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Art life renews itself through recession

e started out the year on tenter-hooks, not knowing how the globaleconomic recession would hit our local contemporary art market. Darkmurmurings from over the stormyseas weren’t very encouraging, withreports of the almost irrationallyexuberant boom experienced since005 crunching right down to a slowcrawl. ‘Gone are the days whenartworks were being snapped up athe blink of an eye,’ wrote JulietteLim-Fat and Roger Signer of global

nancial services company Credit

Suisse. ‘Nowadays, deals aretaking longer to close. Buyers aremore prudent and taking more timeto get to know the paintings before

reaching a nal decision.’

It didn’t help that a large percentageof contemporary art buyers in re-cent years have been cock-a-hoophedge fund managers, as well asthe newly bling emerging from mar-

kets like Russia, China, the Middle

East and India, many of whomhave caught a nasty cold duringthe recent winter of our discontent,with the credit crisis slashing their wealth and putting their demand for art on ice.Still, all this nasty weather seemedquite distant and academic to usdown here in the sun-drenched

South – until sales gures from the

recent Joburg Art Fair came hometo roost. Art sales at this year’s Fair grossed R12-million, about half of what was achieved last year – andthis downturn despite the fact thatthe Fair’s attendance was up by 4000 and that the production valueof this year’s event way outstrippedlast year’s. It was a jackpot of a Fair in every sense other than sales,which can only really be attributedto the dreaded slump having meta-morphosed from a hazy projectioninto an uncomfortable reality.I tiptoed into January with adreaded sense is that our land-scape was going to be morphingquite irrevocably over the next fewmonths and that the status quo wecurrently take for granted as stand-ard and unchanging will, despite

Trevor Manuel’s bizarre assurances

to the contrary, undergo something

of a seismic shift. The rst evidence

of the quake hit me this week,with the lousy news that Warren

Siebrits Modern and Contemporary

will soon be no more. Despite theblessed irony of having just had a‘phenomenally successful Art Fair’,the gallery’s doors will only be open

until the end of May.This is no ash-in-the-pan,y-by-night gallery, but one of

Johannesburg’s most exactingand scholarly minded contem-porary art institutions. WarrenSiebrits has been responsible for reviving the reputations of many20th century artists (Alfred Thoba,

Cyprian Shilakoe, Lucas Sithole…)

whose legacies were overlookedor underestimated due to their place in history under apartheid, aswell as for adding muscle to some

signicant contemporary careers,

from that of Jo Ractliffe to Gerard

Marx, Stefanus Rademeyer andSabelo Mlangeni.

(continued on page 5)

Cecil Skotnes 1926 – 2009

‘What we’re going through is not unique,’ says Siebrits. ‘Sadly, no one is immune.’

Siebrits will soon be embarking on anew chapter working privately as aWeb-based dealer, specialising in rare art (warrensiebrits.co.za). His gallery might not be around for much longer, but we’relikely to hear more from this indomitablecharacter who has already made a

signifcant mark on

South African art history

As a tribute to this great man The Art Times has commissioned an artist’s profle on Cecil Skotnes. Also see Hayden Proud’s Obituary in SA Business Art .

Issue : May 2009

Full free edition available atwww.arttimes.co.za1 Years subscription R 180E-mail subs@arttimes for details

Alex Dodd

Cecil Skotnes in his studio 1967 Photo: courtesy Pippa Skotnes

Stephan Welz and Company, inassociation with Sotheby’s, will holdtheir 2009 Autumn Sale ofDecorativeand Fine Arts at the KirstenboschNational Botanical Gardens on 26 and27 May 2009. The sale will be on viewto the public from 22 to 24 May 2009.

