a strange new
mythology, that you half know
and half don’t. The mythology
of this show, has to do with be-
ing Afrikaans, of lost tribes and
fading ideologies, prohibited,
poisoned nostalgia, badass
tattoos, Gert Vlok Nel lyrics,
archaic books retrieved from
church sales, brandy & Coke,
Elvis, Rian Malan’s treacher-
ous heart, the mute ghosts of
ex-prime-ministers, cultural
ectoplasm and painted snap-
shots of the tragically turbulent
Ingrid Jonker…
On entering Art on Paper gal-
lery, you encounter a small,
gold-framed snapshot of the
artist in the arms of an Elvis
impersonator. The photo-
graph, I am told, was taken on
Saint Marks Square in New
York, during Aggenbach and
Murray’s recent Ampersand
Foundation visit. And the idea
of Elvis, of Graceland – an
imaginary hyper-reality con-
jured by the machines of pop
culture – is one that ghosts the
subtext of this show. Next up
is a marble headstone engraved
with the words: ‘Ons is Grace-
landloos Koos, Geen Memphis
Tennessee vir ons nie’. [We’re
bereft of a Graceland, Koos.
There’s no Memphis Tennessee
for us.] This note of deathly
black humour is a paradoxical-
ly generative entrée to a show
spiked with the awkward para-
doxes of a culture in demise
and post-modern reinvention
all at once.
It’s hard to know which work
to go to first, because they
are all crying out for attention
at once. So I will follow my
senses to the voluptuous naked
breasts painted in pale creamy
oil paint. These are the breasts
you want to lay your head
down on for the dreamiest of
bedtime stories, the breasts that
offer up the yearning world’s
wet dream of mother’s milk.
The breasts men dream of
coming home to… Painted in
curvy cursive on the left breast
is the word, Grace, and on the
right, the word, land. The work
is aptly titled ‘Haven’. Say no
more.
The sensuousness of the female
form is taken up again in a
work, entitled Atlantis, which
ingeniously conjures both the
lost world beneath the sea
(another play on Arcadian
worlds beyond our grasp), and
the township in the (un)fair
Cape, the same (un)fair Cape
originally plundered by
maritime merchants of the
Dutch East India Company, the
world’s first mega-corporation.
Tatooed across the naked body
of a woman in Delft-like blue
are an assembly of words and
images: ‘bokkie’, ‘my traitor’s
heart’, ‘don’t be cruel’, ships in
full sail, skull and crossbones,
swallows in flight, sailor’s
rope… Interestingly, Delft
ceramics were styled on the
imported Chinese porcelain of
the 17th century and the Dutch
port had an early start in this
medium because it was a home
port of the Dutch East India
Company. So the Delft tattoos
on this body speak about a
history of colonialism as it
plays out in present tense Cape
Town.
But it was the books that re-
ally stole my heart. Lined up
on wooden shelf is a selec-
tion of old fabric covered and
gold embossed books of the
kind you would find in a
second hand store. Unfurling
from each book is a strand of
fuschia-coloured satin ribbon
tumbling to the floor in a spa-
ghetti-like tangle (another mo-
tif that runs through the show).
Each strand of ribbon marks a
page in each book that has been
altered and adorned by the art-
ist using ink, gold leafed paper,
watercolour, ballpoint pen…
And each book’s adornment
tells a story of its own, with the
artist, in a sense, writing back
to the author. Take for example
a book entitled Old Ivory and
Roses… The ribbon marks a
page featuring tographs of Jan
Smuts, JBM Hertzog and Louis
Botha. ‘Three members of the
Pretoria Club, all great leaders
of the Boer forces in the South
African War, became prime
ministers of South Africa,’
reads the caption. On the facing
page, Aggenbach has drawn a
simple pen-and-ink portrait of
Jacob Zuma, and in the corner
of the page, she has written:
‘Hello Boys!’ (Post Polok-
wane). And that’s the gem I
uncovered in just one of about
Page 05
- ART LEADER -
Elfriede Dreyer
academic, gallerist and artist
By Michael Coulson the interdisciplinary approach
developed by her study path
When I used to write regular had its compensations.
reviews of Gauteng art shows,
I spent an inordinate amount of Her first academic appoint-
time driving along Pretoria’s ment, at Unisa, was in the
interminable Charles St, visit- theory of fine art, and though
ing an assortment of galleries she’s interested in creating
whose shortlivedness (if there art and best known as an art
is such a word) may have been historian, she considers herself
related to the fact that they all primarily as a theoretician – a
seemed to specialise in purple field she says many academics
mountains and orange skies. don’t want to teach – con-
Then, amazingly, in 2005 it cerned also with how art over-
all changed: a new venue ap- laps into other areas, like media
peared, in an expensively but studies and technology. She
tastefully remodelled house, took a course in multimedia at
that showed genuinely chal- the University of Groningen,
lenging and original modern in the Netherlands, encouraged
art. by Unisa, which was develop-
ing an undergraduate course in
If you haven’t already guessed, multimedia studied. This has
it was the Fried Gallery, run by been so successful that Unisa
the formidable Elfriede Dreyer. now has roughly the same
And it still exists, even if the number of undergraduates in
forty books that make up this
downturn in the art market and multimedia and fine art.
single artwork.
the other demands on Dreyer’s
time have forced a rethink In 1997, after negotiations with
The spaghetti repeats in the
of how it operates. Dreyer outside candidates collapsed,
form of a kind of ectoplasm
also often ponders on how the she unexpectedly and some-
spewing forth from the mouth
gallery would have done had it what reluctantly found herself
of the tapestry portrait of what
been sited in Jo’burg or Cape asked to take over as head of
looks like a university beauty
Town, which may have been the department of visual arts
queen. Of course, in arch pop
more receptive to her approach, & art history at Unisa, for
style, the ectoplasm is pure
but says she hasn’t come to any a four-year spell. “I almost
pop-star gold. Just about every
conclusion. disappeared from the art scene
work on this show made my
It can’t be ideal to run a gallery and became an administra-
head rush – from the portraits
by remote control, so Dreyer tor.” That expired in 2001,
of three former prime ministers
has decided to cut back the and then in 2003 she moved to
with a simple fold in the page
days Fried opens to Friday to the University of Pretoria as a
muting them in a manner that
Sunday. And while she wants to full-time associate professor.
perfectly conjures the vio-
maintain the strong educational The house in Charles St was
lence of silence, to the Esquire
focus the gallery has devel- bought as an investment, and
magazine cover embellished
oped, and continue to encour- what was originally intended to
with an image of a youthful
age school visits, courses will be a relatively small exhibition
Rian Malan.
also be restricted to Saturdays space specialising in contem-
only. porary art like Topsy just grew
It’s a show that seems to be
Dreyer admits that she and grew.
charged with zeitgeist timing,
considered closing down, but Given that academia, which
running at the same time as the
describes this restructuring as a was itself steadily becoming
recent release of Rian Malan’s
compromise that will keep the more demanding, has always
new book, Resident Alien, and
gallery going, but free up more been her priority, the gallery
on the heels of Antjie Krog’s
time for herself. was simply becoming all-de-
recent heartrending speech as
vouring. Of course, the fact
part of the Goethe-Institut’s
Exhibition policy poses a di- that the art market had, in her
Cracking Walls conference,
lemma. She says that in recent own word, “imploded”, while
where she made a plea for
shows, it’s been the established increasingly buyers are going
Afrikaners to be allowed the
artists, not the most affordable, direct to artists, were also
cultural space to deal with
who’ve sold best. So while she factors.
their own complex psyches,
still wants to showcase emerg- If the hoped-for more time for
to honour their own ances-
ing artists, they’ll have to be self materialises, one thing she
tors. Arguing that the Bok
the best of breed. As she says, wants to get back to is creating
van Blerk song, De La Rey,
there’s no point in being cut- her own art. She exhibited
had been grossly misread by
ting-edge or avant garde if you quite widely as a student, and
the popular media, which had
don’t sell. A gallery’s priority later in a Jo’burg Biennale and
jumped on a predictably reac-
may not be commercial, but one of the Kebbles, as well
tive bandwagon whipping up
you have to sell to survive. as participating in three or
a misguided storm of contro-
The first show under the new four group shows a year until
versy around the idea that the
policy, opening in February, that crucial year 1997. She
song was a rallying cry for
will be a group of female art- produced mixed-media paint-
rightwing revivalism. I thought
ists, under the title Bodies in ings, collages, and used found
she made a beautiful point, but
Transition. Other elements of objects.
many in the audience seemed
the new policy include a longer
to be strangely ‘wounded’ and
run – five weeks instead of Since then, academic and
‘disheartened’ by her words,
three – and she plans to pro- commercial pressures have left
failing in my eyes to grasp the
duce digital catalogues. little time to create, though
subtlety and power of her argu-
she admits to feeling “quite
ment. Her new book, Begging
Dreyer was a force in the art chuffed” that she sold a few
to be Black, is another I’ll be
world long before she opened works in Fried’s latest group
packing in my old kit bag as I
Fried, as one of SA’s leading show.
skip this town for the summer
art historians, despite be-
solstice. But before I do, I’ll
ing, in the art context, a slow Multiple roles are not uncom-
be returning to Art on Paper to
developer. She first studied mon in the art world, especially
soak up Sanell Aggenbach’s
language and philosophy at in a relatively small community
Graceland, which manages
Pretoria, only completing her like SA. But few have made
to be deeply sensuous and a
first degree in art through Unisa such a broad impact as Dreyer,
quietly imploding bomb of
at the age of 35. By this stage and if her career right now is in
cultural complexity all at once.
contemporaries like Penny a sense at a crossroads, you can
Who could ask for more?
Siopis were established artists, bet that however it develops,
Image: Sanell Aggenbach: and though she regrets that they she will remain a force to be
Graceland, To be seen at AOP
had a head start, she feels that reckoned with.
Gallery, Jhb
PAGE 06
Eastern Cape
East London
Ann Bryant Art Gallery
26 Nov-12 Dec, East London
Fine Art Society Annual Exhibi-
tion (Main Gallery). 19 Nov-5
Dec, solo exhibition with oil
on canvas by Chanelle Staude
(Coach House Café).
9 St Marks Rd., Southernwood,
East London T. 043 722 4044
annbryant@intekom.co.za
www.annbryant.co.za
Port Elizabeth
Alliance Française
24 Nov-10 Dec, ‘LAND-
SCAPES-COEGA’, paintings by
landscape artist Lez Dor.
17 Mackay Str., Richmond Hill
T. 041 585 7889 Email: assist-
antafpe@telkomsa.net.
Montage Gallery
26 Nov-23 Dec, new works by
Donvé Branch and Anthony
Harris.
59 Main Rd., Walmer, Nelson
Mandela Bay T. 041 581 2893
www.montagegallery.co.za
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
Art Museum
4 Dec-24 Jan 2010, the annual
‘Who’s who and what’s new’
exhibition.
1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth
T. 041 506 2000
www.artmuseum.co.za
