Strauss & co - 9 March 2009, Johannesburg

42 39 Frans David Oerder south african 1867-1944 Magnolias signed oil on canvas 69 by 89 cm R600 000–900 000 LITERATURE Esmé Berman, Art and Artists of South Africa , Cape Town, 1970, page 249: ‘It is interesting to note that some of the most successful reproductions of paintings by South African artists have been produced by publishers operating outside SA: Oerder’s Magnolias and Blossomtime , published by the New York Graphic Society, achieved in their time the highest world sales of any still-life reproduction.’ Esmé Berman, The Story of South African Painting , Cape Town, 1975, page 22: Illustrated in colour. ‘If anything served to make Frans Oerder’s name familiar to the western world, it was the publication of two of his flower pieces, Magnolias and Blossomtime , by the New York Graphic Society in 1939. There were finer examples of his work in South African public collections today, but – certainly during the 1940s – no painting by any South African was better known. Indeed, Magnolias was for many years the biggest-selling reproduction of any still-life painting in the world. The original was acquired by a Johannesburg collector in 1956.’