15th Mar, 2023 18:00
20th Century & Contemporary Art
14
George Pemba (South Africa 1912-2001)
Breakfast
oil on board
Artwork date: 1993
Signature details: signed and dated bottom right
Location: Cape Town
Sold for R250,360
Estimated at R250,000 - R400,000
oil on board
Artwork date: 1993
Signature details: signed and dated bottom right
Location: Cape Town
(1)
53.5 x 74.5 cm; framed size: 73.5 x 94.5 x 3.5 cm
Provenance:
Private collection, Cape Town.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK:
George Milwa Mnyaluza Pemba created this intimate domestic scene of a woman offering a man a plate of food for breakfast late in his life. Painted in 1993, the artist was already 81 years old.
A pioneer of Black Modernism in South Africa, Pemba today occupies a unique place in the country’s art historical canon. However, while his artistic production spans over seven decades widespread recognition only came to the artist towards the end of his life.
By 1987 Pemba noted in his diary that he had appeared several times on TV and was showing works at Fort Hare and Zululand Universities1. In 1989 he was also included in the prestigious Neglected Tradition exhibition curated by Steven Sack at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. The most dramatic shift was, however, after his exhibition at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg
in 1991. The sales from this show enabled the artist to buy a new house and convert the garage into a studio.
For the first time in his life Pemba had a real studio and serious recognition. Breakfast, painted only 2 years later, was thus created at a time when, although suffering from ailments associated with old age, the artist had finally reached a point where he could celebrate the recognition afforded him and dedicate himself entirely to painting.
A compassionate observer of people, Pemba became a visual chronicler of the joys and sorrows of township life, often painting interiors describing social relations. In Breakfast he shows the woman bringing nourishment – as an active carer – and this is a theme often repeated. Both Peeling Potatoes (1987) and Gossip at the Hearth (1993), for example, illustrate women bringing warmth into domestic spaces. The subject may raise issues of ascribed family roles in the maintenance of urban households but, importantly, also brings attention to Pemba’s recognition of women as the ones who brought comfort to and bound his community.
Text by Sarah Sinisi
[1] Huddleston, S. (1996). Against All Odds. Jeppestown: Jonathon Ball Publishers. p.82.
COLLECTIONS:
The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the Cory Library for Historical Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown; the De Beers Centenary Art Gallery, Alice; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg and The World Bank Collection, Washington, D.C.
You can place an absentee bid through our website - please sign in to your account on our website to proceed.
In the My Account tab you can also enter telephone bids, or email bids@aspireart.net to log telephone/absentee bids.
Join us on the day of the auction to follow and bid in real-time.
The auction will be live-streamed with an audio-visual feed.
Auction: 20th Century & Contemporary Art, 15th Mar, 2023
Kickstarting the 2023 program Aspire Art are delighted to present their first Live sale, 20th Century & Contemporary Art in March. The sale has become a highly anticipated event in the Cape Town auction calendar, showcasing and recognising works by truly exceptional artists from Southern Africa.
Contemporary highlights include seminal works by William Kentridge, Robert Hodgins, Sue Williamson, Johannes Phokela, Zander Blom, Athi-Patra Ruga, Dan Halter and Georgina Gratrix amongst others. International superstars include Pascale Marthine Tayou and Francisco Vidal. Photographic works feature prominently as a special section and include limited editioned prints by celebrated documentary photographers Alf Kumalo and David Goldblatt alongside incredible photographic works by artists like Mary Sibande, Ayana Jackson, Candice Breitz and the award-winning Mikhael Subotzky.
Leading the sale is a group of important and rare works by South African modern masters, most significantly a selection of expressive drawings by Dumile Feni and paintings by social realist George Pemba. The modern collection is complimented by a landscape painted by J.H. Pierneef and a beautifully rendered gouache by Irma Stern from 1951.
Preview: 10 to15 March
Mon-Fri: 8.30-4.30, Saturday: 10-2 or by appointment
Currency conversions are based on the exchange rate at the auction's start time and date. Bidders should verify the current exchange rate on the day of the sale. All invoices and payments must be made in South African Rands.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Logistics
While we endeavour to assist our Clients as much as possible, we require artwork(s) to be delivered and/or collected from our premises by the Client. In instances where a Client is unable to deliver or collect artwork(s), Aspire staff is available to assist in this process by outsourcing the services to one of our preferred Service Providers. The cost for this will be for the Client’s account, with an additional Handling Fee of 15% charged on top of the Service Provider’s invoice.
Aspire Art provides inter-company transfer services for its Clients between Johannesburg and Cape Town branches. These are based on the size of the artwork(s), and charged as follows:
Small (≤60x90x10 cm): R480
Medium (≤90x120x15 cm): R960
Large (≤120x150x20 cm): R1,440
Over-size: Special quote
Should artwork(s) be collected or delivered to/from Clients by Aspire Art directly, the following charges will apply:
Collection/delivery ≤20km: R400
Collection/delivery 20km>R800≤50km
Collection/delivery >50km: Special quote
Packaging
A flat fee of R100 will be added to the invoice for packaging of unframed works on paper.
International Collectors Shipping Package
For collectors based outside South Africa who purchase regularly from Aspire Art’s auctions in South Africa, it does not make sense to ship artworks individually or per auction and pay shipping every time you buy another work. Consequently, we have developed a special collectors’ shipping package to assist in reducing shipping costs and the constant demands of logistics arrangements.
For buyers from outside South Africa, we will keep the artworks you have purchased in storage during the year and then ship all the works you have acquired during the year together, so the shipping costs are reduced. At the end of the annual period, we will source various quotes to get you the best price, and ship all your artworks to your desired address at once.
Aspire Art will arrange suitable storage during, and cost-effective shipping at the end, of the annual period.
Collections
Collections are by appointment, with 24-hours’ notice
Clients are requested to contact the relevant office and inform Aspire Art of which artwork(s) they would like to collect, and allow a 24-hour window for Aspire Art’s logistics department to retrieve the artwork(s) and prepare them for collection.
Handling Fee
Aspire Art charges a 15% Handling Fee on all Logistics, Framing, Restoration and Conservation arranged by Aspire.