Northern Cape Constantia Village Shopping
Kimberley
William Humphreys Art Gal-
lery contemporary art and South
From Nov 1, a number of
exhibitions from the permanent
collection will be on display.
These include a selection of new
acquisitions of contemporary
SA Artists.
Civic Centre, Cullinan Crescent,
Kimberley T. 053 831 1724
www.museumsnc.co.za T. 021 6830580/083 452 5862
Western Cape
Cape Town sleeping, includes large paint-
34 Long IV, annual group exhibition of
15 Dec-16 Jan 2010, WATER, a
solo exhibition by Willie Bester.
34 Long Str., Cape Town
T. 021 426 4594
www.34long.com
Alliance Française
16 Nov-8 Dec, ‘Difference’
mixed media by Veronica
Wilkinson exploring power,
humanity and art.
155 Loop Str., Cape Town.
T. 021 4235699
www.alliance.org.za
Association for Visual Arts
(AVA)
30 Nov-07 Jan 2010, Resolu-
tion- the power of innuendo,
a group tographic exhibition
that focuses on the suggestion,
as opposed to the spectacle of
violence. Includes works by
Lien Botha, Zanele Muholi,
Guy Tillim, Jo Ratcliffe, Jürgen
Schadeberg, and many more.
35 Church Str., Cape Town
T. 021 424 7436
www.ava.co.za
SHOW LISTINGS FOR EASTERN CAPE, NORTHERN CAPE AND WESTERN CAPE
Atlantic Art Gallery
A permanent display showcas-
ing leading contemporary South
African artists.
25 Wale Street Cape Town,
T. 021 423 5775
Blank Projects
11 Dec-8 Jan 2010, Babel Se-
ries, by Candice Breitz consists
of seven constantly stuttering
DVD loops.
113-115 Sir Lowry Rd.,
Woodstock T.072 1989 221
www.blankprojects.com
Cape Gallery www.g2art.co.za
1 Nov-5 Dec, Work in Progress,
oil paintings by Lesley Char-
nock. 29 Nov-5 Dec, sculptures
by Caroline van der Merwe.
6 Dec-2 Jan 2010, works by
David Kuijers and glass beads
by Ingrid de Haast.
60 Church Str., Cape Town
T. 021 423 5309
www.capegallery.co.za
Cape Town School of
Photography
From 3 Dec, Student exhibition.
photography by beginner and
intermediate students.
4th Flr., 62 Roeland Str.
T. 021 465 2152
Email: info@ctsp.co.za
www.ctsp.co.za
Carmel Art
Dealers in Fine art, exclusive
distributers of Pieter van der
Westhuizen etchings.
66 Vineyard Rd., corner Caven-
dish Str., Claremont
T.021 671 6601
Centre, Main Rd., Constantia
T. 021 794 6262
Christopher MǾller Art
Dealers in South African
African masters.
82 Church Str., Cape Town
T. 021 439 3517
www.christophermollerart.co.za
David Porter Antiques
Buyers and sellers of South
African art
david@davidporterantiques.
com
Erdmann Contemporary /
Photographers Gallery T. 021 447 9699
31 Oct-5 Dec, While you were
ings, original works on paper,
monotypes and lithographs by
Karlien de Villiers. 5 Dec-30
Jan 2010, Fifty, Sixty, Seventy,
Eighty, Ninety, R.I.P, a group
exhibition with works by Mark
Hipper, Norman Catharine, Jan
Neethling, Peter Clarke, Robert
Hodgins and Walter Battiss. 30
Jan 2010-27 Feb, photography
exhibition by Erik Chevalier.
63 Shortmarket Str., Cape Town
T. 021 422 2762
www.erdmanncontemporary.co.za
Everard Read Gallery -
Cape Town
From 1 Dec, Summer at Ev-
erard Read, works by various
artists.
3 Portswood Rd., V&A Water-
front T. 021 418 4527
www.everard-read-capetown.
co.za
Focus Contemporary, Fine
Young Art
28 Nov-15 Jan 2010, African
origami, works by Karin Miller.
2 Long Str., Cape Town
T. 021 419 8888,
www.focuscontemporary.co.za
G2 Art
G2 provides a diverse range of
original contemporary art by
South African artists to discern-
ing buyers.
The work includes painting,
sculpture, ceramics, photogra-
phy and mixed media.
Exhibitions are held during
the year and information is
available on the website or the
Facebook Group.
61 Shortmarket Str. between
Loop Str. and Bree Str.
T. 021 424 7169
Email: di@g2art.co.za
Gallery F
Contemporary and archival
South African Art.
221 Long Str., Cape Town
T. 021 422 5246
www.galleryf.co.za
Gill Allderman Gallery
From 8 Dec, Exhibition # 25,
works by Gill Cowen, Sue
Greeff, Donna McKellar, Trudi
McPherson, Marcelle Sprong
and Sam Sterley.
278 Main Rd, Kenilworth
T. 083 556 2540
Email: gallery@new.co.za
Goodman Gallery, Cape international showcase for the
12 Nov-12 Dec, Morbid
Appetites, works by Frances
Goodman. This exhibition is an
objective study in sound, text
and sculpture of what happens
to the human condition when a
psychological line is crossed.
19 Dec-16 Jan 2010, The Mir-
ror Stage, a solo exhibition of
installations and sculptures by
internationally acclaimed Brit-
ish artist Gavin Turk.
3rd Floor, Fairweather House,
176 Sir Lowry Rd., Woodstock,
Cape Town T. 021 462 7573/4,
www.goodmangallerycape.com
Greatmore Art Studios
3-17 Dec, African Time, a
curated exhibition that portrays
a creative interpretation of
time, travelling exchange and
interconnection between artists.
Participating artists include Tim
Chalk, Khusi Seremane, Vaun
Cornell, Noncedo Gxekwa, and
many more.
47-49 Greatmore Str.,
Woodstock, Cape Town
Email: info@greatmore.org
www.greatmoreart.org
Infin Art Gallery
A gallery of work by local
artists. Wolfe Street Chelsea
Wynberg T. 021 761 2816 and
Buitengracht Str. Cape Town
T. 021 423 2090
www.infinart.co.za
iArt Gallery
11-Nov-9 Dec, Tactility: denial
and desire, bronze sculptures by
Cobus Haupt.
11 Nov-9 Dec, ‘Cocks, asses,
&…’ mixed media works by
Wilma Cruise. 1-12 Dec, Of-
ficial Art Poster Edition 2010
FIFA World Cup South Africa
TM. 15 Dec-15 Jan 2010,
Summer in the City.
71 Loop Str. T. 021 424 5150
www.iart.co.za
iArt Gallery Wembley
2 Dec-13 Jan 2010, new work
by Walter Meyer.
Wembley Square, Gardens,
Cape Town T. 021 424 5150
www.iart.co.za
Irma Stern Museum Lowry Rd, Woodstock, Ground
10 Nov-5 Dec, Tshungulo Wuy-
isiwa e Mahlweni (The Healing
Process), an exhibition of new
works by Phillemon Hlungwani.
12 Dec-16 Jan 2010, Notions
of Being/Moments of Being,
works by Jill Trappler. 18 Dec-7
Jan 2010, video installation by
Helen Benigson.
Cecil Rd, Rosebank, Cape Town
T. 021 685 5686
www.irmastern.co.za
Iziko South African National
Gallery by Jane Alexander, Retha
12 Dec-28 Feb 2010, Dada
South?, South African art-
works from the 1960’s to the
present are exhibited alongside
a collection of artworks and
publications by historical Dada
artists. 26 Nov-28 Feb 2010,
‘Strengths and Convictions:
The Life and Times of the South
African Nobel Peace Prize
Laureates’, films, tographs and
contemporary works of art by
South African and international
artists.
Government Ave., Company’s
Garden T. 021 467 4660,
www.iziko.org.za
Iziko Museums of Cape Town
9 Dec-13 March 2010, Wildlife
tographer of the Year 2009, an
very best photography featuring
natural subjects. 9 Nov-10 Jan
2010, Not Alone- an interna-
tional project of ‘make art/stop
AIDS’ (at the Castle of Good
Hope). South African artists
include Clive van den Berg,
William Kentridge, Churchill
Madikida, Langa Magwa, Pene-
lope Siopis, Gideon Mendel and
others.
For further info contact Esther
Esmyol T. 021 464 1262
Email: eesmyol@iziko.org.za
João Ferreira Gallery Kentridge, Deborah Bell and
4 Nov-12 Dec, REGISTRA-
TION, works by Brett Murray,
Georgina Gatrix, Hentie van
der Merwe, Justin Fiske, Liza
Grobler, Michael Taylor, Ruan
Hoffmann, Sanell Aggenbach
and Tom Cullberg.
70 Loop Str., Cape Town,
T. 021 423 5403
www.joaoferreiragallery.com
Johans Borman Fine Art
Gallery
28 Nov-16 Jan 2010, ‘The Pigs
Are Coming’, an exhibition of
bronze sculptures by Warrick
Kemp.
In-Fin-Art Building, Upper
Buitengracht Str., Cape Town,
T. 021 423 6075/082 5664631
www.johansborman.co.za
Jossi Mendle
19 Nov-10 Dec, Sculpture
Exhibition by Jossi Mendle.
3rd Floor, The Spearhead Build-
ing (next to Investec Bldg.)
42 Hans Strijdom Ave., Fore-
shore, Cape Town.
www.mendle.co.za
Kalk Bay Modern
From 11 Nov-6 Dec, works by
Peter Clarke.
1st Floor, Olympia Buildings,
136 Main Rd, Kalk Bay.
T.021 788 6571
Email: kbmodern@iafrica.com
www.kalkbaymodern.com
Kunst House
2 Dec-9 Jan 2010, paintings and
sculptures by Grant Preston.
62 Kloof Str., Gardens
T. 021 422 1255
www.kunsthouse.co.za
BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
Lindy van Niekerk Art
Gallery
Exhibition of SA’s leading
artists.
31 Kommandeur Rd,
Welgemoed, Belville
T. 021 913 7204/5
www.artpro.co.za
Michael Stevenson
Contemporary
26 Nov-16 Jan 2010, Summer
2009/10: Projects, with works
Erasmus, Sabelo Mlangeni,
Tom Cullberg, Guy Tillim,
Berni Searle, Willen Boshoff,
Dineo Seshee Bopape, Tracy
Payne, Andrew Putter and
Zanele Muholi. 21 Jan-6 March
2010, mixed media works by
Steven Cohen and paintings by
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Also
on exhibition is Black & White
Hemisphere, an installation by
Thomas Hirschhorn as part of
the FOREX series.
Ground Floor, Buchanan
Building, 160 Sir Lowry Rd,
Cape Town T. 021 462 1500
www.michaelstevenson.com
Raw Vision Gallery
26 Nov-21 Dec, Out the Rabbit
Hole, an exhibition of mixed
media paintings, etchings,
monotypes and multiple prints
by Toni Ann Ballenden. In this
exhibition one explores how the
tapestries of Ballenden’s life
are multilayered and filled with
metars and symbolism.
89 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock,
info@rawvisiongallery.com
www.rawvisiongallery.com
Rose Korber
Powerful new charcoal and
pastel drawings by Richard
Smith, as well as recent works
on paper by William
Ryan Arenson.
48 Sedgemoor Rd, Camps Bay,
Cape Town T. 021 438 9152
Email: roskorb@icon.co.za
www.rosekorberart.com
Rust-en-Vrede Gallery
15 Nov-12 Dec, Ceramics SA
Regional 2009, an exhibition
of ceramic works by various
ceramicists.
10 Wellington Rd, Durbanville
T. 021 976 4691
www.rust-en-vrede.com
Salon91 Contemporary
1 Dec-14 Jan 2010, Sirens, new
paintings and video work by
Jake Aikman (in association
with SMAC gallery).20 Jan-20
Feb 2010, Spookasem, a group
exhibition of works by female
artists from a range of creative
backgrounds, across various
media (fine art, street art,
illustration).
91 Kloof Str., Gardens,
Cape Town 021 424 6930
www.salon91art.co.za
South African Museum
25 Jul-Mar 2010, Subtle
Thresholds, the representational
taxonomies of disease, a mixed
media show curated by Fritha
Langerman.
25 Queen Victoria Str.,
Cape Town T. 021 481 3800
http://www.iziko.org.za/sam/in-
dex.html
South Gallery
Showcasing creativity from
Kwazulu-Natal including Ard-
more Ceramic Art.
Fairweather House, 176 Sir
Floor. T. 021 465 4672 Email:
info@southgallery.co.za
The South African Print
Gallery
Sat 12 Dec-10 Jan 2010, Miles
Away: from Baardskerdersbos
and back, new woodblocks by
Joshua Miles.
107 Sir Lowry Rd, Woodstock,
Cape Town, T. 021 462 6851
www.printgallery.co.za
These Four Walls Fine Art
Galley
15-30 Jan 2010, works by An-
gela Briggs.
169 Lower Main Rd, Observa-
tory T. 021 447 7393
www.thesefourwalls.co.za
Urban Contemporary Art
18 Nov-12 Dec, no | thing,
works by Bronwyn Lace, Greg
Streak, Ricky Burnett, Righard
Kapp and Trasi Henen. 16 Dec-
30 Jan 2010, Summer Salon.
46 Lower Main Rd, Observa-
tory, Cape Town
T. 021 447 4132,
www.urbancontemporaryart.co.za
What if the World…
1 Dec-23 Jan 2010, Holiday,
a group exhibition includ-
ing works by emerging South
African artists Cameron Platter,
Georgina Gratix, Athi Patra
Ruga, Julia Clark, Dan Halter,
Stuart Bird and Zander Blom.
First floor, 208 Albert Rd,
Woodstock T. 021 448 1438
www.whatiftheworld.com
Worldart
10 Dec-8 Jan 2010, works by
Richard Scott, Marlise Keith
and more. Worldart will be
showing how contemporary
artists pay tribute to their
forerunners by revisiting both
the fairground and the Pop Art
genre in a series of exciting new
works
54 Church Street Cape Town
CBD T. 021 423 3075
www.worldart.co.za
Franschhoek
Galerie L’ Art
A permanent exhibition of old
masters.
Shop no 3, The Ivy, Kruger Str.,
Franschhoek T. 021 876 2497
www.galart.co.za
Gallery Grande Provence
15 Nov-13 Jan 2010, Angels
paintings, sculpture, ceramics,
