3rd Nov, 2019 10:00
Modern & Contemporary Art
68
David Goldblatt (South Africa 1930-2018)
Elder of the Dutch Reformed Church walking home with his family after the Sunday service, Carnavon, Cape Province (Northern Cape), January 1968
gelatin silver print
Artwork date: 1968, printed 2006
Signature details: signed and dated in pencil on the reverse
Sold for R170,700
Estimated at R150,000 - R250,000
Condition Report
This print is in excellent/ mint condition with no visible condition issues
Please note, we are not qualified conservators and these reports give our opinion as to the general condition of the works. We advise that bidders view the lots in person to satisfy themselves with the condition of prospective purchases.
gelatin silver print
Artwork date: 1968, printed 2006
Signature details: signed and dated in pencil on the reverse
(1)
Another example from the edition is in the permanent collections of Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland and the Pilara Foundation Collection, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco.
Notes:
A highly controversial body of images at the time of its 1975 first edition photobook debut, the series Some Afrikaners Photographed was and remains an unflinching, dispassionate though not unsympathetic 20th century portrait of a South African community. During his lifetime, David Goldblatt maintained that the project was not intended as nor should it be considered a definitive or essentialised understanding of Afrikaner identity. Instead, “Goldblatt destabilises. He suggests porous definitions.”Though this image from the series (LOT X) stands alone as its own complete, autonomous work, Goldbaltt’s oblique and open-ended strategies shift into focus when juxtaposing this image with another from the series (figure 1). “Here the mirroring of the two images—in the symmetrical posing of the figures, the formal presentation, the repeated father/mother/daughter family group—draws them as much as the caption does into an inescapable alignment and dialogue that is fraught by the fact that one family is white, the other is coloured. Both elders are worthies in the Dutch Reformed Church—though not without qualification. What Goldblatt’s caption does not mention is that the coloured elder would have been the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk, the made-for-non-whites stepchild of the parent church. The coloured leader and his family would not have been allowed to attend services in the church of the white elder.”[2] The strength of this work (and indeed Goldblatt’s larger practice) is the subtlety of his persuasion: decisive conclusions or final pronouncements are left to the discretion of the viewer.
Kathryn Del Boccio
Sources:
[1] Krog, A. (2007). ‘…between the nose and the mouth. Perhaps more towards the eyes’ in Goldblatt, D. (2007). Some Afrikaners Revisited. Johannesburg: Umuzi-Random House, p.33.
[2] Powell, I. (2007). The Anxiety of identity and Some Afrikaners. In Goldblatt, D. (2007). Some Afrikaners Revisited. Johannesburg: Umuzi-Random House, p.20.
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: Modern & Contemporary Art, 3rd Nov, 2019
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.