17th Jun, 2018 18:00
Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art
77
David Goldblatt (South Africa 1930-2018)
Johannesburg from the Southwest
archival pigment inks on 100% cotton rag paper
Artwork date: 2003
Signature details: signed, dated 12 July 2003 and numbered 2/6 in pencil in the margin
Exhibited: Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 1910-2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective, 15 April to 15 September 2010, another example from the edition exhibited.
Literature: Vladislavic, Ivan. (2010). David Goldblatt: Johannesburg Photographs 1948–2010. Cape Town: Random House Struik, another example from the edition illustrated in colour on p.266.
Sold for R318,640
Estimated at R200,000 - R300,000
archival pigment inks on 100% cotton rag paper
Artwork date: 2003
Signature details: signed, dated 12 July 2003 and numbered 2/6 in pencil in the margin
Exhibited: Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 1910-2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective, 15 April to 15 September 2010, another example from the edition exhibited.
Literature: Vladislavic, Ivan. (2010). David Goldblatt: Johannesburg Photographs 1948–2010. Cape Town: Random House Struik, another example from the edition illustrated in colour on p.266.
(1)
image size: 98.5 x 123 cm
Notes:
Goldblatt’s legacy is assured in South African art history. His work has always reflected a dual agenda: firstly he is a social documentarian, his images full of poignant reflection on South African inequalities and foibles. Secondly he is an artist, those same images are carefully composed and constructed to convey the emotion of the scene. This is particularly true of his landscapes, which are often concerned with what constitutes a sense of place, of belonging, in this country. This view of Johannesburg, his home town, provides a starkly dramatic examination of the alienation and division that has always characterised the city. The tin-roofed shanties in the foreground, shakily erected at the foot of the looming electricity pylons, are cut off from the skyscrapers of the old CBD by a wall of land. This barrier is itself a remnant of the city’s history as a monument to mining capital – the ‘city of gold’. Goldblatt’s eye is unerring – the composition of the scene immediately and powerfully elicits the inequality on which the city is built.Leon Krige’s large scale photograph in many ways perfectly complements Goldblatt’s image of the city. Krige specialises in the elevated view, and often depicts Johannesburg at night. But his view across the old financial services district of Diagonal Street, taken roughly from the Northeast, offers the city as a sleek, bejewelled and sophisticated EveryCity, with little outward sign of the degradation and squalor in Goldblatt’s work. The information that the image is taken of the city after a ‘massive storm’ points to the clarity of the atmosphere which marks his visual understanding of the city. It is a considerably more optimistic position than Goldblatt’s.
James Sey
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Auction: Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art, 17th Jun, 2018
In a slow and unresponsive market, amid tight economic conditions generally in South Africa, Aspire Art Auctions made impressive statements and set several world records.
Two rare works by Irma Stern achieved sparkling results. The top lot by value: Still life with magnolias, apples and bowl (1949), fetched R6 828 000, the highest price achieved for a work by Stern for over a year. Another significant still life, Still life with chrysanthemums in the artist’s handmade ceramic jug, from 1950, sold for R3 414 000.
A significant, world record was achieved for Peter Clarke – R1 479 400 for Lazy Day, an acrylic and gouache on paper from 1975, and records were also set for contemporary artists, Zander Blom and Paul Stopforth.
Viewing
Thursday 14 June 2018 | 10 am – 5 pm
Friday 15 June 2018 | 10 am – 5 pm
Saturday 16 June 2018 | 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday 17 June 2018 | 10 am – 5 pm
HIGHLIGHTS
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