glass and jewellery by selected
SA artists.
Main Rd, Franschhoek
T. 021 876 8600
www.grandeprovence.co.za
George
Strydom Gallery
From 21 Nov, GEORGE 41,
Strydom Gallery’s 41st summer
exhibition of South African art-a
cross-section of selected works.
The exhibition will be opened by
Jan Coetzee, professor of soci-
ology at Rhodes University.
79 Market Str., George
T. 044 874 4027
www.artaffair.co.za
 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010 MELVYN MINNAAR COLUMN
Paarl
Hout Street Gallery
Specialists in South African
Fine Art. The Gallery also
offers a range of ceramics,
creative jewellery, glass, crafts
and functional art.
270 Main Str., Paarl,
zetler@icon.co.za
www.houtstreetgallery.co.za
Off the Wall Contemporary
18 Nov-31 Jan 2010, Annual
Artwork Sale.
171 Main Rd, Paarl
T. 021 872 8648
info@offthewallcontemporary.
co.za
www.offthewallcontemporary.com
Stellenbosch crash) out there means art will
Art on 5
Permanent exhibition of paint-
ings and ceramics by Maryna
de Witt, Pera Schillings, and
Karen Kieviet.
7b Andringa Str., Stellenbosch
T. 021 887 7234
Dorp Straat Galery revitalised. Maybe the fact
28 Nov-31 Dec, Let Them Eat
Cake, with works by Gabby
Raaff, Sarah Pratt, Tracy
Lynch, Conrad Botes, Kurt Pio,
Jane Eppel, Frank van Reenen
and Tracy Payne. Also until the
31 Dec, the annual Christmas
Group Exhibition, with works
by Kelly John Gough, Ruhan
Janse van Vuuren, Strijdom
van der Merwe, Greg Lourens,
Alan Gray, Cornelia Stoop,
Danelle Janse van Rensburg
and Louis Nel.
Church Str., Stellenbosch
T. 021 887 2256
www.dorpstraatgalery.co.za
Glen Carlou Estate
From 3 0ct, on exhibition
is The Hess Art Collection,
including works by Deryck
Healey, Ouattara Watts and
Andy Goldsworthy.
Simondium Rd, Klapmuts
T. 021 875 5314
www.glencarlou.co.za
Red Black and White
9 Dec-30 Jan 2010, Verneuk-
pan, a collaboration by artists
Johann Slee, Strijdom van der
Merwe, Rene Slee, Kabous
Meiring and Jo-Marie Rabe.
5a Distillery Rd, Bosman’s
Crossing, Stellenbosch.
T. 021 886 6281
www.redblackandwhite.co.za
Rupert Museum
From 3 Oct, The Rodin Exhibi-
tion, bronze sculptures; perma-
nent collection of 20th Century
South African Art.
Stellentia Ave., Stellenbosch
T. 021 888 3344
www.rupertmuseum.org
Sasol Art Museum
4 Nov-30 Jan 2010, Glimpses
from the Past, works by
Charles Davidson Bell (1813-
1882) and Solomon Caesar
Malan (1812-1894).
52 Ryneveld Str., Stellenbosch
T. 021 808 3029
SMAC Art Gallery range of South African works
6 Dec-25 Feb 2010,
a retrospective exhibition by
Erik Laubscher
De Wet Centre, Church Street,
Stellenbosch T. 021 887 3607
www.smacgallery.com
US Art Gallery
19 Nov-9 Jan 2010, paintings
by Pauline Gutter.
Cnr. Dorp & Bird Street, Stel-
lenbosch T. 021 808 3524
Email: corliah@sun.ac.za
Knysna
Knysna Fine Art
20 Nov-3 Dec, RIFT (Portraits
of Ethiopia), black and white
photography by Glen Green.
4-21 Dec, No Strings Attached,
mixed media works by
Hannalie Tauté.
8 Grey Str., Knysna,
T.044 382 5107
www.finearts.co.za
Elgin
Sculpture Garden and Studio
Gallery
From 1 Dec, works by Sheena
Ridley.
Grabouw, Elgin
T. 021 859 2595
C. 083 589 2881
www.ridley.co.za
Hermanus
Abalone Gallery
1 Dec-31 Jan 2010, a group ex-
hibition by distinguished artists
including John Clarke, Christo
Coetzee, Bill Davis, Hannes
Harrs, Braam Kruger, Elzaby
Laubscher, Judith Mason, Fred
Schimmel, Cecil and Pippa
Skotnes.
2 Harbour Rd, The Courtyard,
Hermanus. T. 028 313 2935
www.abalonegallery.co.za
The Old Harbour Gallery
An exhibition of art and
sculpture.
No.4 Warrington Place,
Harbour Rd, Hermanus
T. 028 313 2751 / 0822595515
www.oldharbourgallery.co.za
Philip Harper Galleries
Specialising in South African
old masters and select contem-
porary artists.
Oudehof Mall, 167 Main Rd,
Hermanus T. 028 312 4836
www.philipharpergalleries.co.za
Agulhas
Red Corridor Gallery
Sculpture by Rudi Neuland,
paintings by Leszek Skurski
and textile objects by Joanna
Skurska.
4 Main Rd, L’Agulhas 7287
T. 028 435 7503.
info@capeagulhas-arthouse.
com www.capeagulhas-art-
house.com www.redcorridor-
RSA.com
Be sure to
E-mail us with your
news and events at:
News:
news@arttimes.co.za
Events:
show@arttimes.co.za
Or call our newsdesk
at: 021 424 7733
Melvyn Minnaar
The Artful Viewer
Tricky art times
One would think that all art is
in a predicament. A lot of the
blather on arty blogs high and
low, serious and silly, seems
to be concerned with the idea
that fewer parvenu art collec-
tor/buyers (due to the capitalist
go down the drain; as if money
is the be-all and end-all.
While the Faustian bargain
between ‘art’ and ‘investment’
is ever destined to be a tricky,
even dangerous one, the good
news is that art often needs a
bit of a social shake-up to be
that a lot of those upstart,
status-seeking supporters of
expensive art have found their
credit cards grounded means
real artists can get back to
their proper day jobs. And
stop playing to that price-tag
audience.
With the year turning around,
it’s a good time to check out
whether its happening and
who’s doing that, or not.
A good place to start is the
various art school end-of-year
shows around the Cape. With
many aspiring artists hoping
that the wonderful world out
there will welcome them, their
talent and inventions, it is
always interesting to check out
their strategies on site.
The last few years have seen
quite a few of the top art
school performers jumping
(or being lured) straight into
the professional gallery ambit.
Whether this is necessarily
good or bad for a youngster
who often needs to collect a
few battle scars in the art sur-
vival challenge is not certain,
but, at the same time one has
to compliment the local galler-
ies also when they introduce
new artists for polishing their
professional presentations.
To connect (good) art with
the public (and not only those
with easy money to spent)
galleries need to pull out the
stops in terms of communica-
tion. Thankfully we have seen
a great improvement in im-
portant tools like catalogues,
signage and distribution of
information. (Now they just
need to engage with the print
and other media management
to claim coverage.)
In this sense, a visit to galler-
ies like Michael Stevenson,
Goodman Cape and What-
iftheworld is usually a pleas-
ant, informative affair. (And
free, unlike the Iziko crowd
who charges entrance fees.)
We at The South African Art Times wish all our readers
a blessed Christmas and .. a prosperous New Year !
Page 07
OBITUARY
Thelma Skotnes
But even the smaller, newer
spaces like Robin Jones’
UCA, Guto Bussab’s Muti and
Monique du Preez’s Salon 91
- where the more dynamic,
adventurous art is found these
days - offer good packages of
information and back-up. (It is
interesting how vital up-to-
date websites have become in
this business.)
The past year, of course, saw Thelma, Cecil and Pippa Skotnes Photo Booksa.
the sad demise of the Bell-
Roberts gallery. (It also had As this issue went to press we learnt with great sadness of the
the Goodman change hands, passing of Thelma Skotnes, the widow of Cecil Skotnes. Thelma
and the curious departure from Skotnes (née Carter) married Cecil in 1951 and was intimately
that gallery of expert Emma involved in all his activities from that time. A biography of Cecil
Bedford.) But 2009 also on the Cecil Skotnes blog (http://cecilskotnes.blogspot.com)
brought along the new: Blank describes her thus at the time of their marriage: ‘a lovely, viva-
Projects finally moved to the cious woman, ex-convent girl with a nineteen inch waist who had
Woodstock ‘art precinct’, flair, deep intelligence and incomparable warmth, and was daring
next to where Gabriel Clark- enough to marry a man who wanted to be an artist with no sure
Brown’s nifty print gallery prospects, and keep the home fires burning.’ In Johannesburg her
opened. Aptly placed right home became a meeting place and centre for artists and other crea-
opposite a certain arty group’s tive people. Her superb efforts as an archivist were revealed in the
drinking hole, is the Young- 2007/8 exhibition Cecil Skotnes: A Private View. Images from the
Blackman gallery, where the Archive of Cecil and Thelma Skotnes.
first video installations made
a bold public appearance, A full obituary will appear in the next issue of SA Art Times.
stunning the bergies on the
pavement.
Summer Salons
Art reaching outside of the
gallery is getting a good
presence in the Mother city.
Although the non-biennale The New Year Baardskeerdersbos Art Route
Cape 09 didn’t quite effec- Cape Overberg
tively connect with the public,
it had a lot going for it in 9 and 10 January 2010
terms of curatorial processes.
(Pity about the stranglehold of www.baardskeerdersbosartroute.com
money.) The Spier festival of
over a dozen artists open their
Infecting the City also proved
studios, homes, and drafty
to be a wow. (The ‘imported’
stoeps to the meandering visi-
artists’ contributions proved to
tor. Maps are available at gal-
be the dullest bit.) Then there
leries or from www.baardskeer-
was Richard Mason’s awe-
dersbosartroute.com Although
some Carbonage installation
an easy day trip from the city,
last month in that godfor-
a wide range of accommoda-
saken Barrack street building.
Purposely working outside tion options exist in the area,
Baardskeerdersbos is a unique and the Stanford Tourism office
the commercial gallery set-up,
settlement, neither farm nor may even make the reservation
Mason managed to activate
dorp, untidily strewn across a on your behalf: 028-3132596.
edgy emotional and cerebral
responses from the public who fertile valley south of Stanford. Local participating artists
Today the artists may even out- include Niel Jonker, Joshua
dared a visit.
number the farmers, however Miles, Andree Bonthuys,
with three pubs and a drank- Claudette Barnes, Daniel Grif-
It is this kind of rush of the
winkel, the mandatory NGKerk fin, Hendrik Rabie and others
senses and mind that is all to
for rinsing out the night before, working in media as diverse as
often absent in the cool-cool
one thing all the locals have painting, printmaking, sculp-
world of formal galleries, mu-
seums and, heaven help, those in common is knowing how to ture, ceramics, and land art.
have a good time.
hyped-up art auctions with
The Baardskeerdersbos Art Baardskeerdersbos Art Route.
their canapéd previews.
Route only takes place three Enquiries: 028-3819636 /
times annually in autumn, 083 444 2613.
On what the year of the
spring and new year, where (Image: Clare Menck)
football fest (and its plethora
of kitsch-for-sale) holds,
the lest said the better. After The Hout Street Gallery in Paarl
this year of biennales (some
dull beyond belief), the next
Summer Salon 34
10 December to 28 February 2010.
will see the usual art fairs (a
www.houtstreetgallery.co.za
somewhat chastened Joburg in
March) and museum shows.
bronzes, functional art and crea-
Of course, 2010 should have tive jewellery.
been the big year for South
African art, but we all know
that the officials in charge are
“We are thrilled to be presenting
our thirty fourth Summer Salon
useless. (The story about the and have collected a marvelous
official invitation to this year’s
Venice biennale that got lost,
sabotaged, or simply ignored
for the show,” says David
Zetler, founder and owner of the
must still be told.) Gallery. “There are magnificent
pieces that reflect our South
African landscapes, scenes and
The annual exhibition features people in addition to a selection
more than forty top established of abstracts, still lifes and draw-
and new South African artists ings.”
and also offers an array of ce- (Image: Pretorius, Two figures with
ramics, sculptures, glass work, Goats)
PAGE 08 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010

