Search
Close this search box.

Preller, Kentridge and Tretchikoff top local art sale

Alexis Preller was the star artist at Strauss & Co’s winter sale, generating R15 530 000 in sales from seven lots sold in June. Cementing his stature at auction, Preller posted three of the top five auction results at this live sale.

The top lot was a mesmerising oil from Preller’s celebrated Seychelles period, ‘Head (Adapting Itself to the Unendurable)’ from 1949, which sold for R7 055 600. A museum-quality drawing by William Kentridge, ‘Deep Pool’ (1996), from his Colonial Landscapes series, was the auction’s second biggest lot and the top earner in the contemporary art category, selling for R3 414 000.

Preller, Kentridge and Tretchikoff top local art sale 1
William Kentridge | Deep Pool, from the series Colonial Landscape | 1996

The auction generated overall sales of R56 milion with a sell-through rate of 74 percent. The result was the eighth highest combined result for a live sale since Strauss & Co launched in 2009 – a remarkable feat in a challenging economy. The next Johannesburg sale will be on 12 November, and will include a curated section titled ‘Neglected Tradition’ that will draw collector attention to the depth and breadth of South African art from the twentieth century.

RELATED ARTICLES
Investec

Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2024 | Unbound 

auction

Imibala Summer Gala Auction Lots Announced

Dr Esther

A Retrospective Unveiling: A life of artistic brilliance

art

The alchemy of seeing

Sign up to the Private Edition Newsletter to view our latest magazine