Strauss & co - 2017 Review

Skotnes, whose work Clarke greatly admired, showed consistency at auction too, with demand aggregating around his carved panels. Encounter (c.1971), a fine example of this aspect of Skotnes’s output, sold in June for R1 250 480, well above its high estimate. Not to be overlooked, Vladimir Tretchikoff brought in R3.4 million from only six lots. The standout lot was The Crayfish Vendor (c.1960s), a realist portrait from a series on working-class Capetonians, which sold for R1 250 480. Hodgins offered a tidy appreciation of Tretchikoff in his 1962 article: “Darling of the populace, anathema to critics, his success is legend.” This remains true in 2017. Vladimir Tretchikoff The Crayfish Vendor Sold R1 250 480, 16 October 2017 Cecil Skotnes Encounter Sold R1 250 480, 5 June 2017 © Cecil Skotnes Estate | DALRO 47