THE LAST WORD

The South African Art world 2009

In 2009, a year during which South Africa acquired a new president, a bulky new cabinet and raft of new policy documents that may
or may not remedy an old set of socio-economic problems, art exhibitions in Johannesburg reflected continuity rather than change.

Chris Thurman
There was, of course, plenty of work by artists
following the injunction to “make it new”; but
there was also a curatorial tendency to look
backwards, to recuperate or consolidate aspects
of the country’s twentieth-century artistic legacy.
For this reviewer, certainly, the year began and
ended in retrospection.
As with Van Wouw, Villa’s renown as an artist
stems largely from his monumental public art-
works. But the small sculptures – not maquettes
– in Villa’s “Moving Voices” were, according
to the late Alan Crump, evidence that “monu-
mentality is by no means a synonym for large”.
Instead, they were a reminder-in-miniature of
Villa’s fascination with primary colours and
basic shapes (which, admittedly, many viewers
find somewhat dated).
and of course the self-portraits through which
Kruger perpetuated the larger-than-life persona
he cultivated in other guises as restaurateur, TV
personality and author.
Insofar as Kruger remained a ‘marginal’ figure
(deliberately so on his part, one feels), another
significant retrospective exhibition spotlighted
those who have been placed in the ‘centre’ of the
national stage as recipients of the Standard Bank
Young Artist Award over the last 25 years. It re-
mains a moot point as to whether those selected
as winners would have garnered the acclaim they
have without the publicity generated by the an-
nual award; nevertheless, it is incontestable that
the list of Young Artists since 1984 reads like an
extract from a ‘who’s who’ of the South African
art world.
a selection of her work spanning three decades;
and thirdly, to see the pieces produced by the
students in Crouse’s painting group, aimed at
encouraging novices to take up their brushes.
There were portraits, profiles and busts of a
different sort on display in “Capital: How Heads
Talk”, an exhibition forming part of Wits Uni-
versity’s Arts and Literature Experience (WALE)
and promoting the cause of the Wits Art Museum
– a yet-to-be-completed structure that will house
the university’s collection of South African
paintings, sculptures and installations, as well as
masks, figurines, headdresses and other historical
pieces produced by African artists. Among the
famous faces depicted in “Capital” were Nelson
Mandela, Hendrik Verwoerd, Lucas Radebe,
Edwin Cameron, Steve Biko, Charles de Gaulle
and W.H. Auden; there were also numerous
renditions of unglamorous and unnamed citizens,
which the curators used to suggest other para-
digms for understanding “how heads talk”: the
ways in which heads can signify justice, power,
death, memory and our sense(s) of beauty.

The Wits exhibition’s punning title resonated

Bronze by Anton van Wouw
The Everard Read Gallery started 2009 with an
exhibition of small bronzes by Anton van Wouw
– a sculptor perhaps best known for his large-
scale statues situated at the Voortrekker Monu-
ment, in Pretoria’s Church Square and elsewhere.
The collection on display was an important
reminder that there is much more to Van Wouw’s
oeuvre, and that art historians would be wrong
to write him off as a stooge of nascent Afrikaner
nationalism or of the mining barons for whom he
produced numerous busts.
Alexis Preller: Still life with Crocodile
The Standard Bank Gallery brought 2009 to a
close with a retrospective of Alexis Preller’s
work that coincided with the launch of Karel
Nel and Esme Berman’s two-volume ‘visual
biography’ of the enigmatic artist. The combined
exhibition-and-book offers a convincing vindica-
tion of Preller’s place in South African art his-
tory – locating him alongside, but distinct from,
precursors such as J.H. Pierneef or near-contem-
poraries like Walter Batiss, Irma Stern, Maggie
Laubscher and Gerard Sekoto – and affirms
the visionary nature of his creative-intellectual
project: combining African cultural and aesthetic
traditions with those of Europe and of ‘world art’
(before that was a common term).
During the course of the year, the same gallery
used its upstairs-downstairs space to good effect
by hosting simultaneous exhibitions of Edoardo
Villa and Andrew Verster, and Len Sak and Lolo
Veleko respectively. Of these, the Villa, Verster
and Sak selections were also largely ‘backward
glances’, containing pieces from early in each
artist’s career and extending to more recent
work.
Andrew Verster: Bodyworks I
Verster’s “Past/Present”, on the other hand,
evinced his delight in combining and manipulat-
ing complex patterns and rich textures: as opera
costume and set designer; as bold explorer of
“the male body and queer sexuality” (which
Clive van den Berg emphasises in his contribu-
tion to the catalogue); as re-interpreter of stylised
iconography from India, Japan and ancient
Greece and Egypt.
Len Sak is not a widely recognised name. Yet
Jojo, the affable character created by Sak for
Drum magazine in 1959 who subsequently ap-
peared – with his small shock of ‘Afro’ hair on
an otherwise bald head, his trademark braces and
white shirt bulging over his paunch – in various
newspapers and on TV, has endeared himself to
generations of South Africans. The exhibition
celebrating Jojo’s fiftieth anniversary showed the
various roles that he has played in South African
public life: comical township observer, social
commentator, educator and activist.
Braam Kruger: Winnie
Another retrospective tribute was to be found
at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery,
where a selection of the late Braam Kruger’s
work was on display as part of the Arts Alive
Festival in September. Portraiture was predomi-
nant: sultry nudes in exotic settings, allegorical
figures representing black resistance to apartheid,
unexpectedly with Jeannette Unite’s “Headgear”,
which was fused with ‘capital’ in other ways:
displayed at AngloGold Ashanti’s headquarters
in Newtown before moving to the company’s
Lolo Veleko’s Wonderland Gold of Africa Museum in Cape Town, Unite’s
drawings of headgear (also known as winding
The tographs exploring urban youth identity gear, mine heads or shaft heads) tread an awk-
in Lolo Veleko’s “Wonderland” (exhibited, ward line between critiquing the socio-ecological
incongruously but felicitously, with the “Jojo” damage caused by mining and aestheticising
exhibition) stem from her work as SBYA winner heavy industry in order to justify and even efface
in 2008. In 2009, it was the turn of Nicholas this damage.
Hlobo, whose “Umtshotsho” met with a mixed
reception. Some viewers found the looming
figures he stitched together from rubber inner
tubing and arranged in dim red lighting to be a
haunting and insightful comment on Xhosa iden-
tity; others were bemused by the work’s opacity
and unimpressed by the gloomy venue Hlobo
was allocated in Grahamstown’s 1820 Settlers
Monument building.
It will be interesting to see what 2010 Young
Artist Michael MacGarry produces. His descrip-
tion of the proposed installation is intriguing:
it will include a film dealing with “problema-
tised whiteness” and the “brain drain”: “Called
LHRJHB (London to Joburg), it will be looped
to a voice-over narrative containing extracts
from J.M. Coetzee’s Youth.” This continues a
‘literary’ trend in much of MacGarry’s previous
work, which invokes Conrad’s Heart of Dark-
ness, Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Defoe’s
Robinson Crusoe and Camus’s L’Etranger
among others.
It will also be interesting to see how the Young
Artist award, which inevitably forms part of the
fine arts ‘establishment’ in South Africa, will in-
flect MacGarry’s work with his fellow members
of Avant Car Guard – a self-consciously anti- Work from Aparna Swarup’s Bioscope
establishment collective that, depending on who
you ask, is either truly subversive or insubstan- A comparable ambiguity was evident in Aparna
tial posturing. Swarup’s “Bioscope”, a series of tographs of
There is more consensus over the merits of Brett the Indian artist’s home town, Allahabad. While
Murray’s satire; the artist’s “Crocodile Tears”, many of the people and settings in Swarup’s
which was shown at the Goodman Gallery in tographs manifest poverty and pollution, her
February, confirmed his status as an incisive skilful manipulation of the lens (as well as of the
critic of public figures and ‘Joe Public’ alike.
In the exhibition, Murray aimed his barbs at
Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and anyone who had
anything to do with the ANC’s Polokwane con-
ference, along with Robert Mugabe, corporate
opportunists and white South Africa at large.
More flattering portrayals of both private citizens
and celebrities were on display in “History
Recorded Through Portraiture”, a three-part ex-
hibition curated by Reshada Crouse at Museum
Africa in June. Visitors had the chance, firstly, to
peruse some of the historical portraits kept – but
not usually displayed – in the museum; secondly,
to admire Crouse’s technique(s) as a portraitist in Aparna Swarup’s Bioscope opening
 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
SHOWS IN KWA ZULU NATAL
Durban ling project by artists Bronwyn
Andrew Walford
6 Dec (one day only), Shong-
weni Christmas Exhibition,
featuring ceramics by Andrew
Walford.
B9 Zig Zag Farm, Shongweni,
KwaZulu Natal T. 031 769
1363 C. 082 794 7796
Artisan Contemporary
4 Nov-5 Dec, Horses Un-
leashed. 9 Dec-20 Jan 2010,
‘Collections’, works by
contemporary artist Lionel
Smit. Also on show, ceramics,
jewellery, fabrics and turned
wooden vessels by well known
South African artists.
344 Florida Rd., Morningside,
T. 031 312 4364
sue@artisan.co.za
Art Space - DBN
23 Nov-16 Jan 2010, Annual
Affordable Art Show ‘09.
3 Millar Rd., Durban. T.031
312 0793
www.artspace-durban.com
Crouse Art Gallery
KZN Art @ it’s Best, works in
watercolours, oils and acrylics,
by +- 50 artists from the Water
Colour Society, Botanical
Society and the Highway Art
Group.
254 Lillian Ngoyi/Windermere
Rd., Morningside
T. 083 385 0654
www.crouseartkzn.co.za
Durban Art Gallery
12 Nov-16 Jan 2010,Unit of
Measure, a collaborative travel-
Chris Thurman Continued
from page 8
developing process) turns them
into beautiful and even sacred
subjects. Yet this was not an
exoticising view of India;
rather, it was a kind of intimate
love-letter to the city, written
by someone who knows its
charms.
Those who attended both
Swarup’s exhibition and
“Painted Narratives from
India”, curated by Anjana
Somany as part of the nation-
wide programme of events
comprising “Shared History:
The Indian Experience in South
Africa”, could no doubt iden-
tify numerous parallels.
While neither the medium nor
the content were the same, both
contained artworks that owe
more to myth and legend than
they do to social or political
realities.
Jan van der Merwe’s “Ontwor-
tel/Uprooted” (currently on at
the UJ Gallery) does engage
with such realities, albeit indi-
rectly. Van der Merwe’s work
addresses vague categories of
the downtrodden and dispos-
sessed (“ordinary people who
become victims”, “women”,
“children” – a topical but per-
haps trite echo of the “16 Days
of Activism” campaign). It is
more interesting, however, for
the rusting process to which he
submits found objects, lending
each work metarical
potential in “the fight against
Lace and Vaughn Sadie. 2
Dec-18 Jan 2010, Umtshotsho,
works by Nicholas Hlobo.
Second Floor, City Hall, Anton
Lembede Str., Durban T. 031
311 2268
Email:strettonj@durban.gov.za
www.durban.gov.za/durban/
discover/museums/dag
Durban University Art Gallery
3-17 Dec, A Body of Work,
collage by Joanne Hoyer.
Steve Biko Campus, Steve
Biko Road T. 031 373 2207
Email: artgallery@dut.ac.za
Elizabeth Gordon Gallery
A variety of new South African
artworks, including paintings
by Hugh Mbayiwa, Nora New-
ton and Hussein Salim.
120 Florida Rd., Durban
T. 031 303 8133
eqqart@iafrica.com
Kizo Art Gallery
20 Nov-10 Dec, “Innovative
woman”, various mediums
from video, installation, pho-
tography, painting and perform-
ance art exhibiting works by
Nandipha Mntambo, Zanele
Muholi, Usha Seejarim, Dineo
Bopape, Nontobeko Ntombela,
Ernestine White, Ingrid Ma-
sondo, Lerato Shadi, Senzeleni
Marasela and Bongi Bengu.
Gateway Theatre of Shopping,
Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal
T. 031 566 4324
www.kizo.co.za
KZNSA Gallery
6 Dec- 10 Jan 2010, SUSS’T:
A Designer Christmas Fair.
time, vulnerability and transi-
ence”.
On a lighter note: Joburg may
empty out over the holiday
season, but if you’re in town
there’s still artistic festive cheer
to enjoy. Following successful
exhibitions by Louis Olivier,
Senzo Nhlapo and Sinta Spec-
tor as part of the Artspace
Mentorship Programme, Teresa
Lizamore will be curating the
ninth instalment of her “Op-
pitafel” festive series at the gal-
lery’s Rosebank premises and
at the Artspace Warehouse in
Fairland. Over fifty artists will
be contributing to the show,
which takes its inspiration from
the book and film Babette’s
Feast.
And in 2010? South Africans
Jan van der Merwe’s “Ontwortel/Uprooted”
at University of Johannesburg Gallery
NATAL LISTINGS | PETER MACHEN COLUMN
SUSS’T shows the broad
wealth of craft and design in
South Africa, with a special
emphasis on local produc-
tion. Participants have been
selected because of their ability
to transform traditional and
contemporary materials into
unique objects of function and
beauty.
166 Bulwer Rd., Glenwood,
T. 031 2023686,
www.kznsagallery.co.za
Margate
Margate Art Museum
1 Dec-21 Jan 2010, The Un-
expected Visitor of the African
Exodus, mixed media by Nicky
Chovuchovu.
T. 039 312 8392
C. 072 316 8094
Email: huey@hcm.gov.za
Pietermaritzburg
Tatham Art Gallery
27 Oct-14 March 2010, the
Schreiner Gallery New Acqui-
sitions Exhibition, including a
linoprint by Vuli Nyoni, and a
rolling ball sculpture by Zotha
Shange. 9 July-21 Feb 2010,
The Heath Family Retrospec-
tive Exhibition, mixed media
works by the Heath family. 2
Dec-24 Jan 2010, Northern
KwaZulu-Natal Craft Exhibi-
tion.
Cnr of Chief Albert Luthuli
(Commercial) Rd. and Church
Str. (Opposite City Hall)
Pietermaritzburg
T. 033 342 1804
www.tatham.org.za
without automatically think-
ing can hardly read or hear
that combination of numbers
of the FIFA World Cup – and
the country’s artistic life will
undoubtedly be influenced by
the event and the influx of visi-
tors it will bring. Already there
has been some controversy,
with prominent art critic Sean
O’Toole highlighting the com-
promising of artistic integrity
that might ensue with “artists,
curators, entrepreneurs and
plain old hucksters ... readying
themselves for the first whistle”
and “jockeying for position” in
the “panicked hunt for a quick
buck”.
Is this unnecessarily alarmist?
We’ll soon find out.
Peter Machen
Eyes Wide Open on the
Streets of Mumbai
So I reneged on my responsi-
bilities in November and head-
ed to India for the first time
- Mumbai specifically – and,
like so many countless others
before me, I fell in love with
the place in many unexpected
ways. But I’ll hold back on the
romance and stick to the things
I saw - although it’s difficult,
commenting blithely from the
perspective of contemporary
art on a visual culture that is
millenia older than modernity,
western or otherwise.
But that’s also a reason why
it must be such a challenge to
take up the mantle of artist in
a culture so steeped in visual
signifiers and in which the divi-
sion between decorative and
expressive art is drawn in such
loosely composed sand. And
so my visions of the handful
of galleries I visited are a little
drowned out by the vast buffet
of visual delights available
with every walking step. I saw
some fascinating work in the
galleries of Mumbai, but they
competed with the beautifully
felt signage on taxis and trucks
carrying goods and water and
the way that space itself seems
to be sacred against such dense
population pressure, and even
with mass-produced curio
art, because mass-produced
in India still invariably means
made by hand.
And so you can buy a painted
canvas on a beach in Goa that
is technically exquisite and the
product of millenia of culture
and which will smudge against
the plastic bag in which it’s
sold. And it was a pleasure
to walk through a world so
rich with art and design, and
so little of it digital. While in
much of Africa, signwriting has
fallen prey to the convenience
of printshops with their plotters
and laminates, on the streets
of Mumbai it is still largely an
analogue world.
The famous Jehangir Art Gal-
lery occupies a central role in
the Mumbai art scene, a fact
that must at least partially be
the result of showing new exhi-
bitions every week in its mul-
tiples spaces (and also by the
fact that it is physically centred
in the art district in the Colaba
Durban Art Gallery / 2nd Floor, City Hall, Anton Lembede St.
Durban Open Mondays to Saturdays 08:30 to 16:00 / Sundays
11:00 to 16:00 tel: 031 3112264/9 email: StrettonJ@durban.gov.za
area). In my two visits to the
gallery, I managed to see seven
shows, ranging from some im-
pressive debut solo exhibitions
to a three-part retrospective of
the celebrated - but decid-
edly kitsch – talents of Indian
national treasure Paresh Maity.
While such heavy rotation of
exhibitions must be exhausting
for the gallery staff, I was more
impressed by the fact that all
of the artists were permanently
present at their exhibitions.
(In Durban, the only artist
I’ve ever seen in permanent
residence in a gallery - other
than those who have lived in
galleries as art event – was the
late Aiden Walsh).
There are surprisingly few
galleries in Mumbai, consider-
ing that it is one of the world’s
largest cities, but there’s also
an almost tangible sense of a
contemporary 21st century art
scene beginning to invade and
I have no doubt that next time
I visit the city, the number of
galleries will have grown. Like
many of the spaces I visited,
the Jehangir Gallery is a family
funded affair – in India, the
patrons are mostly still families
and individuals, and corporate
sponsorship has yet to attempt
it takeover job. And there is
still the sense that buying art
is an act of patronage, rather
than an investment. Although,
as an obviously drunk woman
at a fancy whiskey tasting at a
fancy hotel said, “the problem
with the art scene in India is
that nobody is yet prepared
to spend a crore (10 million
rupees, about R1,5 million) on
an artwork”. But give them a
bit of rope and I’m sure the
time will come when the rising
consumerist fervour will send
the local art market rocketing
as it has done in SA.
Viewing a selection of work
from the permanent collec-
tion of the National Gallery of
Modern Art, a short walk down
the street from the Jehangir, I
was a little bewildered to expe-
rience a collective idiom that
was foreign to me – although
still recognisable. It’s probably
the same kind of experience
that a foreign visitor might
have looking at a selection of
work from the permanent col-
lection of the DAG or the JAG
- but not from the Louvre or the
Page 09
Tate. The colonised countries’
works remain idiomatically
provincial while the colonisers’
work is internationalist, already
made famous by (art) history.
At the same time, it was inter-
esting to see how very clearly
Indian art had influenced the
popular art of the 70s in South
Africa. Many of the prints that
appeared on the living rooms
walls of my youth could have
been ripped off from work in
Mumbai’s National Gallery,
although I’d be lying if I said
that I recognised the names of
any of the artists.
The vast majority of the work
I saw was two dimensional
- paintings and drawings,
peppered with sculpture that
mostly echoed religious motifs.
The only place I visited in
which the work was installed
rather than hung was the brand
spanking new Gallery BMB,
which started off with a mas-
sive bang of a show called
“The Dark Science of Five
Continents”, featuring major
work from Jon Kessler, Riyas
Komu, George Osodi, Wang
Qingsong and Jake and Dinos
Chapman. It seems likely that
the internationalism of this
maiden show at BMB will no
doubt prove a portent of things
to come. And when India’s
superrich (the superrich are
everywhere; a financial boon
for art if a curse for the planet)
discover the notion that you
could perhaps put a Jake and
Dinos sculpture in your living
room, just watch the art market
fireworks. You can already
smell the sulphur.
Finally, returning to home turf,
I can’t help but shout out loud
about the fact that three of the
Standard Bank Young Artist
Awards for 2010 were Dur-
banites: Mlu Zondi for dance,
Claire Angelique for film and,
of course, Michael MacGarry
for fine art. So while Durban,
like Mumbai, might still have
a low-hanging financial art
ceiling, its role as a nurturer of
national talent remains a vital
element of South Africa’s fine
art scene. And that will always
be something to celebrate.
Oh, and happy happy joy joy.
Relish what’s left of the year
and may I be the first to wish
you a happy 2010.
PAGE 10 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010

