Modern & Contemporary South African Art

In December 2007 Christie’s sold Irma Stern’s stunning 1946 portrait, Congolese Woman, the finest example of her work to come to auction in recent years. Stern’s masterpiece sold for £569,300 (7.7m ZAR), smashing the record auction price for this leading 20th century South African artist and the record for any South African picture at auction.

This stunning result is the latest highlight in Christie's long and distinguished tradition of selling great South African pictures. Christie's has held the record price for any South African picture at auction in each of the last three decades: Thomas Baines’s works from the Dawnay collection in the 1980s, Jacob Pierneef’s majestic Transvaal Landscape in the 1990s, and Stern’s Congolese Woman leads the way in the 2000s.

The current strength of the market for South African art was further seen in the spectacularly successful Predators & Prey – The Animal Bronzes of Dylan Lewis held at Christie's South Kensington in June 2007 (the sale 100% sold and totalling £2m., with the top lot, the lifesize Black Rhino, establishing a world record price at auction for the artist at £360,000).

Department Head Nicholas Lambourn has worked on the sales of all the major South African art sold at Christie's over the last three decades, and has travelled regularly to South Africa since the early 1990s, working closely with our representatives in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

For advice on selling and buying South African art at Christie’s please contact Nicholas in London or our representatives in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

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