FINE ARTS

Strong lyrical narratives by MarjorieWallace are on offer with

Ons

(estimate R120 000 - R150 000),a tender depiction oflove betweenJan Rabie and Marjorie;

Claude and the Children

(estimate R70 000 -R90 000), an intimate portrayal of Claude Bouscharain and her children;and

Rachel and Ou Nooi with a letter from Breyten

(estimate R70 000 -R100 000), the reading ofa letterpenned by the imprisoned writerBreyten Breytenbach, jailed by theState for high treason. Wallace, bestknown for her portrait studies, wastrained at the Edinburgh College ofArtand made such an impression that shebecame the youngest person to beelected to the Royal Scottish Academy.She met and married the writer JanRabie in Paris in 1953, later a leadingmember ofthe

Sestigers

, and thecouple settled in Onrus in 1954.Amanda Botha, a friend ofWallaceand an art writer, said, “[people] werealways important to Wallace, but shenever had a voyeur's approach. Shelived alongside the people in her paint-ings … her lasting contribution is (her)cultural-historical record ofwork on themarginalised people in society.”Ian Hunter ofStephan Welz & Co’sCape Town Paintings department says:“We are fortunate to have three PaulStopforth resistance artworks in ourContemporary section. Stopforth, whonow resides in America, fused art andpolitics in the mid ’70s to raise aware-ness for the atrocities being committedunder Apartheid.

Death in Detention

(estimate R10 000 - R15 000) and

Altarpiece for Thomas Kasire

(estimateR8 000 - R12 000) are particularlypoignant pieces, rare to the auctionworld with most being housed inNational Collections.”Terence McCaw has a strong presencein this sale with the particularly striking

View from the Artist’s Garden, Hout Bay

(estimate R120 000 - R150 000)one ofsix works by the artist dueto come under the hammer on the26 May. McCaw was a founder mem-ber and active protagonist ofthe NewGroup, established in 1938 with WalterBattiss and Gregoire Boonzaier. Whileworking closely with Boonzaier, McCawwas also exposed to the work offirstgeneration Cape Impressionist – PieterWenning. This influence is clearly seenin McCaw’s work. Pieter Wenning’s

Old Church

(estimate R400 000 -R600 000) is also available to collec-tors ofSouth African Masters. TheWenning, previously sold in 1991 byStephan Welz & Co, in association withSotheby’s, is again on offer to themarket having resided since that saletill now in a magnificent South Africancollection.Further highlights include: a rare entryfrom auction-shy Siegfried Hahn titled

Spring, Saragossa

(estimate R7 000 -R10 000), Gregoire Boonzaier’s

Mosque, Loop Street, Bo Kaap

(estimate R350 000 - R450 000) andIrma Stern’s

Portrait ofZoë Randall

(estimate R1 800 000 - R2 400 000).Stern’s painting demonstrates her vir-tuosity in paint application and debtowed to African masks as part inspira-tion for this composition. The sitter, ZoëRandall, was a well known and muchaccoladed star ofthe South Africantheatre world. In 2002 at the Fleur duCap Theatre awards she received alifetime achievement award in recogni-tion ofher 60 years ofdedication asan actress and supporter ofthe arts.

DECORATIVE ARTS

For clock enthusiasts, a magnificentearly

18th century Louis XV boullebracket clock by G. J. Champion, Paris

(estimate R25 000 - R30 000) shouldattract much interest. This item, inlaidwith tortoiseshell and richly decoratedwith mythological figures and beasts,epitomises Rococo craftsmanship.Other clocks include a

Dutch FrisianWall Clock, circa 1850

(estimateR8 000 - R10 000) and a novelty

Jaeger Timepiece

in the form ofalamp post (estimate R5 000 - R7 000).English and European furniturecollectors should bid competitively foran

18th century oak and inlaid chest-on-stand

(estimate R30 000 - R40 000)and a

Set ofFour Sheraton StyleFruitwood Armchairs, circa 1880

(estimate R15 000 - R20 000), eachchair stamped Howard & Sons Ltd.Berner Street.Furniture on offer to Colonial collectorsis a magnificent

19th Century Rose-wood, Stinkwood and Satinwood DrumTable

(estimate R30 000 - R40 000)which should attract discerning bids.This unusually large example boastseight real and dummy drawers withivory-tipped handles.There are many items that will appealto Cape furniture collectors. In the daysession,

a 19th Century Cape RooielsKoskas

(estimate R20 000 - R25 000)should be of interest to admirers ofCape furniture.In the evening session, a particularlywell-preserved