Forgeries make an appearance in SA Art World

As the value of South African at Hollard where he confessed
art increases, more works by that even with his experience,
local artists are starting to be he purchased a fraudulent work
targeted by forgers and thieves, believing it to be genuine.
a fact that investors need to
be aware of in order to avoid “This was only because I
becoming a victim. allowed my enthusiasm and
excitement for a bargain and
Serious collectors also need a great find to put my normal
to insure themselves against caution on hold. Although I
buying fake or stolen works of was very surprised to see this
art as reports of these forgeries particular artist on sale in South
increase. Africa – and warning bells
should have been ringing – I
According to managing bought it and lost financially.
director of Artinsure and avid
collector Gordon Massie, there “Much later I decided to sell
have already been a number of it and Christies told me it was
cases in South Africa this year “not by the hand of that artist”
where the origin and authentic- – which is their delicate way of
ity of art by local artists has saying ‘Sorry. It’s a fake’. It
come into question. was only then that I started to
examine the work without ex-
“In Europe the existence of citement and emotion clouding
fraudulent copies of major my judgement and began to see
artworks is a fairly well known the truth and telltale signs. You
and investors there have be- need a fair level of expertise to
come cautious. South African spot them and why it is impor-
investors are now becoming tant to put your trust in experts
aware that genuine-looking who have a proven track record
forgeries are starting to appear of integrity.”
here as well,” says Massie
According to Scott, once a col-
“In fact it has become a source lector has discovered they have
of humour in art circles that purchased a fraudulent work
despite having passed away at a substantial sum, they are
two years ago, Frans Claerhout faced with a moral dilemma:
continues to produce art works! “Do you sell the painting
And another high profile local on and not divulge that it is
art scandal, although not prov- fraudulent or do you take the
en to everyone’s satisfaction, financial knock and tell all?”
are the serious questions sur-
rounding a few items in Brett “One option of course is to
Kebble’s collection; questions burn or destroy the work, but
which are strong enough to cast it is still a beautiful painting
doubt over the authenticity of despite all. What I did is I sold
some works. the painting declaring it to be
‘in the style of the particular
“There has been a conscien- artist’. I still lost a lot of mon-
tious move by serious art inves- ey on that transaction and it is
tors to obtain specialist insur- proof positive that if something
ance to protect themselves in appears too good to be true it
cases where they may become usually is,” said Scott.
a victim of fraud or unwittingly
purchase a stolen work,” he The defensive moves
says. In the same way that people are
aware that fake diamonds and
A ‘great find’ can blind counterfeit money exits – and
Even Fred Scott, a serious that there are ways to identify
and greatly respected South the real thing, Massie appeals
African collector, admits to to investors in art to call on
being fooled… but only once. experts to verify authenticity in
He gave a talk to art enthusiasts order to protect their invest-
ment and themselves.
“Investing in good art is be-
coming an increasingly popular
financial practice, surrounded
as we are with extreme eco-
nomic volatility. People who
are becoming, or who already
are, serious art investors should
speak to their broker about
obtaining insurance protection
from a specialist art insurer in
the area of forgeries as well as
defective title if a stolen work
is unwittingly purchased. Seri-
ous investors need to make sure
that the right cover is in place
to protect their financial assets
against these types of unpre-
dictable knocks.”
Avoiding owning fakes
So how do we avoid being
the proud owner of a beauti-
ful replica? Massie suggests
a few tips to help keep you in
the clear:
• Always buy through reputable
sources who can stand by the
authenticity and provenance of
a work;
• If faced with the bargain of
a lifetime by an intermediary
without the track record in the
industry, chances are the only
true bargain will be for the
originator and the intermediary;
• Take your time to explore
the work and the body of work
produced by the artist;
• Call on experts regarding that
artist and pick their brains;
• Ask questions and satisfy
yourself before committing to
an investment.
What if you buy a fake?
Do you have a right of recourse
if you end up with a fake? If
you can find the perpetrators
you may have a right of action.
However, whether they are still
in possession of your money is
questionable. Also, proving that
a work of art is a fake can be
a long and expensive process
involving a significant number
of experts. It is also not a de-
finitive science unless you end
up with a confession.
However, science has long
been used to help authenticate
works of art. Technicians can
date paint from its chemical
composition, for example,
or x-ray a canvas to reveal
what lies below the surface if
it suspected that a work has
been painted on “old” canvas.
In recent years, however, the
artwork itself has come under
more scientific scrutiny, espe-
cially through the analysis of
brushstrokes. The idea is to es-
tablish an artist’s “handwriting”
through brushstrokes to help
verify the origin of a painting.
“So there is a range of sig-
nificant backup and expertise
available to investors, as well
as insurance protection by
specialists. More guidance is
available on www.artinsure.
co.za,” Massie says.
The famous fraudsters
Two of the most famous and
productive fraudsters of all
time are Han van Meegeren
who got into deep water for
defrauding Adolf Hitler’s clos-
est aide, Hermann Göring and
more recently John Myatt, an
American artist who has earned
himself the title of the biggest
forger of the 20th century. He
sold over 200 fake artworks
of artists such as Matisse and
Marc Chagall before landing
behind bars. The police only
recovered 60 of these 200 and
his works were confidently sold
in London, Paris and New York
by leading dealers including
Christies and Sotheby’s. The
whereabouts of the unrecov-
ered 140 high priced fakes
remains a mystery. After his
release from a short stay in
prison, Myatt created a lucra-
tive career by selling acknowl-
edged fakes.
Ripping off the Reich
In 1945, at the end of the
Second World War, Han van
Meegeren, who was an artist
and part time art dealer, was
arrested for collaboration with
the enemy – the German Third
Reich. He was charged with
acting as an agent in the sale
of a Vermeer painting to one
of Adolf Hitler’s closest aides,
Hermann Göring, who had
amassed a huge art collection
and still sought a Vermeer.
As the penalty for this form
of treason was death, Van
Meegeren announced that the
painting was a forgery. In fact,
he revealed, a huge number
of Dutch masters emanating
from him were forgeries which
he had painted. In view of
their extraordinary quality of
execution, the experts of the
day didn’t believe him. They
said if the Vermeer in question
‘was indeed a forgery then the
painter must be considered a
genius in that particular line”.
Determined to prove his
claim (and save his life) Van
Meegeren called for the tools to
recreate the work in question.
The fact that he did stunned
the Dutch arts establishment.
Ironically, today his works
command significant prices be-
cause of their historical context
and his infamy.
Theft of Bon Jovi drummer’s
art on loan to Spike Lee is a
lesson to collectors,
says local art insurance special-
ist
Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres
has been exhibiting his art
since 1994 and loaned three
paintings worth R100 000 to
movie director, Spike Lee, to
use as props in his latest film
“He Got Game”.
The paintings were ripped off
together with the entire prop
truck only days before they
were due to go on show at an
art exhibition at a gallery in the
Hamptons in the US late last
year.
In keeping with “the show must
go on” tradition, the Torres
exhibition went on without the
three lost paintings however
this is a dramatic lesson to
collectors, painters and the art
world in general that risks to
your treasures can be unpre-
dictable and your works can get
caught in unexpected cross-fire
situations, says local art insur-
ance expert, Gordon Massie,
MD of Artinsure, a Hollard
partner.
“The loss of this art in these
circumstances is a high profile
warning to all those who lend
their paintings and treasures
to exhibitions or to any third
party, to make sure that their
insurance policy protects them
financially in those conditions.
“Your works may not even be
the target of thieves yet they
could get caught in the cross-
fire of other targeted items
– like probably the prop truck
in the Torres case – which does
not minimize the personal loss
to the owner of the art. Normal
all risk insurance policies
will not cover art, antiques or
memorabilia in the kind of cir-
cumstances in which this Bon
Jovi drummer and artist found
himself the victim.”
Massie explains further “This
type of theft is not usually
covered in an insurance policy
that does not specialize in art
insurance – and investment
in art has become very big
in South Africa. This is why
Artinsure and Hollard had to
create special protections for
people in the art world to insure
art while in transit or while
consigned or on loan to third
parties. We made this standard
because a car could be stolen,
for instance, while driving back
from an art gallery with new
art in the car. However, some
benefits need to be tailored to
fit specialist risk scenarios.
“My advice to owners of any
art treasures is to check your
existing policy documents and
speak to your broker. Check
whether you would have been
paid out if you had loaned
some paintings to a movie di-
rector and the truck was stolen.
It has become an important
part of money management and
investment protection for art
collectors to check what types
of losses will be paid out,”
Massie says.

