Strauss & co - 2016 Review

Figurative works on paper by William Kentridge continue to excel at auction locally. Woman with Pink Knees , a large charcoal drawing with chine collé elements, was the artist’s highest grossing work and sold for R1 477 840. Two examples of Sleeper Red , a 1997 work informed by Kentridge’s theatre production Ubu & the Truth Commission (1997), came to market – in May and October. Part of an edition of 50 printed by UK-based 107 Workshop printers Jack Shirreff and Andrew Smith, both works achieved the same price, R909 440. Like Kentridge and Siopis, Norman Catherine formed part of dealer Linda Givon’s era-defining Goodman Gallery roster of artists in the 1990s. It was at the Goodman Gallery that pop music icon David Bowie encountered Catherine. “I keep my little wooden Catherines all over the house,” wrote Bowie in 2000. “He almost occupies the same space in South African art that Eduardo Paolozzi shoulders in British art. Rebellious and just ‘outside’. So, of course, I love him.” Bowie’s death in January, and the subsequent disposal of his remarkable art collection at auction in London late in 2016, cast a spotlight on Catherine, whose work featured prominently. Enthusiasm for Catherine spiked at Strauss & Co’s November sale in Johannesburg. A trio of small painted wood figures in red by Catherine – Self Service (R51 156), Catalyst (R34 104) and Taxman (R28 420) – set the tone for robust sales of two-dozen diminutive works by this protégé of Battiss. All of Catherine’s 12 bronze sculptures exceeded their pre-sale high estimates. A series of editioned bronzes performed particularly well: Candidate , an anthropomorphic study of a waving cat smoking a cigar, fetched R90 944. Middleman , a sculpted tableaux featuring three figures set in a unique frame sold for R397 880. Norman Catherine Self Service Sold R51 156, 7 November 2016 Norman Catherine Catalyst Sold R34 104, 7 November 2016 Norman Catherine Middleman Sold R397 880, 7 November 2016 43