Strauss & co - 2017 Review

Mary Sibande Her Majesty, Queen Sophie Sold R193 256, 13 November 2017 The antipathy to photography among local collectors is showing signs of easing. A special- edition portfolio of 41 photos by celebrated photojournalist and 2017 Alan Paton Prize winner Greg Marinovich, made between 1990 and 1999 and entitled Dead Zone , sold for R284 200. Pieter Hugo’s still life, In Tyrone Brand’s Bedroom (2006), attracted enthusiastic bidding and sold for R125 048, doubling its pre-sale high estimate. An important early work by Mikhael Subotzky, Preacher, Dwarsrivier Prison (0053), a panoramic study of a 2004 Sunday church service in an outlying Cape prison, sold for R90 944. Most encouraging, an edition of sculptor Mary Sibande’s photograph, Her Majesty, Queen Sophie (2010), sold for R193 256, well above its high estimate. It was the first work by this Venice Biennale alumnus to be offered by Strauss & Co. These solid performances by two generations of contemporary artists bode well for Strauss & Co’s inaugural Contemporary Art Sale, due to be held in Cape Town on 17 February 2018. This specialist sale is a new addition to the company’s four annual live sales. It will coincide with the Cape Town Art Fair (16-18 February 2018), a pace- setting contemporary art event at the start of the 2018 South African art calendar. 57