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 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010 Page 11

Editor’s choice

Kingsland Stolen Artwork find shocks New York Art Scene

And other recent art crimes
Kingsland collection shown
here—or if you want to make
a claim—please contact Agent
Wynne at (718) 286-7302 or
by e-mail at James.Wynne@
ic.fbi.gov.
FBI Art Crime Team, whose
investigative efforts I applaud.
We have now succeeded in
removing the fraudulent paint-
ing from commerce, which we
hope will help protect the

A treasure trove of all kinds of
art work—some of which has
subsequently been identified
as stolen—was uncovered in
a New York City apartment.
In an effort to track down the
rightful owners, the FBI and
the Public Administrator of
New York County have posted
pictures of the most important
pieces here on our website.
More than 300 works of
art—paintings, sketches,
sculptures, and other pieces by
such artists as Pablo Picasso,
John Singleton Copley, Alberto
Giacometti, Giorgio Morandi,
eand Eugene Boudin—were dis-
covered after the death of the
apartment’s occupant, William
M.V. Kingsland.
Kingsland was well known in
kNew York City’s art circles
as an engaging and intelligent
connoisseur of art, books,
architecture, and genealogy.
But when he died, he left no
will…and no apparent heirs to
claim the floor-to-ceiling stacks
of paintings and art works
crammed into his one-bedroom
apartment.
Turns out Kingsland was a
pretty secretive guy—despite
having many acquaintances,
very few people had ever been
inside his residence. In con-
dversations with friends, he was
often evasive about his early
years and his family.
And, as reported by the media
not long after his death, Wil-
liam Kingsland wasn’t even
his given name—he was born
Melvyn Kohn and spent his
early years in the Bronx before
legally changing his name to
Kingsland. He thought it had
a more literary sound to it and
would help him gain accept-
ance among Manhattan’s upper
crust.
A surprising discovery. After
Kingsland’s death, New York
Public Administrator Ethel
Griffin hired two auction
houses—Christie’s and Stair
Galleries—to sell the art.
But as Christie’s researched
the pieces to determine their
provenance (history of owner-
ship), it discovered some
of them had been reported
stolen in the 1960s and 1970s
and immediately contacted
New York Special Agent Jim
Wynne, a member of our Art
Crime Team. And after Stair
Galleries auctioned off several
pieces, one of the buyers—an
art gallery owner—discovered
the piece he bought had been
reported stolen as well, so he
too got in touch with Agent
Wynne.
One bizarre side note: A mover
hired by the Public Admin-
istrator’s Office to transport
the contents of Kingsland’s
apartment to a warehouse
was charged for stealing two
Picasso sketches each valued at
approximately $30,000. And, it
turns out that was not the first
time those two sketches had
been stolen…sometime before
they ended up in Kingsland’s
collection they were stolen
from a New York art gallery
around 1967!
With the cooperation of the
Public Administrator’s Office
and the two auction houses, we
began investigating Kings-
land’s collection of art and
positively identified several
works that had been stolen.
And we think there are more.
But because of the overwhelm-
ing size of the collection and
the complex and time-consum-
ing nature of provenance inves-
tigations, we decided the best
and most expeditious course of
action was to publicize the art
work to the general public.
We need your help. If you have
information on the provenance,
acquisition, or ownership
of any work of art from the
United States Attorney David
C. Weiss and Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) Supervi-
sory Special Agent Tricia A.
Gibbs announced today the re-
covery of a watercolor painting
entitled “Wreck on Doughnut
Point,” pictured below, purport-
edly by iconic American artist
Andrew Wyeth.
The recovered watercolor
painting is a fraud. In 1998, a
Connecticut gallery contacted
Andrew Wyeth concerning the
same watercolor painting, bear-
ing Mr. Wyeth’s signature. Mr.
Wyeth examined the painting
and determined that it was not
his. Nevertheless, the fraudu-
lent painting re-entered the
stream of commerce, ultimately
being purchased by an art
dealer in California in 2000 for
approximately $20,000. In late
2008, the art dealer contacted
an auction house in Texas to
sell the watercolor on con-
signment. The auction house
contacted the Brandywine
River Museum. The curator of
the museum recognized the wa-
tercolor as the fake that Wyeth
had inspected in 1998 and
contacted the FBI Art Crime
Team. Following investigation,
the painting was recovered.
The actual painting was painted
by Andrew Wyeth in 1939. Mr.
Wyeth died in January 2009.
United States Attorney David
C. Weiss said, “This investiga
tion demonstrates our commit-
ment to addressing the problem
of the illicit sale of
fraudulent art, a multi-million
dollar criminal enterprise.
Recovery of such fraudulent
art is a major objective of our
law enforcement partner, the
The biggest art theft in American history occurred at the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum in Boston on March 18, 1990. The stolen paintings,
including the one that hung in this frame, Rembrandt’s “Lady and Gentle-
man in Black,” remain unrecovered.
legacy of an important Ameri
can cultural figure. I commend
the Brandywine River Museum
for bringing this matter to the
attention of the FBI Art Crime
Team. Our office will continue
to vigorously investigate and
prosecute art crime in the
future.”
On the morning of 24/09/2009,
two men armed with a pistol
entered the Magritte Museum
in Jette near Brussels, threat-
ened the staff and visitors
present, took a high-value
painting and left.
Description of the painting: Art thieves are something of an inscrutable lot. Robert Mang was an
Austrian alarm-systems specialist with no criminal history when he was
René Magritte, oil painting,
arrested in the theft of a sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini, valued at $60
title “Olympia”, representing million, from the Vienna Art History Museum. He kept the sculpture,
a female reclining nude on a “Saliera,” under his bed for two years before trying to ransom it.
beach, dimensions, 60 x 80 cm,
signed “Magritte” in the upper
right corner.
Description of the robbers:
• Male of Asian origin, aged c.
25 years, 170 cm, slim build,
spoke English
• Male of European or North-
African origin, aged c. 30
years, 180 cm, spoke French
with a slight accent.
Anyone with information
about the theft, the wherea-
bouts of the painting or the
presumed offenders is asked to
contact INTERPOL National
The theft of these paintings, Picasso’s “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch” and
Central Bureau Brussels (ref.: Candido Portinari’s “O Lavrador de Cafe,” in Brazil in December was
FGP-DJB-ART/21593) and the said to be made to order. A Brazilian suspect arrested in the theft told the
INTERPOL General Secretariat authorities that the paintings were to be delivered to a collector in Saudi
(ref.: 2009/31 315). Arabia.

ArtThrob presents top South African artist’s limited prints

ArtThrob is South Africa’s longest running visual art publication, started

in 1997 by Founding Editor Sue Williamson. Twelve years on it remains
an authoritative voice on South African contemporary art. The site
currently has a steady monthly readership of over 6000 unique visitors.
Beyond regular news and reviews, ArtThrob also features the much-uti-
lized monthly ArtBio, a feature on the work of an artist in the public eye.

