Irma Stern artworks to go under the hammer

Cape Town - More than 100 artworks from the Irma Stern Trust Collection including a portrait of her close friend and supporter Roza van Gelderen, executed in 1929, are set to go under the hammer on the centenary of Irma Stern’s debut solo exhibition in South Africa and the half-centenary of the opening of the UCT Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town.

Hosted by Strauss & Co, the single-artist auction entirely devoted to this illustrious artist is titled Irma Stern: Time | Line, Works from the Irma Stern Trust Collection and Other Properties and takes place today (Wednesday) at Welgemeend Manor House in Cape Town. It will be run as a live virtual auction.

Hailed as a landmark sale, it will feature 140 works encompassing many of Irma Stern’s major themes and interests.

Kirsty Colledge, Cape Town Art Department HOD, said: “Irma Stern: Time | Line is a continuation of Strauss & Co’s long-standing commitment to support the activities of the Irma Stern Trust in realising the artist’s wish to promote art within and outside South Africa. The auction includes 124 artworks from the Irma Stern Trust Collection, including an important portrait of her close friend and supporter Roza van Gelderen, executed in 1929. Proceeds from the sale of these works will benefit the Irma Stern Trust Collection, housed in the much-loved Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town, an enormously important cultural institution that houses and displays a collection of Irma Stern’s artworks and artefacts.”

Irma Stern lived in Cape Town for nearly a half century. Following her death in 1966, and in pursuance of the terms of her will, Stern’s entire collection of artworks and her personal collection of artefacts were placed in trust.

The contents of Irma Stern: Time | Line will be presented chronologically and features works made in every decade from 1920 until the artist’s death in 1966.

Stern’s consistent focus on women is evident in a number of important oils. They include Psychic: An Old Malay Woman (estimate R7 – 9 million), a 1941 portrait of a Cape Muslim sitter from Stern’s golden period. Stern’s 1929 portrait of Roza van Gelderen (1890–1976) portrays a charismatic educator and cultural figure who was also a lifelong friend of the artist and important model (estimate R4 – 6m).

Other important oils in Irma Stern: Time | Line include a 1936 portrait titled Woman in Black Dress that shares striking affinities with works by Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso (estimate R2.5 – 3.5m). Woman with Open Blouse from 1948 is a fine example of Stern’s inventive engagement with the nude, a genre that commanded the artist’s attention throughout her career (estimate R1.5 – 2.5m).

Irma Stern: Time | Line opens with seven lithographs from the artist’s print portfolio Visionen (Visions), published in 1920 by the Berlin-based Hesperiden Verlag. The sale offers excellent value for starter collectors, with estimates for works on paper beginning at R10 000.

For more information visit www.straussart.co.za.

Cape Times