July Art Newsletter 2011

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Art E-Newsletter- July 2011

Trechikoff kry tweede lewe

Selfportret Trechikoff se Dying Swan

Hy is verguis deur die kuns-establishment, maar “die mense se skilder” is vyf jaar ná sy dood gewilder as nog ooit.

Dis te oordeel na die toestroming van belangstellendes na die eerste volskaalse uitstalling van werke van die kunstenaar Vladimir Tretchikoff in die Suid-Afrikaanse Kunsgalery in Kaapstad.

Sedert die opening van Tretchikoff: The People’s Painter op 26 Mei het aantal besoekers aan dié kunsgalery verdriedubbel, het die bestuur by navraag gesê.

“Daar is nuwe belangstelling in sy werk, veral onder die jonger geslag,” het mnr. Joe Dolby, kurator van afdrukke en sketse by die Iziko Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Kunsgalery, gesê.

Die galery kon nie presiese bgetal besoekers gee nie, maar “ons besoekersgetalle het meer as verdriedubbel”, het Dolby verklaar.

“Tretchikoff is al jare by baie mense ’n alledaagse naam. Hy is ikonies.”

Op sy webblad sê die galery die kunstenaar is “een van Suid-Afrika se mees omstrede kunstenaars”.

“In die 1960’s is hy erg verguis en daarna weer deur lede van die kuns-establishment gekritiseer. Hulle het sy werk as ‘kitsch’ en ‘pedestrian’ beskou. Tretchikoff se werk, asook kunsbemarking oor die algemeen, word egter nou geherevalueer, want daar was nog nooit enige ernstige evaluering van sy kuns en sy nalatenskap nie.”

Dit blyk, volgens die galery, dat Tretchikoff wat verdienste betref in die klas van Picasso was. “Een van die rykste kunstenaars. Hy het die idee begin om afdrukke van sy werk te verkoop wat dit vir die werkerklas moontlik gemaak het om kuns te besit.”

Die stad Kaapstad, een van die grootste borge van die uitstalling, het gesê Tretchikoff “was sy tyd vooruit met baie aspekte van sy kuns en van kunsbemarking”.

“Dié uitstalling bring die oorspronklike werke na nuwe kykers.

“Dis insiggewend dat die uitstalling in die Iziko Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Kunsgalery waarskynlik die belangrikste kunsgalery in die land, is. Dis ook ’n instelling wat nooit, tot vanjaar één van sy werke aangekoop het nie.

“Van die 1940’s tot die 1970’s het Tretchikoff ongeëwenaarde dekking in die media gekry en sy uitstallings hou steeds internasionale rekords vir bywoning. Tog het hy vyandige, venynige kritiek uit kunskringe gekry.”

Raport - 2011-07-09
Marlene Malan

Die kleindogter Natasha Mercurio-Tretchikoff by
Lady from Orient. Foto: Nasief Manie

West says: "Dis bitter jammer dat Vladimir Tretchikoff eers 5jaar na sy dood sy bekendheid verwerf het. Daar word vermeen dat Tretchikoff se werke nou in dieselfde klas as Picasso se skilderye aanvaar word! Kan U dit glo? 'n Man wat deur sy hele lewe amper geen erkenning vir sy werke gekry het nie; behalwe dat dit as "Kitch" en "Pedestrian" beskou was, word nou bestempel as "Vladimir Tretchikoff: The people's Painter". Hy was n baanbreker! Het u geweet dat Tretchikoff die eerste kunstenaar was wat afdrukke van sy skilderye verkoop het sodat die werkersklas sy werke kon bekostig? Wat n visie! Dit is waarom John West Art Galleries bekostigbare skilderye van kunsstudente beskikbaar stel. Kyk gerus op ons webtuiste vir "Student Art" en bekom vandag n mooi skildery vir u woning!"

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Pierneef and Frans Oerder. What to look for in Old Masters Part 3 of...

I enjoyed Oom Jan Middeljans so much! He looked at these paintings as if they where his own children. He knew every one by name. He knew every one's story. He knew when each of them was created and what inspired Pierneef while he was painting them. "There were some paintings of Pierneef that were completed but that were not signed by him personally. These paintings were identified by Pierneef's wife and were later "print-signed". These Pierneef's haven't lost their value in any sense! They are also incorporated in the National Cultural History Museum as you see here." Oom Jan told me.

