{"id":79762,"date":"2016-10-12T21:53:32","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T19:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/from-pierneef-to-pefection-aspire-has-it-all\/"},"modified":"2016-10-12T21:53:32","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T19:53:32","slug":"from-pierneef-to-pefection-aspire-has-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/from-pierneef-to-pefection-aspire-has-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"From Pierneef to Pefection: Aspire has it all"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Pierneef to Pefection: Aspire has it all<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\"Halter_Black-Light_web\"<\/p>\n

Dan Halter, B. 1977 South Africa, Black Light, 2006, ultraviolet neon tubing, Edition of 5 and 2 Artist’s Proofs (This is an Artist’s Proof), 50 x 100cm. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The line-up for Aspire Art Auction\u2019s inaugural sale on 31 October 2016 at The Park on 7 in Hyde Park, Johannesburg includes an extraordinary selection of art with wide appeal.
Works range from JH Pierneef\u2019s breathtaking Karoo near Hofmeyer, painted in 1930 probably while traveling to gather visual documentation for the new Park Station panel commission, to Dan Halter\u2019s ultraviolet light, Pefection, inspired by an embroidered scatter cushion depicting a cheerful scene and the word \u2018pefection\u2019 (without the letter r), a reflection on the \u201cstate of denial or ignorance at play in the Zimbabwe political landscape,\u201d according to Andrew Lamprecht, art academic and curator.<\/p>\n

Top works by Irma Stern and Alexis Preller will enhance any serious collection. Stern\u2019s Malay Girl, painted in 1946 after a second sojourn in Zanzibar, shows one of the treasured woven raffia mats she included in her Zanzibar book and exhibitions to evoke the island that so inspired her. The painting\u2019s great appeal results from Stern\u2019s ability to empathise with her sitter, gaining sufficient trust to capture the young girl in an unguarded moment. What is conveyed is the loveliness of youth \u2013 her intelligence, confidence and curiosity.<\/p>\n

Alexis Preller\u2019s painting, Profile Figures (Mirrored Image) of 1968, was so highly regarded that it was selected by the artist and Dr. Albert Werth, the then-director of the newly built Pretoria Art Museum, to be prominently displayed on Preller\u2019s acclaimed retrospective of 1972. Its installation at the front entrance, to be seen directly on entering the exhibition, is keenly remembered by art historian and artist, Professor Karel Nel, whose authoritative catalogue text provides unique insights into this rare work.<\/p>\n

Good quality works at modest prices can also be found amongst the pages of Aspire\u2019s highly sought-after catalogue which features sumptuous images accompanied by texts from many of South Africa\u2019s most respected art historians, art critics and cultural commentators, offering their acute insights into key works of art.<\/p>\n

The earliest work on offer, Drying Fruit, painted in 1896, is a fine example of Hugo Naud\u00e9\u2019s early academic training at the Slade School of Art in London during the years 1989-90. However, as art historian Dr. Eunice Basson points out, before returning permanently to South Africa in 1896, Naud\u00e9 spent a year working with the artists known collectively as the Barbizon Group at Fontainebleau in France and this painting provides evidence of their proto-Impressionist influence.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the most recent work, a tapestry of wool and gold thread entitled Convention\u2026Procession\u2026Elevation made in 2013 by Athi-Patra Ruga is described by Lwandile Fikeni, multi-award winning arts journalist, as \u201ca work of extreme beauty and imagination\u201d that \u201crefuses to be hemmed in by the visual language deployed in poverty pornography, which trades in graphic African despair\u201d.<\/p>\n

Landscapes by artists such as Paul du Toit and Erik Laubscher capture the beauty and particularities of the local, while Stanley Pinker and William Kentridge disturb any sense of equilibrium in their magnificent landscapes that are, as James Sey remarks in the catalogue, \u201cmuch more obviously contested and mutable terrains\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maggie Laubser\u2019s Portrait of a Woman with a Head Scarf, from her Langebaan phase, brings, according to Johan Myburg, the expressiveness of her German period to bear on her deepening understanding of the working people around her. Whether painting Senegalese dancers or a group of women talking, Gerard Sekoto\u2019s paintings \u201cevidence his lifelong connection to the spirit, nature, people, culture and forms of Africa,\u201d as Alexandra Dodd points out.<\/p>\n

