The line-up for Aspire Art Auction’s inaugural sale on 31 October at The Park, House of Events on 7, in Hyde Park, includes an extraordinary selection of art.
Good quality works at modest prices can be found amongst the pages of Aspire’s highly sought-after catalogue, which features sumptuous images accompanied by texts from many of South Africa’s most respected art historians, art critics and cultural commentators, offering their acute insights into key works of art.
The earliest work on offer, Drying Fruit, painted in 1896, is an example of Hugo Naudé’s early academic training at the Slade School of Art in London during the years 1989–90. However, as art historian Dr Eunice Basson points out, before returning permanently to South Africa in 1896, Naudé spent a year working with the artists known collectively as the Barbizon Group at Fontainebleau in France and this painting provides evidence of their proto-Impressionist influence.
Landscapes by artists such as Paul du Toit and Erik Laubscher, capture the beauty and particularities of the local, while Stanley Pinker and William Kentridge disturb any sense of equilibrium in their magnificent landscapes.
Sculptures vary from Edoardo Villa’s acknowledgement of French artist, Aristide Maillol as one of the great masters of modernism to Wim Botha’s heads that draw on classical and contemporary sources and Ed Young’s cheeky nude self-portrait. Impressive photographs by award-winners David Goldblatt and Pieter Hugo, explore, respectively, questions of what constitutes a place in the South African landscape and the economically marginalised of Nigeria.
With their in-depth art knowledge, Aspire Art Auction’s team are ready to engage collectors looking to develop their art collections and expand their understanding of art.