19th Century Stinkwood Rusbank

(estimate R18 000 - R20 000)and a

19th century Cape Yellowwood and Stinkwood Cradle

(estimateR3 000 - R5 000) are two items thatrarely appear on auction.A delightful collection ofToby Jugs,available for the first time to collectors,includes a

Staffordshire ‘Ordinary’ Toby Jug, 1790-1810

(estimate R6 000 -R8 000). Although similar Delft jugsexisted in the Netherlands, the TobyJug was first developed and popu-larised in England by the potter RalphWood. A typical jug depicts a seatedman wearing an English ‘tricorn’ hatand holding a mug ofbeer and a glassor a pipe. The original jug is said tohave been inspired by a song ‘BrownJug’, popular in 1761, whose lyricsfeatured ‘Toby Fillpot’.Another fine example ofEnglishceramics is a

Lucie Rie (1902-1995) Asymetrical Stoneware Bowl

(estimateR25 000 - R35 000), impressed withthe designer’s initials. Europeanceramics are well represented; inparticular a striking

Large DePorceleyne Fles ‘Nieuw Delfts” vase1910 -1920

(estimate R7 000 - 9 000)decorated in tones ofblue andturquoise and borrowing from Islamicearthenware patterns, and

an assem-bled Meissen part- dinner service

(estimate R15 000 - R20 000), 20thcentury, freshly applied with springflower motifs on a white backgroundand finished offwith gilt trim. An attrac-tive collection ofScandinavian waresincludes designs by

Berndt Friberg(1899-1981), Gertrud Vasegaard (1913-2007)

and

Herbert Krenchel (1922-)

. These vessels share pared-down lines married with a strong senseofdesign; the Krenchel ‘Krenit’ warespunctuated by strong interior colours.South African ceramics include worksby

Hym Rabinowitz, Esias Bosch, TimMorris, Andrew Walford, Hylton Nel,Rorke’s Drift and Ardmore. Hylton Nel (1941-)

steals theshow with his

tin-glazed earthenware‘Crucifixion’ plaque

(estimate R3 000 -R4 000), an enigmatic

earthenwaredoll

(estimate R4 000 - 6 000), andtwo delightful

tin-glazed earthenware plates

: one decorated with an insect(estimate R 7 000 - 9 000) and theother decorated with a bird on a greenground (estimate R 9 000 - R12 000).The renowned Rorke’s Drift potterystudio is showcased with a stonewarevase executed in

1977 by LephinaMolefe

(estimate R6 000 - R8 000); astoneware vase by

Elizabeth Mbatha

(estimate R5 000 - 7 000); two incised

stoneware vases

(estimate R8 000 -R10 000 each) and a

two-handled bowl and cover

(estimate R5 000 - R7 000),all

1980, by Joel Sibisi

. Sibisi’s actionofcarving out images in the slippainted stoneware mirrors the act of linocut production. Similarly the stylisedand somewhat naïve motifs closelymirror the iconography found in linouts.Ofhistorical interest is a

group of Nine Rare Chinese Armorial Wares,Qianlong, 1736-1795

(estimateR60 000 - R90 000), created for theCape market. Similar examples canbe found on p 126 and 127 of Woodward’s “Oriental Ceramics at theCape ofGood Hope, 1652-1795”.English and Continental silverwareincludes items ranging from 1736through to the latter halfofthetwentieth century. A

George III Silver Seven-Bar Toast-rack

by the renownedsilversmith Paul Storr, executed in1817, is offered for sale at R7 000 -9 000. Paul Storr, a favourite ofGeorgeIV, was known for his fine craftsman-ship and was skilled at using designsexecuted in other media by artists andthen adapting these concepts to suitthe purpose for which he requiredthem. This fine sense ofdesign andcraftsmanship is what has seen hispieces through the fashion highs andlows ofsilver, making him an enduringfavourite with collectors.A fine set of

Elizabeth II silver ‘rat-tail’ pattern cutlery by Gee and Holmes of Sheffield, England,

is also due to comeunder the hammer at Kirstenbosch. Inaddition to the hallmark denoting theyear 1977, this set oftwelve place set-tings is also stamped with the specialcommemorative Silver Jubilee Hallmarkwhich displays Queen Elizabeth's headfacing left. Amongst other highlights inthe Silver sessions are a

