Jacob Hendrik Pierneef. Ruins of Zanzibar. Lot 50. R3,000,000 – R4,000,000 (Image supplied)
- Pierneef is one of Africa’s top ten artists sold at auction between 2016 and 2021, with a total of 361 lots sold fetching $12.9 million (around R219 million).
- Works by the iconic South African landscape artist, including linocuts, etchings, drawings, watercolours, and caseins, will be auctioned by Strauss & Co on Tuesday.
- But it is two oil paintings that are considered highlights of the single-artist auction.
- The most valuable lot on offer, a 1957 oil depicting an abandoned villa in Zanzibar, is expected to fetch between R3 million and R4 million.
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Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef is placed among the top ten African artists sold at auction over the past five years. His works will, again, dominate a single-artist auction hosted by Strauss & Co on Tuesday.
Strauss & Co’s single-artist sales have proven to be a massive success.
Works by Namibian artist John Muafangejo, best known for his linocuts, woodcuts, and etchings, sold for almost R3 million in 2021, with more than 80% of lots being picked up during the dedicated “African Lion” auction.
The work of Irma Stern, Africa’s second-best top-selling artist, beaten only by Marlene Dumas, according to London-based research firm ArtTactic, fetched more than R32 million at a Strauss & Co auction in June. All 140 lots were sold.
South African landscape artist Pierneef is also ranked among the top ten African artists sold at auction between 2016 and 2021, with a total of 361 lots sold fetching $12.9 million (around R219 million). Some of these lots were sold at Strauss & Co’s “IN/SIGHT: JH PIERNEEF” auction in July 2021.
“Collectors have shown great interest in our niche artist-focussed sales,” said Alastair Meredith, head of Strauss & Co’s art department.
“All the works in our two single-artist sales devoted to JH Pierneef and Irma Stern found buyers, which is a fantastic affirmation of their enduring appeal and collectability. It was clear from the global response to our maiden Pierneef sale in 2021 that his stylised approach to landscape has wide appeal.”
A total of 71 Pierneef lots will be on offer at the virtual-live auction held in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The auction will feature linocuts, etchings, drawings, watercolours, and caseins. Two oils have been noted by Strauss & Co as highlights of the “JH Pierneef: En Route” auction.
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef. The Close of Day, Erongo Mountains, S.W.A. Lot 27. R2,000,000 – R3,000,000 (Image supplied)
The first oil painting, signed and dated 1936, is a work created during one of Pierneef’s frequent visits to Namibia. Pierneef’s portrayal of the Erongo Mountains northeast of Windhoek “has an excellent provenance, being formally owned by the storied Schweickerdt family of art dealers and patrons based in Pretoria” and is estimated to be worth between R2 million and R3 million.
“There is also a large work that draws on Pierneef’s final trip to Zanzibar in 1954. It depicts an architectural feature of Mbweni, a town on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, the main island of Zanzibar,” said Strauss & Co.
This late work by Pierneef, created just three years before his passing in 1957, is estimated to be worth between R3 million and R4 million, making it the most valuable lot on offer at Tuesday’s auction.
The 75cm by 90,5 cm oil on canvas, “Ruins of Zanzibar”, depicts an abandoned villa “seemingly from another era, with its evocative mix of flaking plaster, weather-beaten crenulations, and dazzling, rampant vegetation.”
Pierneef and Strauss & Co made headlines back in 2018, when a previously unseen painting, depicting a Stellenbosch landscape, sold for more than R20 million, far exceeding the original estimate of between R6 million and R8 million, achieving the second-highest price for a painting sold at auction in South Africa.
