South African Artists

Bonham’s in London are holding a specialist South African auction over two days later this month with a wide and interesting selection of works from the great and the good (and indeed predominantly deceased) of the South African art world.

Musing for September: Things are not always what they seem… A couple of months ago we received an application from someone to list “Helen Anne Petrie”, a South African who appears to have lived in relative obscurity from 1932 until her death in 2006.

Auction at Sotheby’s in London listing a rather grubby and understated painting of a cloudy sky from a “follower of Constable” had sold for a respectable $40,000 around a year previously at a well-known provincial auctioneers – not bad considering its guide price had been just over $1,000. Sotheby’s own experts have since confirmed that the work is in fact a genuine Constable and there is speculation that the price could easily breach $750,000 when the hammer falls on it this time around.

Brett Kebble Auction Results Two months ago we wrote about the expectations that were being set around the auctioning of the fine art collection left by Brett Kebble. In a climate where estimates were coming under fire for being unrealistic it was quite surprising to see a significant portion of the catalogue selling at world [...]

Has anyone seen my ear? There are some great stories in the history of art and the characters are often every bit as colourful as their own works. Now it turns out that, 121 years after the event, we may all have been misled about the loss of Vincent van Gogh’s ear. It’s hard to [...]

Brett Kebble Auction Next month sees the auction by Graham’s of the impressive art collection of Brett Kebble, the mining magnate whose death in 2005 caused headlines around the world. His murder, and the high-profile trial of those accused, has gone on to become one of the world’s most intriguing tales of deception and conspiracy, [...]

At SouthAfricanArtists.com we don’t tend to promote art as an investment vehicle per se, it should first and foremost be something to be appreciated for its appearance and the inspiration it gives to the viewer and owner. In recent years, perhaps as it turns out with some justification, a number of people have recommended art, [...]

Just as good judgment comes from experience and experience so often comes from bad judgment, so it is that art is often informed by pain and trauma and the challenges faced in life rather than simply being inspired by beauty. This process of catharsis serves the artist and also the witness to the art and [...]

Pieter van der Westhuizen (1931-2008) It is with great sadness that we announce the death of one of South Africa’s best loved artists, Pieter van der Westhuizen, who died at the age of 77 on 30th December. Pieter’s pages on SouthAfricanArtists.com have always been among the most popular and he had made over 100 of [...]

As echoes of economic and political disturbance continue to reverberate around the globe, touching people’s lives on every continent in one way or another, it brings us back to give consideration to our place in the world and reflect on the time of year which is celebrated in so many different cultures. As we turn [...]