ArtThrob is funded by sales of original prints, sold through Editions for

ArtThrob. Over the years ArtThrob has been privileged to offer prints by
artists like Jane Alexander, Robert Hodgins and William Kentridge.
Contact Editions Editor Natasha Norman at editions@artthrob.co.za.
PAGE 12
Joseph Gaylard
The current position and fate of
public art museums and collec-
tions in South Africa is a subject
of ongoing and usually morbid
consideration and debate within
the South African visual arts
community. There are tradition-
ally two key measures of the
performance of art museums:
the size and value of collections
and the concomitant quality
and depth of exhibitions on the
one hand, and visitor numbers
on the other. Museum direc-
tors have to achieve a balance
between the two in planning for
and managing their institutions
and programming. In both
areas, most of our art museums
and institutions are generally
perceived to be failing. In what
follows, the Iziko South African
National Gallery (SANG)
is considered relative to two
international comparators in
terms that are both quantitative
and cursory - both to provide
a different, less value-laden
perspective on our perception of
our performance in these areas,
and as a precursor to some
preliminary thoughts about what
remedies might be appropriate.
The Iziko SANG is chosen as
an example both because it oc-
cupies an important position as
a national visual arts institution
in the city, and because it is in
a position of relative advantage
when compared to the major-
ity of other public art museums
and collections in the country
– in other words, the difficulties
that attach to the SANG can to
a significant degree be taken to
be endemic to the entire public
infrastructure for the visual arts.
In the 2008/9 financial year, the
Tate Galleries (Tate Modern,
Tate St Ives, Tate Liverpool and
Tate Britain) reported an income
of over £200 million (R2.45
billion) and a staff of around
1300. The Galleries acquired
artworks valued at £96.7 million
(R1.1 billion) – two thirds of
this amount was associated with
donated works. The Gallery is
in the process of a massive £215
million extension to its gallery
spaces (originally designed
for only 2 million visitors per
annum) in preparation for the
2012 Olympic Games. On
completion of these extensions,
the Tate Modern will have over
50 000 square metres of exhibi-
tion space – roughly five times
The Coat, the Cloth and the Cut:
The Case of the South African National Gallery
the exhibition space of all of the
major national and metropolitan
public art museums and collec-
tions in South Africa combined.
In the same year, the Na-
tional Gallery of Australia in
Canberra, recorded revenue of
R415 million, employed 314
staff and acquired works valued
at A$10.5 million (R71.4 mil-
lion). The entire Iziko group
(which includes 11 other non-art
museums alongside the South
African National Gallery) re-
ported income of just over R60
million and employed 245 staff.
The South African National
Gallery (which together with
the SA Museum is the largest of
the twelve component collec-
tions/museums) acquired works
with a value of circa R700 000
in the same period (with assist-
ance from its Friends organisa-
tion), of which roughly a third
were donated by external parties
– 100 times less than Canberra,
and a fraction of a fraction of
the value of the Tate acquisi-
tions (0.0003%).
On the face of it, these com-
parisons may seem cruel and
perhaps inappropriate consid-
ering the variance in national
economies. However, if one
sets these figures against the
number of visitors each institu-
tion attracts, a more nuanced
picture emerges. Dividing the
total cost of running each insti-
tution in the 2008/9 financial
year by the number of visitors,
produces the following ‘cost
per visitor’ figures (for the sake
of argument, I have assumed
that the proportion of revenue
for the South African National
Gallery within the Iziko group
roughly correlates to the propor-
tion of visitors received by the
SANG vs Iziko as a whole):
o The Tate group: 7.5 million
visitors = R178 per visitor
o The National Gallery of
Australia: 501 484 visitors =
R829 per visitor
o Iziko: 493 559 visitors =
R120 per visitor
If one considers the total costs
of running each institution
against the number of exhibi-
tions produced or hosted in
2008/9, the following picture
emerges:
o The Tate Galleries produced
circa 50 exhibitions in 2008/9 at
an ‘institutional cost’ of R26.7
million per exhibition
o The National Gallery of Aus-
tralia produced 11 exhibitions at
an ‘institutional cost’ of R32.7
million per exhibition
o The South African National
Gallery produced or hosted 26
exhibitions at an ‘institutional
cost’ of R2.3 million per exhibi-
tion (17 of these were staged at
the SANG)
To put these figures into some
perspective, it is also important
to consider the relative size of
each of the national economies
implicated in this comparison
– based on the principle that
one should cut one’s institu-
tional coat according to the
cloth provided by the national
economy. Based on World Bank
calculations of Gross Domestic
Product, the UK and Australian
economies are roughly ten and
four times larger, respectively,
than the South African economy
($277 billion in 2008). By
contrast, the annual income of
the Tate and Australian National
Gallery are respectively forty
and seven times larger that of
Iziko/SANG. If one adjusts the
latter figures relative to the size
of the national economies under
consideration, then Iziko/SANG
has a quarter of the operating
income of the Tate Galleries and
57% of the operating income
of the National Gallery of
Australia.
What does all of this suggest?
On the one hand, it is clear that
by international standards the
SANG/Iziko is making a little
go a very, very long way in
terms of translating resources
into visible exhibition outputs
and attracting visitors - in vary-
ing degrees outperforming both
of the comparator institutions
referenced here and – perhaps
- challenging popular wisdom
regarding its performance.
It is however equally clear
that it has dramatically hit the
wall in relation to the growth
of its core asset (its collection)
through new acquisitions and
donations. It is also important
to note that the SANG is in
fact comparatively advantaged
in this area relative to other
museums and collections in
the country - which goes some
way to explain the lack of
seriousness with which these
institutions are often viewed
by the visual arts community.
The traditional function of the
public art museum as an arbiter
of taste and quality supported
by a substantial resource base
that can back these judgements
up with hard cash, has been
largely replaced by the cues sent
out through auction houses and
the exhibiting and purchasing
practices of private dealers, col-
lectors and gallerists.
The other obvious conclusion to
be drawn is that the institution is
substantially under-funded even
if one takes into account the
scale of the national economy it
inhabits.
Over time, it is almost certain
that the latter two circumstances
will progressively erode the
capacity of the institution to
achieve the level of return
on investment implied in the
preceding figures, and lead to a
further erosion of the position of
the institution within the visual
arts system in South Africa. In
short, it is very difficult to see
a positive growth trajectory for
the institution within the frame-
work outlined here.
Some further scrutiny of the two
international reference points
cited here may be in order in be-
ginning to think about possible
solutions to what appears to be
a recipe for gradual downward
spiral. In the 2008/09 financial
year, circa 70% of the operat-
ing revenue for the National
Gallery of Australia came from
the Australian treasury. This is
roughly the same proportion as
the SANG/Iziko receives from
national government, though
is less than half as generous in
absolute terms if one considers
these figures proportionately
in relation to the size of each
country’s overall economy (and
less so if one considers that the
SANG is just one component
of Iziko).
In contrast to the Australian
model, which leans heavily
on the national treasury, only
25% of the Tate’s total income
came from a government grant
through the UK Department
of Culture, Media and Sport
– the balance of roughly £150
million pounds was largely
accounted for through donations
and earned income, a significant
portion of the latter generated
through Tate Enterprises Lim-
ited, a wholly owned subsidi-
BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
ary company. Were Iziko/the
SANG able to generate a similar
proportion of earned income
and donations in relation to its
national government grant, it
would have a total income of
R160 million per annum – mak-
ing it more comparable to the
Tate Galleries, assuming again
that these figures are adjusted in
proportionate relation to the size
of the two national economies.
In thinking about the future
prospects of Iziko/the SANG
ameliorating these comparative
disadvantages, some prelimi-
nary speculation is offered on
the implications of this analysis
for national policy on the one
hand, and institutional leader-
ship and management on the
other.
There may be a case to be made
– referencing the Australian
funding model – for increased
revenue funding from central
government. Such a case would
however have to address the
inherited disadvantages that
the SANG enjoys in relation to
the public policy priorities and
mandate of national government
– noting that the institutional
history, the collection and the
building itself for the most
part reflect the arts, culture and
heritage of a minority of the
population. Unsurprisingly,
the significant new heritage
expenditure from the national
treasury has been channelled
towards new infrastructure
projects that reflect a much
wider political and cultural her-
itage (exemplified – whatever
the detailed merits of the project
- by Freedom Park). For the
SANG to attract greater levels
of investment from national
government (in infrastructure
development and operational
costs) would arguably require a
more radical re-imagining of the
institution than has been appar-
ent or possible in the post 1994
period. Such re-visioning would
have to occur at many levels - at
the level of the overall concept
of the institution, the collection,
the modalities of its presentation
and mediation, the built form of
the institution, and in terms of
the budgetary priority accorded
to marketing and education pro-
gramming. To achieve this will
require a meeting of minds, and
substantial leadership and vision
both from within the institu-
tion, and from within national
government.
The likelihood of Iziko/SANG
– or any other public art muse-
um or collection in the country
- ever generating a proportion of
earned income and private do-
nation along the lines of the Tate
model is of course remote in
the foreseeable future. The Tate
is one of the key institutional
pillars of one of the pre-eminent
centres of the international
visual arts economy, at both a
symbolic and material level.
Currently, less than 12% of the
Iziko/SANG income is derived
from sponsorship, just over 15%
from earned income – figures
that are not unimpressive by
comparison to other institutions.
Nevertheless, there is a strong
case to be made for the SANG
attracting substantially more
investment from the private
sector, and gearing itself up for
greater levels of earned income.
Arguably, this would require
precisely the kind of re-vision-
ing of the institution contem-
plated above – something that is
obviously easier said than done.
However, should a compact
between national government
interests, corporate interests and
the internal leadership of the
institution not be forged, it is
difficult to see any of these three
parties being able to individu-
ally engage with the future of
the institution in a serious and
sustained way.
Joseph Gaylard
This discussion piece was informed
by findings from work-in-progress
on a national study of the visual arts
being undertaken by the Human
Sciences Research Council for the
Department of Arts and Culture.
In the context of this study – which
includes a survey of over 350
individual artists, businesses and
visual arts organisations across the
country – a review of art museums
and collections was commissioned
from Carol Brown and Associates.
The colloquium “Management of
Cultural Organisations in Times
of Economic Crisis” convened by
the Department of Accounting at
the University of Cape Town and
Iziko Museums in December 2009,
provided an opportunity to present
some preliminary data from these
findings for discussion with art mu-
seum professionals – the discussions
at this small but lively gathering
also informed the writing of this
article. The piece reflects neither
the views of the Human Sciences
Research Council, nor those of the
Department of Arts and Culture.
 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
The problem with these types of often quoted one-liners are that they share a little wisdom and leave a lot of frustration.
Jo-Marie Rabe
“Art is the lie that makes us
realise truth” Pablo Picasso
famously said on occasion.
The problem with these types
of often quoted one-liners are
%that they share a little wisdom
and leave a lot of frustration.
What word or action preceded
this thought, what came after,
what made him say it and to
whom did he speak? Context.
That is what is missing.
What he actually said is: “We
all know that Art is not truth.
Art is a lie that makes us real-
ize truth at least the truth that
is given us to understand. The
artist must know the manner
whereby to convince others of
the truthfulness of his lies.”
Perhaps the need for some
sort of intellectual setting is
personal; perhaps most people
are happy to have only these
few word to work with, to gain
einsight from. Out of context it
does in fact become something
that we can make our own;
interpret it regardless of the
narrator’s initial intent and take
from it what we please.
One-liners tend to present
themselves in oracular fashion
whenever they please. Some-
times the timing makes sense;
other times it does not.
For instance: a few years ago I
walked into an art gallery and
was confronted by an image
so familiar, yet so unexpected
that it literally stopped me
in my tracks. A black and
white tograph by the artist Jan
Verboom showed a signpost
on a barren land. “Verneukpan,
Kenhardt, rave” it pointed in
two directions. The rave was
held on Verneukpan. As a child
I drove with my family past
this desolate evidence of hu-
man intervention every time we
went to our farm. It represented
everything I wanted to escape
from (or so I thought). Yet, in
Art is the lie that makes us realise truth Pablo Picasso famously said on occasion.
that moment in the gallery I
was confronted with the work
of an artist who saw the beauty
of the desolation, the beauty of
the unexpected. With his image
he made me realise how pre-
cious that familiar world was.
No amount of words would
ever have convinced me, but a
piece of art did.
More recently and in a
completely different context
the quote suddenly came to
mind again. I was reading a
review of the results of the
latest Christie’s and Sotheby’s
Impressionist and Modern Art
New York autumn sales. “As
will happen in the aftermath
of any severe crisis in which
all certainties are called into
question, approaches to art
have changed. A trend that
began to be perceptible before
the autumn of 2008 came out
forcefully both at Christie’s
and Sotheby’s. Expressiveness,
color contrast and extreme