From a sexy, gender-bender Battiss that radically subverts the history of the nude to Penny Siopis\u2019s feminist-inspired engagements with subject and material in her sought-after Cake paintings, artists provide works that challenge preconceptions. Robert Hodgins never fails to expose and entertain through his incisive critiques of human nature.<\/p>\n

Sculptures vary from Edoardo Villa\u2019s acknowledgement of French artist, Aristide Maillol as one of the great masters of modernism to Wim Botha\u2019s heads that draw on classical and contemporary sources and Ed Young\u2019s cheeky nude self-portrait. Impressive photographs by award-winners, David Goldblatt and Pieter Hugo, explore, respectively, questions of what constitutes a place in the South African landscape and the economically marginalised of Nigeria.<\/p>\n

With their in-depth art knowledge, Aspire Art Auction\u2019s team are ready to engage collectors looking to develop their art collections and expand their understanding of art.<\/p>\n

The inaugural Aspire Art Auction will take place in Johannesburg on 31 October 2016, the auction e-catalogue and more information is available at www.aspireart.net. Alternatively connect with them on Facebook or Twitter.<\/p>\n

Auction preview<\/p>\n

Friday 28 October 2016 10:00 \u2013 17:00<\/p>\n

Saturday 29 October 2016 10:00 \u2013 17:00<\/p>\n

Sunday 28 October 2016 10:00 \u2013 16:00<\/p>\n

Mary-Jane Darroll, who is an MAFA graduate from Wits University, is a former Curator of the Standard Bank Gallery and Corporate Collection. During her tenure at the Bank she was also Fine Art Coordinator of the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Subsequently she was Head of the Paintings Department at Stephan Welz & Co\/Sotheby\u2019s and later a Director at Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg. She is also a founder member and Executive Director of Strauss & Co and most recently a Curator and Art Project Director at the Nirox Sculpture Park.
After graduating with a Fine Arts degree from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, Ruarc Peffers began his career as intern for Stephan Welz & Co\/Sotheby\u2019s and progressed to become Director and Head of the Paintings Department. He completed an MSc degree in History, Curating and Criticism at the University of Edinburgh. He worked in the primary market with Blank Projects and in the NGO field with the Visual Arts Network of South Africa. More recently he returned to the auction industry as Senior Art Specialist and auctioneer at Strauss & Co. He has worked on many local and international art fairs \u2013 most recently Frieze London and The Cape Town Art Fair. He regularly conducts charity auctions for Artist Proof Studios, ABSA, Art Angels, the Cancer Association, WWF and the Wits School of Art, amongst others.<\/p>\n

Emma Bedford was employed from 1981 until 2006 at the South African National Gallery, where as Senior Curator and Head of Art Collections, she curated exhibitions ranging from Maggie Laubser to Marlene Dumas and collaborated on the first local museum exhibition for William Kentridge (2002). She promoted young artists through Fresh, a series of residencies and monographs and drove the acquisition of works of art by young artists such as Nicholas Hlobo, Nandipha Mntambo and Zanele Muholi.<\/p>\n

She has several years\u2019 experience as Senior Art Specialist at a leading auction house and was the first Director of Goodman Gallery Cape where she worked closely with many of South Africa\u2019s top artists.<\/p>\n

Jacqui Carney graduated from Wits Art School with a BAFA. She started as an intern for a leading South African auction firm where she has become head cataloguer and researcher, specializing in South African art. She is involved in the entire ambit of client liaison, valuation, cataloguing, clerking, telephone bidding and producing of all recent auctions.<\/p>\n

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\"Pierneef_Karoo-near-Hofmeyer_-web\"<\/p>\n

Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, South African 1886-1957, Karoo near Hofmeyer, 1930, signed and dated, oil on board, 40 x 55cm. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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