WilliamSuckling George V Silver six-pieceteaand coffee set

(estimate R12 000 -R15 000) and a

James Deakin and Sons George V two-handled silver tray

(estimate R15 000 - R20 000).A fine

near pair of WMF Art NouveauElectroplate plaques

(estimate R8 000 -R10 000) are onoffer, each depict-ing a woman inprofile surroundedby foliage. The ArtNouveau move-ment was charac-terised by organicsubjects, especiallyfloral motifs, aswell as highly-stylised, flowingcurvilinear forms.Art Nouveau wasan approach todesign according to which artistsshould be involved with the design of everything from architecture to furni-ture, making art part ofeveryday life.Collectors’ items include a

Fruitwood Apple-shaped tea caddy

(estimateR10 000 - R15 000), which dates tothe turn ofthe nineteenth century. Teawhich was a valuable commodity atthat time, was kept underlock and key. Alsoon offer forthe boy atheartaretwoswords: a

Prussian Infantry Officer’s sword designed in1889

(estimate R2 500 - R4 000) anda

Victorian Infantry Officer’s sword dating from the 19th century

(estimateR3 000 - R5 000).These and other items are scheduledto go under the hammer on the26th and 27th ofMay 2009 atKirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Autumn 2009 Sale of Decorative and Fine Arts

Auction:

Tuesday 26 May 2pm and 7pmWednesday 27 May 10am

Venue:

Old Mutual Conference and Exhibition Centre,Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Newlands,Cape Town

Viewing:

Friday 22 May 10am to 5pmSaturday 23 May 9am to 2pmSunday 24 May 10am to 5pm

AUCTION OF DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS

Tuesday 26 May at 2pm and 7pmWednesday 27 May at 10am

Enquiries and Catalogues

Cape Town Office: 021 794 6461

At the Saleroom, Kirstenboschfrom Friday 22 May

Tel: 021 761 4288Fax: 021 761 8690e-mail: ct@swelco.co.zaCatalogues can be viewedon our website:www.swelco.co.za

Gregoire Johannes Boonzaier, MOSQUE, LOOP STREET BO KAAPsigned and dated 1951; inscribed with the title on the stretcher56 by 63cmR 350 000 - 450 000

KUNSGALERY

CAPE TOWN

JOHANS BORMAN

FINE ART GALLERY

A showcase for the best of South African Masters,as well as some leading contemporary artists.Telephone: 021 423 6075www.johansborman.co.zaMon-Fri: 09h30 - 17h30Sat: 10h00 - 13h00or by appointmentIn Fin Art BuildingUpper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town 8001Cell: 082 566 4631E-mail: art@johansborman.co.za

JH Pierneef, ‘Bosveld bome, N.Transvaal’ – 1944

South African Art Times. May 2009 Page 3

I often marvel at how much morebeautiful large-scale buildingsare when they are half built than

when they are completely nished.

Indeed many of Durban’s mostarish and formless monstrositieswere once, for a brief period of

ime lled with beauty, texture and

awe, before their structure wascovered with facade and plasticand polish and made safe for shoppers. Looking at the digital

rendering of the proposed nalstructure, the Moses Mabhida

Stadium, Durban’s chief 2010venue, might, perhaps, be anexception to that tendency. Buteven if the monolithic post-modernsea-turtle ends up being anythingless than exceptional, it will, at thevery least, be home to a broadselection of South African art. Andconsidering how sport pretty muchkills art dead in the endless gameof paper-rock-scissors, such acultural highjacking can only bea good thing. This is after all, auaranteed way of ensuring thathundreds of thousands of of SouthAfricans will walk past, and per-haps even look at, a whole bunchof contemporary art – even if thatart has to make allowances to thecolour scheme of the décor.

he eThekwini Municipality hasmade a public call – the rst, ap

-parently, among those municipali-ies blessed with a stadium – for work which will populate severalwalls and atriums in the build-ing, as well as any other spacessuggested by artists. In broaddemocratic strokes, artists wereinvited en masse to propose

site-specic works and were, to

this end, also invited on a brief tour of the stadium, the giantmass of steel and concrete naked,unadorned and rising into the sky.