"In England Pierneef did some African scenes.

Pierneef Home Stead Pierneef Manbre England

I asked Oom Jan Middeljans:"If you were to say in which years were Pierneef's best paintings produced, which would it be?" "1922-1924" came Oom Jan's stern reply.

Pierneef 1923 Pierneef 1924

Pierneef Pietersburg 1924

This Landscape was done in 1921 of trees in a Pretoria landscape.

Pierneef Trees in a Pretoria Landscape (1921)

This was done just before he went to Namibie. This is a tree study and it was sighned in the right upper corner of the painting. "Pierneef couldn't walk very far. Pieter Wenning on the other hand was just the opposite. Pieter Wenning sometimes walked from Gezina (central Pretoria), where he stayed, to Bonaccord dam, North of Pretoria, and painted there in the veld. This might very well be a 30km walk for the day. Pieter Wenning then looked for an eye pleasing scene and painted freehand. Pierneef couldn't do this. Pierneef did sometimes sit in the veld and paint, but he mostly took a picture of a capturing landscape- trees, clouds- and then painted them in his studio.

Pierneef studio

It was in this studio that most of Pierneef's famous works were produced. He also made a painting of his own studio.

I include another beautiful landscape of Pierneef,

Pierneef Thabazimbi tree and landscape study

and also his last painting.

This was done from Roodeplaatdam. I am very proud of this piece of information because John West Art Galleries are about 5km's from Roodeplaatdam!

Pierneef Last Painting

The following painting is of a "Wilde Peer-" or "Drolpeer" -tree.

Pierneef Drolpeer Tree

According to Oom Jan Middeljans, these two tree studies are Pierneef's best tree studies!

Pierneef Ysterhout Boom Pierneef Krimetart Boom

This is an East Free State, Golden Gate scene done by Pierneef

Pierneef Goldengate

Oom Jan has shown me that Pierneef has used a specific red colour over his lifetime. Whenever we see a different mixture of that red, we know that that specific painting is a fake. Oom Jan showed me a fake Pierneef that was brought in for valuation at his house, and we double checked those red colours and saw that that painting was a fake. Its value is zero! The collector of that painting was very sad. He bought a fake Pierneef from an Auction House. This is why we suggest that you invest in art bought from John West Art Galleries. We are experts in Old Master Art. I have contact with many a curator in South Africa of which Oom Jan is the best. He confirms that all our investment art in original!

In the next photo we can see that Pierneef bragged with his still life photos-this was a mixture of African and European.

Pierneef Potte

Attached is Pierneef's sole painting of a black man.

Remember that Pierneef was a Nationalist and Boere Afrikaner. He was not a liberalist as Irma Stern and Maggie Laubscher. He believed in his culture, his language, his heritage, his nation and in his future. This is why I prefer Jakob Hendrik Pierneef above Irma Stern, Maggie Laubscher and all the liberals. This is why Nelson Mandela is such a world icon. He fought for his culture, language, history, nation and future. People tend to admire these qualities!

Pierneef Swartman

This concludes our article series of "What to look for in Old Masters". I hope that you are now more familiar with the paintings of Pierneef and that you will know in which of Pierneef's scenes you can invest. John West Art Galleries is up to date with his paintings and we can advise you as investor or collector in which to invest and what to pay for each. Call 082 929 5124 and get the best advice in Old Master Art!

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Irma Stern rekord verdubbel

Kenners meen rekord gaan spat

Die skilder Irma Stern se Suid-Afrikaanse rekord vir 'n werk van 'n plaaslike skilder gaan volgens kundiges deur een van haar eie werke verpletter word.
Me. Bina Genovese, uitvoerende direkteur van Strauss & Kie. het die skildery. Twee Arabiere, beskryf as "een van die belangrikste, indien nie die belangrikste, skildery wat in die laaste dekade in Suid-Afrika op 'n veiling te koop aangebied gaan word"

Die veiling van Strauss & Kie vind in September maand in Kaapstad plaas.
Stern se Swaardlelies hou tans die Suid-Afrikaanse rekord van R13.3 miljoen vir 'n plaaslike skildery. Twee Arabiere se waarde word deur kunskenners tans op tussen R20 miljoen en R25 miljoen beraam.

