Strauss & Co will exhibit four major private collections due to be sold this month.
It will feature top-class paintings from The Shill Collection and the late Sol Munitz Collection, Cape furniture pieces from the collection of Dr Johan Bolt and oriental works of art from the Dr JR and Mary Strong Collection.
Art highlights from the March sale include three scintillating portraits of single sitters by Irma Stern dating from her acclaimed Zanzibar period. Stern visited Zanzibar in 1939 and 1945. Her large portraits from this period are triumphs of style and description.
Painted in 1952, Collected Images by Alexis Preller is a seminal piece by this highly regarded artist. Illustrated on the cover of Esmé Berman and Karel Nel’s 2009 monograph of the same name, Collected Images depicts a cabinet with 18 compartments and is a resonant catalogue of the artist’s key metaphors.
“These paintings by Irma Stern and Alexis Preller represent some of the most important and historically significant works to appear in a South African saleroom in recent years,” said Bina Genovese, Strauss & Co’s joint managing director.
“Works of this calibre rarely come to market and Strauss & Co is proud to be offering them to collectors.”
There is also a great deal of anticipation surrounding the sale of over two hundred pieces of Oriental porcelain and works of art from the Strong Collection.
The sale will take place on Monday March 18 at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town. There will be a preview of the sale from Friday to Sunday March 15 to 17, between 10am and 5pm, which will include an extensive programme of public talks and social events in the lead-up to the sale, all open to the public. Visit www.straussart.co.za for details.