It was difcult to work out exactly

how things would look when allthe scaffolding was gone but I’vealways loved a building site (the

ultimate sandpit) and I was struck

by the fact that the beauty of allthis massed raw concrete wouldbe a hard act to beat. Fortunatelyfor the participating artists though,the judges will no doubt havebroader set of critera than cooler than concrete.The still skeletal stadium remindedme of Stephen Hobbes’ explora-tion of architecture, structure andlight in recent works which showedin Durban at the KZNSA andBank Gallery. Traces of Hobbes’conversations echo – in entirelydifferent form – in Vaughan Sadie’sexquisite exhibition, situation,currently on show at Bank Gallery.While Hobbes calls our attentionto the beauty, fragility and brutalityof cities and their architecture,Sadie’s current work, produced for

his Masters degree, explores the

very nature of light and the way inwhich it constructs our interior andexterior world, worlds which aremore fragile even than buildings.Encompassing a century of modernism and post-modernism,Sadie’s personal evolutions andconvolutions exists in the count-less areas in between. Althoughseveral pieces are gorgeouslyaccessible, for the most part theshow consists of the kind of work

that will send Sunday Magazine

editors running in one direction or another, depending on how keenthey are to identify with contem-

porary art. But like DuChamp’s

urinal, which occupies at least oneharbour in Sadie’s ocean of theory,complexity is often the mask wornby simplicity. And I know that I’mnot as well versed in theory asSadie, but after the initial relentthat always needs to happenwhen viewing any exhibition, Iwas completely enchanted. Thelevels and layers came later in aone-question-interview with Sadie,which cascaded into a mini-ava-lanche of conversation. We agreeto meet later.In work that is, at least on somelevels, about theory, I’m alwaysinterested in whether an artistthinks that a degree of theoreti-cal engagement is necessary inthe viewer. In other words, if mymother, who loves art but lackstheory, visited the show, wouldshe be able to engage with it in a

manner that satises both her andthe artist? (and that last “satises”

is mine, not Sadie’s; he lacks arro-gance, possessing instead a criti-cal rigour that no doubt drives himmad in the production of his own

work). He never really answers

the question but he does point out

that he’s more satised producing

complex work which hopefully ex-tracts a mental investigation in theviewer than complex work which isaccessibility but whose accessibil-ity allows the viewer to be contentwith the surface.I left Vaughn Sadie staring at hisdigital clock installed on the frontof the gallery, above the entrance.

Constructed out of twenty eightuorescent tubes, each minutepasses not discreetly, but in icker

-ing indecision. I waited with him

as the clock turned from 11:59 to12:00. A urry of ickers. He was

visibly thrilled.

(First published in The Sunday

Independent)

At the Frieze Art Fair in London in

2007, devotees queued up to haveartists Jake and Dinos Chapmandele the royal insignia on their

pound notes. Adding to the buzz

was Rob Pruitt, an artist whoturned a gallery booth into a eamarket, where he ogged disused

objects donated by other artists.

A life-size copy of a 1970 DodgeChallenger made by RichardPrince dominated another booth

and a performer dressed as abobby entertained passersby withhis yoga moves. But the mostnotable moment was when Kris

Martin affected his intangible art

work, dubbed One Minute Silence(2007), which demanded that

everyone in the fair remain quietfor one minute.

Call them art fair gimmicks if you

must, but all of these stagedinterventions at this art fair not onlycreated a frisson of excitement,but reiterated the fact that artistscannot be contained within the

connes of a strictly commercial

art event. Nor can their subversivecompulsions be tamed; they willautomatically disrupt and chal-lenge convention at every turn. At this year’s Joburg Art Fair,however, there were few suchmemorable attractions or interven-

tions. Marcus Neustetter’s Work inProgress (2009) was perhaps theonly artwork that deed the art fair

setting.

(Continued on page 4)

Joburg Art Fair 09:Sculptures stealthe attention

Henrietta Hamilton from The Bank Gallery

Peter MachenMary Corrigall