"Dit is nog baie vroeg om die beraamde pryse publiek te maak omrede Strauss & Kie nog nie die bemarkings veldtog begin het nie. Ons verwag egter groot belanstelling in die Suid-Afrika en die internasionale mark, " sê Genovese.

Die Twee Arabiere word in sekere kringe beskou as meer belangriker as twee ander werke van Stern wat haar tans die wereldrekordhouer vir 'n Suid-Afrikaanse kunswerk maak.

Die Arabiese priester is vir R33,4 miljoen en Bahora Girl vir R26 miljoen in Londen opgeveil. Twee Arabiere is in dieselfde tydperk as die twee wereldrekordhouers geskilder - 1939.

Beeld - 08 Julie 2011

West says: "Ek stem saam met Mnr Stephan Wel. Die "Twee Arabiere" wat deur Irma Stern geskilder is, is haar meesterstuk. Die skildery sal dalk Stern se vorige "Swaardlelies" rekord(R13.3mil) laat spat! Hulle beweer dat die skildery se waarde tussen R20mil en R25mil is. John West Art Galleries beoog om u op hoogte te hou van hoe die veiling verloop het en watter prys die skildery behaal het, wanneer hy opgeveil gaan word in September 2011 in Kaapstad. Onthou dat John West Art Galleries sulke klas beleggingskuns aanhou. Ons het tans n pragtige Transvaal Landskap Pierneef in voorraad wat vir u belastingvrye rente sal bekom! Skakel West vandag op 082 929 5124."

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Business Art

SA Art Times July 2011

West Says: "I am so glad to have confirmed with Sukanya Rajaratnam, director of New York Art Gallery L& M Arts, that we have experienced that the art market is feeling very solid- not crazy-but very solid. He confirmed this just after the Basel, Switzerland Art Fair. "In times of low interest rates, many investors seek to diversify their portfolios..." I like this a lot! It means that investors are buying investment paintings and cashing in on a capital gains tax free investment! This is what John West Art Galleries have been saying for the past 8 years. Buy investment art now. Did you notice that there was over 300 private jets that landed at Basel airport during this Art Fair? Rajaratnam also said: "With currency volatility, cash earnings next to zero and inflation at 4.5% in London, a lot of people are looking at art right now as a safe haven for their money". I agree, Sukanya. "The emergence of super-rich Chinese investors and collectors has been a major factor behind the surge for Chinese art as well as for "blue-chip" Western names like Picasso". Remember that in the Article about Tretchikoff, Tretchikoff is said to be in the same class as Picasso! This means that our South African Art is on the same level as the world's best artist! Invest in Corne Weideman, Conrad Theys, Hennie Niemann, Christiaan Nice, Adriaan Boshoff, Chris Tugwell, Andre de Beer, Marie Vermeulen Breedt, Danie Smith, Jean Abri, Willem Boshoff, Errol Boyley, Wessel Marais, etc from John West Art Galleries."

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Specials

The following paintings are on a Newsletter Discount of 10%

Sonya Meyer, 91cm x 91cm, Blomme, R14500-00	Sonya Meyer, 91cm x 91cm, Viool, R14500-00
Hentie Meyer, 45cm x 60cm, Kaap, R8500-00	Bosch, 75cm x 90cm, Landskap 2, R25 000-00
Jean Abri, 75cm x 100cm, Sit en Wonder, R25000-00	TUGWELL, 51cm x 76cm, LANDSKAP, R38 000-00
TUGWELL, 61cm x 91cm, LANDSKAP 2, R47 000-00	TONY DE FREITAS, 60cm x 90cm, HUIS MET WATER, R13 500-00
PAUL MUNRO, 61cm x 91cm, SEE TONEEL, R9500-00	PAUL MUNRO, 61cm x 91cm, LANDSKAP MET WINDPOMP, R9500-00
MICHAEL ALBERTYN, 61cm x 91cm, HUIS MET WINGERD, R12 500-00	Eugene Hurter, 50cm x 75cm, Golden Gate, R5500-00

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Willem Boshoff at Basel, Switzerland

DUBUL'IBHUNU

Willem Boshoff

2011

A wall piece framed in white brushed Meranti wood, with an extruded acrylic front and a base of pine plywood 1260mm (h) X 2480mm (l) X 110mm (thickness)

The main artwork consists of a paper collage with text reflecting ±1,000 farm murders out of a total of more than 4,000 committed in South Africa from 2000 to 2011. The entries of murdered people are recorded verbatim from websites located on the internet.