structural simplicity are the
three criteria that now deter-
mine success no matter which
school or period is considered”
Souren Melikian wrote in the
New York Times on November
7th.
He maintained that the buyers
showed “a complete indif-
ference to delicate nuances
[...] and subtle mood achieved
through atmospheric effects”.
Could the art we buy indicate
a sort shift or zeitgeist or new
“truth” that would be hard to
put in words yet, I kept won-
dering.
Looking at the pieces that
achieved record prices there
seem to be a strong suggestion
that we currently want things
that are simple, clear and col-
ourful. Are we just a little “sub-
tled” out? Has the harshness of
the economic downturn
Zeitgeist
elicited a response that suggests
that we want it black and white,
not in shades of grey?
Perhaps it is merely part of the
cycle of life. In a recent inter-
view journalist Eben Venter
asked South African filmmaker
Ariane Besson her golden rules
for creative success. “A film or
painting or book has to appear
to have been created without
effort, as if you have made it
along the way, using your left
hand” was her rule number
one. Effortless, brilliant and
fast – the way Usain Bolt runs.
But, as we all know, to make it
look as if it is easy to do some-
thing takes thousands of hours
of practice and hard work. It is
always difficult and time con-
suming to do something well.
We just don’t want to know
about it right now; we don’t
want to see the hard work.
What do I mean? Think of
Edvard Munch’s The Scream
Frieda Lock : September Kitchen interior with red carpet fetched R1 002 600. or Brahms’ First Symny. It took
Brahms 14 years to complete
and one can almost feel that.
The whole work is filled with
the effort and angst of the crea-
tive process. During a rehearsal
conductor Michael Blomstedt
suggested to the members of
the San Fransisco Symny to
“think of flowers straining
to break through concrete”.
Brahms concrete flowering is
brilliant, but not what we want
right now.
Local market
Art market insiders have long
predicted the rise of a group
of artist that has been lagging
behind the blue chip Sterns,
Pierneefs and Maggie Laub-
sers. This year it happened.
Many artist records were set
by what Strauss & Co in their
Chairman’s report called the
“overshowed artists”. These in-
Erik Laubscher: Still life with manolin, music score and fruit, oil on can- clude people like Frans Oerder,
vas, 65,5 by 80cm Pre sales estimate R 200 000 - 300 000 | Wolf Kibel, Dorothy Kay, May
Sold for R 1 120 000
Page 13
Hillhouse and Eduardo Villa.
This year also saw huge jumps
in prices paid for works of art
by artists like Alexis Preller,
Maud Sumner, Frieda Lock,
Eric Laubscher and Christo
Coetzee, to name but a few.
Christo Coetzee has been a
market stalwart for a long time.
His work hardly ever “bombed
out”, but it never fetched great
prices either. The R20 000 to
R30 000 estimates usually act-
ing as spot-on predictions for
what the market can bear. Until
this year, that is.
In May 2009 a work form the
mid 1980’s (with a bullish esti-
mate of R 90 000 – R 120 000)
fetched R201 600. Just a few
months later the work Still life
with fruit banjo and a birdcage
dating from 1954 sold for ₤64
800 (R794 412,08 at today’s
exchange rate).
Another meteoric prices rise
was for the work of Frieda
Lock. Lock, always admired
by her peers and in academic
circles, was never a market
favourite. Yet, in 2009 she
set two artist records on two
consecutive Strauss & Co sales.
In March on of her paintings
achieved R668 400 and in Sep-
tember Kitchen interior with
red carpet fetched R1 002 600.
One of the other surprises of
the year was the record price
for a work by Eric Laubscher.
In February a work with an
estimate of R200 000 to R300
000 fetched R1 120 000,
almost four times the pre-sale
estimate.
So, if nothing else, our market
seem to have a mind of its own
and South African art seem
to be far from flat and flaccid.
That’s for sure.
PAGE 14
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef
The Baobab, bushveld, Messina, oil on canvas, 45 by 60,5cm
R 2 400 000 - 2 800 000 |Sold for R 3 136 000
Maurice Charles Louis van Essche
Carrying the day’s catch
oil on canvas, 61 by 76cm
R 275 000 - 350 000 | Sold for R 650 000
“We as the Cape Town office
have forged our identity as a
cohesive and democratic team
and weathered a particularly
challenging year in the face
of increased competition and
global recession,” says Shona
Robie, Office Manager and
Head of Ceramics at Stephan
Welz & Co in Cape Town.
“The year certainly came
full circle,” is the unified
consensus from the Paintings
specialists in Cape Town. The
inaugural auction of the year
saw a world record price of
R1 120 000 being achieved
for Erik Laubscher’s Still
Life with Music Score and
Fruit . This striking work was
repatriated into the country
for sale at auction along with
Douglas Portway’s The Red
and Mauve . The successful
sale of these pieces proved that
South African paintings are
best received in their country
of origin. Rounding off the
year was the world record price
achieved for William Ken-
tridge’s drawing from the Felix
in Exile series sold by our
Johannesburg office. The price
of R1 456 000 far overshot
prices achieved for the artist on
New York Contemporary sales.
Both of these records are for
Stephan Welz & Co. overview of 2009
living artists, thus underpinning
the notion that South African
art is keeping abreast of the
international trends. A recent
Sotheby’s Contemporary sale
saw a final sale result that net-
ted more than double its presale
total estimate.
The highlight of the year
for South African Painting’s
at Stephan Welz & Co. was
undoubtedly JH Pierneef’s The
Baobab, Bushveld, Messina
which equalled the South
African record of R3 136 000
established a year ago in the
same auction room. This mag-
nificent painting was originally
sold by the company in 1987
for a then hefty R38 000. The
painting proved the cornerstone
of a well rounded South Afri-
can collection which included,
amongst other notables, Pieter
Wenning and JEA Volschenk.
Ian Hunter, Head of Paint-
ings in Cape Town, says: “In
addition to strong showing by
the South African Masters, we
have great interest, and in many
cases set new records for long
established Contemporary Art-
ists such as Cilliers-Barnard,
Hodgins, Kentridge, Laub-
scher , Pinker and Stopforth.”
Decorative Arts also saw
new records across various
departments. South African
ceramics have consistently
bettered their achievements and
a record price of R39 200 was
reached for a Nestah Molefe
Rorke’s Drift vase. English
ceramics have also continued
from strength to strength and
in November a Wedgewood
Fairyland Lustre vase sold for a
resounding R56 000.
“South African ceramics have
once again demonstrated that
they are on par with their
international contemporaries.
Rorke’s Drift and Linnware
proved some of the largest
draw cards and appealed to the
local collectors with a strong
sense of heritage,” says Shona
Robie.
The Silver Department has also
gone from strength to strength
this year with an average of
93% successful sales achieved
at each auction.
South African furniture has
continued to establish records
and consistent high prices.
Contemporary furniture proved
increasingly popular punctuat-
ed with an Arne Jacobsen Egg
Chair and Ottoman that sold for
R123 200.
BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
Erik Laubscher
Still life with manolin, music score and fruit, oil on canvas, 65,5 by 80cm
R 200 000 - 300 000 | Sold for R 1 120 000
William Joseph Kentridge
Drawing from Felix in exile
charcoal and pastel on paper, 84 by 150cm
R 400 000 - 600 000 | Sold for R 1 456 000
Other highlights for the year
also include:
· A new South African record
for Maurice van Essche; Car-
rying the Day’s Catch sold for
R728 000 in February
· R672 000 for Stanley Pinker’s
Suntan, a new World Record
for the artist
· A rare gouache by Frederick
Timpson I’Ons Grahamstown
Road which was knocked
down at R87 360
· Cecil Skones’ Three Standing
Figures sold for R886 704
· Pieter Wenning’s Geboue
Met Bome sold for R784 000
· A solitaire diamond ring sold
for R806 400
· A Chinese a celadon nephrite
carving of Guanyin sold for
R268 800
Specialists in both Cape Town
and Johannesburg are looking
forward to 2010 and another Stanley Pinker
successful year of auctions in Suntan
an increasingly competitive oil on canvas, 91,5 by 60,5cm
market. R 300 000 - 400 000 | Sold for R 672 000
 BUSINESSART | DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010
Irma Stern’s , Carla (sold R5 570 000)
Following statistics released re-
cently by Art Vault, Strauss &
Co., South Africa’s premier art
auction house under Stephan
Welz’s (the doyen of South
African art) leadership, is at
the helm of the South African
paintings auction market ahead
of the London auction house
Bonhams and Welz’s previous
company Swelco.
The total turnover for the year
of mostly high end paintings is
R86 617 150 (R100 million in-
clusive of premium and VAT),
nearly double that of its nearest
competitor, having handled half
the amount of lots. Strauss &
Co. held three highly success-
ful auctions with an average of
192 lots each and an average
hammer price per lot of R150
000, by far the highest average
Gordon Vorster
Important South African Paintings, Furniture, Silver, Ceramics and Jewellery Including a collection of works by William Timlin and The Edith Dodo collection of paintings
Basil Humphreys, son of Wil-
liam Humphreys, principal
benefactor and after whom
the William Humphreys
Art Gallery in Kimberley is
named, had an abiding interest
in Greek and Russian icons
which he collected avidly. As
they became harder to acquire,
particularly in the mid 1960s,
he came up with the novel idea
of inviting prominent South
African artists to paint an ‘icon’
for his collection. Accordingly
on 25 October 1966 he wrote
Strauss & Co. breaks R 100 M
Irma Stern’s Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot (sold R7 241 000,
a world record for a still life by the artist)
achieved amongst the five top
auction houses handling South
African Art.
Chairman, Elisabeth Bradley is
“overwhelmed by the outstand-
ing achievements Strauss &
Co. has accomplished in its
first year of operation despite
being the new kid on the block,
the recession and a highly com-
petitive local and international
market. In one year, Strauss
& Co. has become not only a
name that speaks of extraordi-
nary art, as well as unparalleled
expertise and service, but, is
also by turnover the largest
Fine Art Auction House in
South Africa”.
Strauss & Co. has set numerous
new auction records for among
others, Anton van Wouw, Irma
Stern, Jean Welz, Wolf Kibel,
Frans Claerhout
Forthcoming Auction in Cape Town: Monday 15 March 2010
letters to a number of artists
making precisely the same
offer – he would provide a
uniform piece of hardboard , 12
by 10 inches, and would offer
a payment of R50 per painting.
The artists who responded pos-
itively included Gerard Sekoto,
Gordon Vorster, Alfred Krenz,
May Hillhouse, Alexander and
Marianne Podlashuc, Jan Buys,
Frank Spears, Frans Claerhout,
Iris Ampenberger and Walter
Westbrook.
Sekoto, in a letter dated 28
Now South Africa’s leading art auction house
Frans Oerder and Freida Lock,
Cape furniture and Paul Storr
silver. Particularly noticeable
amongst these were:
• the highest price for a paint-
ing (Irma Stern’s Magnolias in
an Earthenware Pot, sold R7
241 000, a world record for a
still life by the artist)
• the highest price for a sculp-
ture (Anton van Wouw, Die
Noitjie van die Onderveld, sold
R946 900, a world record for
the artist)
• the highest price for a piece
of Cape furniture (an 18th Cen-
tury silver-mounted Coroman-
del Buffet, sold R 1 058 300
establishing a n ew record.)
• the highest price for an item
of silver (a pair of George III
silver wine coolers and liners
by Paul Storr, London 1819,
The Icon Project
April 1967, expresses his pleas-
ure at being included in the
list of artists. His monumental
Christ-head crowned with
thorns, dated 1968, evokes,
through dramatic line and
mauve tones, Christ’s Passion
and by extension, the suffer-
ings of Sekoto’s fellow South
Africans. In contrast, Iris Am-
penberger draws on medieval
iconography while Marianne
Podlashuc offers a modern
update of the traditional Via
Dolorosa theme.
sold R1 559 600
The company’s vision of en-
couraging connoisseurship and
passion at the top end of the
local art market, with emphasis
very strongly on quality, serv-
ice and excellence is proving
to be a winning formula as
indicated in the attached table.
In their pursuit of rarity and
quality, Strauss & Co. was
entrusted with the sale of
several important works from
private hands that were fresh
to the market, either acquired
directly from artists or their
estates or that had been out of
the public domain for years.
These included Irma Stern’s
Magnolias in an Earthenware
Pot (sold R7 241 000, a world
record for a still life by the art-
ist), Carla (sold R5 570 000),
Iris Ampenberger
Gordon Vorster was so enthu-
siastic that he produced six
icons. Regrettably not everyone
was taken with the idea and
there were some rejections
from, amongst others, Ephraim
Ngatane, Claude Bouscharain,
Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, Maud
Sumner, Gregoire Boonza-
ier, Alexis Preller, Eleanor
Esmonde-White and Ruth
Prowse. Walter Battiss, then
Head of the University of
South Africa’s Department of
History of Art and Fine Art,
Dorothy Moss Kay: Old Oyster Woman (sold R 1 448 200)
Wolf Kibel’s arresting Self
Portrait (sold R1 225 400, a
world record for the artist) and
Jean Welz’s Still Life Cézan-
nesque (sold R1 225 400, a
world record for the artist). We
handled the most important
piece of Cape furniture ever
to appear at auction, an 18th
century Cape silver-mounted
coromandel buffet, establishing
a new record and a pair of 18th
century wine coolers and lin-
ers, by master silversmith Paul
Storr which sold for three times
its pre sale estimate. The Leslie
Milner Collection comprising
some 42 South African paint-
ings achieved excellent results
due in part to our knowledge of
the market and our exceptional
marketing skills.
Strauss & Co. has done justice
Marianne Podlashuc
replied, “Unfortunately, I am
that awkward, embarrassing
kind of artist who can never
carry out a suggestion made to
me by others as my art springs
fertilised from within me.
I promise you one thing,
though: if from within I get to
wanting to paint an ICON I’ll
let you see it first. Of course
I’m certainly not an
ICON-oclast!”
Page 15
to several artists that have tend-
ed to be previously overshad-
owed achieving record prices
for their work. These include
amongst others Frans Oerder,
Wolf Kibel, Dorothy Kay, May
Hillhouse and Edoardo Villa.
Although the works offered
were exceptional examples
of the artists’ work, the fact
that they were professionally
presented to the market greatly
enhanced their final selling
price.
Important collections have
already been secured for the
March 2010 auction which will
be held in Cape Town at the
Vineyard Hotel. These include
a collection of some thirty
works by William Timlin and
the late Edith Dodo’s collection
of paintings.
This collection of some
eighteen icons which has lain
undisturbed in a tin trunk for
the last 32 years, is to be of-
fered for sale, together with
the correspondence from all
the above artists, at Strauss &
Co’s forthcoming auction of
Important Paintings, Furniture,
Silver, Ceramics and Jewellery
at the Vineyard Hotel, New-
lands on 15 March 2010.
 The South African
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