Thin blades of Imbuia wood are incised into the text

Essay – Willem Boshoff 2011

DUBUL'IBHUNU

I entertained a few overseas guests for dinner. A pair of poultry shears and a paring knife lay on a plate next to the succulent chicken. When I tried to explain to the visitors that we’ve had more than 4,000 people killed in the last ten years in violent farm murders, they seemed to blank out. The statistic did not affect them at all. I then tried to impress upon them graphically how people were tortured by picking up the shears and holding them to my hand, demonstrating how fingers are cut off as a means of extracting banking details. I also picked up the carving knife and whilst cutting it into portions of chicken explained how the soles of people’s feet are hacked off. They looked at me in sheer horror. I think it was when I also picked up Sparky my Yorkie dog and pointed at the microwave nearby, explaining that small, noisy dogs caught up in these acts are cooked alive, that my guests lost it. One large man choked on his beer whilst the others only managed to toy with their food for the rest of the time.

I am a white man and I live in Kensington, in Johannesburg. People are getting killed around me all the time. Although we are used to it, it always comes as a shock if one actually knows the person who has been killed. I am particularly saddened by it all because some of my own friends have been buried because of crime.

My white associates and I were told to shut up about the crimes. We are not to portray our country in a negative manner in overseas countries and we are to reflect a positive attitude, especially to foreigners. White people complaining about crime are branded as racist. This was made very clear in the speeches of president Thabo Mbeki in 2004. The making of my artwork DUBUL’IBHUNU does not meet with approval.

When apartheid came to an end at the beginning of the 1990’s many freedom songs from years of struggle were in existence. Aw Dubul'ibhunu was one of these songs. The words dubul’ibhunu! mean ‘kill the people who farm the land’ or ‘murder the whites’. Ibhunu refers to whites in a derogatory way. It is related to the Dutch word boer or ‘farmer’ but in black South Africa the word is a pejorative slur. It denotes a white person in much the same way that Nigger denotes a black person in America or Kaffir a black man in South Africa. It is a cruel, insulting word that causes deep hurt when used in a way the song does.

The toyi-toyi is a wayward, yet rhythmic way of jumping up and down in defiance, a taunting kind of protest dance. I am especially upset when I have to look at the singing of dubul’ibhunu! on television, accompanied by much toyi-toying when I am trying to cope with the violent death of a loved one.

Senseless deaths always cause an outcry. Some acts of terrorism are met with severe reprisals. In my country the death toll for violent farm murders committed over the last ten years currently (May 2011) stands at more than 4,000. Because the murders are increasing all the time we currently have to deal with the deaths of between five to ten people every day. These cruel farm deaths are not a priority for the government who fears that it may loose votes if it becomes preventative of crime committed to white victims – it might create the impression that it is sympathetic to a white cause. Together with the ANC Youth League the ANC government is currently defending the right to sing dubul’ibhunu! in a few court cases. Rock star Bono joined in the dubious festivities when he performed the song earlier this year (2011) on his South African tour.

The official death toll for the September 11 attacks in New York City is 2,606. The number of British soldiers who died in Iraq since the invasion in 2003 to date (May 2011) is 179 – the number for deaths in Afghanistan is 365.

In 2005 the Irish Republican Army gave up its entire arsenal of weapons, demonstrating that its 35-year campaign to overthrow Northern Ireland by force was really over. The death toll reads: Killed 638 British security forces members; 640 civilians, most Protestants; 273 police officers in Northern Ireland, six in the Irish Republic and five in England; 149 of its own members, either accidentally in explosions or deliberately as suspected traitors; 28 members of outlawed Protestant paramilitary groups; 23 prison officers; 12 members of rival anti-British paramilitary groups; and one Irish soldier. The total is 1775.

Ironically South Africa holds few world records of any kind, but its going all-out to beat the world record, currently held by Honduras, for the most violent murders per capita cannot be good.*

Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)