Business Art

Auction News THE FACES OF THE STEPHAN WELZ & CO. JUNE PREMIER AUCTION

www.swelco.co.za

The Stephan Welz & Co. Premier Live Auction will be commencing on the 8th June 2021, running for three days and includes two art sessions. The sale offers a diverse collection of pieces and is sure to interest local and international collectors alike. The staff at Stephan Welz have been paying careful attention to our recent results, attempting to predict and identify trends in the market in order to present works to our collectors that reflect the current market and offer the best opportunity for investment. The resurgence of portraiture has been at the forefront of recent art trends and is appropriately reflected in the selection of works on the upcoming June Cape Town Auction. This includes increased interest in historical Continental portraits, as well as an increase in portraits being created by living contemporary artists.

Lucian Freud frames the importance of portraiture by stating ‘I think a great portrait has to do with the way it is approached ... it is to do with the feeling of individuality, and the intensity of the regard and the focus on the specific’. Historically, portraits were the only way to record someone’s appearance. However, portraits have long since been more than just a form of documentation, but have been vehicles to demonstrate authenticity and denote messages about the sitter. The process of creating a portrait not only reveals qualities of the sitter, but more importantly, reveals the artist through the sitter.

Flourishing in Renaissance Italy, commissioned portraits dominate a large portion of art history, with entire museums and galleries dedicated to the genre. While these historical portraits are seemingly simple depictions of a person, the choices made by the artist, including what clothing they wear, where they are found and what they are holding, are conscious storytelling choices. In Portrait of a Boy with Lace Collar (Lot 259), the chubbycheeked young boy is depicted in soft pastel with a rosey-pink complexion, which indicates good health. The boy is wearing a large lace collar and silk cap, which could be indicative of some special occasion or event— perhaps a christening— which this portrait was painted to commemorate. The luxurious fabrics and textures of the boy’s garments also indicate an impression of luxury and family wealth, as clothing was a significant indicator of class and stature within society at the time. The boy is also depicted with a certain seriousness, both in posture and expression, perhaps highlighting the family’s entrenchment of exemplary obedience, morals and discipline.

Similarly to most genres, portraiture radically transformed with the advent of modern art in the late 19th Century. While commissioned portraits became less and less common in modern painting, artists chose to represent people that held some significance in their lives. Picasso’s portrait of Benedetta Banco

(June CT) Lot 259, Continental School (18th/19th Century) PORTRAIT OF A BOY WITH LACE COLLAR, pastel on paper, R3 000—R5 000. Opposite Page: (June CT) Lot 420, Lionel Smit (South African 1982) PORTRAIT IN PROFILE, oil on canvas, R220 000—R320 000

(June CT) Lot 449, After Pablo Picasso (Spanish 1881 - 1973) MADAME RICARDO CANALS, 1905 from the BARCELONA SUITE, a proof before letters outside of the edition of 60, signed ‘Picasso’ in pencil in the margin, publisher’s dry stamp on the lower left corner of the print, offset lithograph, R50 000— R80 000

(July JHB) François Krige (South Africa 1913 – 1994), BOY IN BLUE, oil on board, R100 000 – R150 00

(Madame Ricardo Canals, Lot 449) was painted in 1905, having just abandoned his Blue Period in 1904, and on the cup of his Rose Period. Madame Canals appears striking, strong and intense, adorned in black mantilla, with a face of pastel shades and otherwise muted tones. She is a beautiful but peculiar work to be produced by the artist at this time in his oeuvre. He selects to use elements that are particularly Spanish, as if a nod to his good experiences in Barcelona. Picasso’s portrait of Benedetta indicates a shift in the approach to portraiture during modernist movements, and works like this would perhaps inform the reimagining of portraiture in contemporary art in the years to come. While many feel that portraiture in a contemporary context does not meet the need for context and symbolism, contemporary portraiture has been adapted to meet these demands and is more than just representational. In a world ruled by social

(July JHB) Marlene Dumas (South Africa 1953 – ), FACELESS, lithograph, R40 000 – R60 000. Opposite Page: (July JHB) Maggie Laubser (South Africa 1886 – 1973), PORTRAIT OF A MAN WITH WHITE MOUSTACHE, oil on paper on hardboard, R250 000 – R350 000

(July JHB) Hennie Niemann Jnr (South Africa 1972 - ), SUNDAY AFTERNOON, oil on canvas, R100 000 – R150 000

media, representations are all around us, and it may seem as though the individual has become less relevant in mass society. However, perhaps it is just the opposite. Contemporary portraiture sees depictions of a person through the eyes of an artist, with a more honest approach, and an attempt to show the otherwise invisible qualities of the sitter. Lionel Smit represents his subjects through his use of shades from throughout the colour spectrum to depict tone, depth and his sitter’s mood. Portrait in Yellow (Lot 419) consists almost entirely of yellow shades, with the rare streak of blue and grey increasing intensity and managing to portray a ghostlike countenance in this unusual hue. The Portrait in Profile (Lot 420) is almost entirely, and unusually for the artist, devoid of colour. Rendered in charcoals, Smit has achieved a somewhat pensive mood in his subject. The resurgence of contemporary and historical approaches to portraiture is further highlighted by the works on our upcoming Johannesburg Premier Online Auction, taking place in July. Works by Marlene Dumas and Anton Smit present an ironic and more three-dimensional form of portraiture, while Maggie Laubser, Francois Krige and Hennie Niemann Jnr capture their subjects in brilliant hues and dynamic brushstrokes. The Cape Town Premier Auction is live and open for registration, but keep an eye on our social media pages and website for the launch of this exciting Johannesburg collection.

For any enquiries contact us on 021 794 6461 or email info@swelco.co.za or whatsapp us on +27 72 145 6715

Auction News STRAUSS & CO

Rare botanical art and new contemporary paintings among highlights of Strauss & Co’s June sale

www.straussart.co.za

Strauss & Co’s forthcoming June sale of modern, post-war and contemporary art, decorative arts and wine includes an impressive line up of paintings from two important corporate collections, one offering a unique overview of Cape winemaking and its traditions, the other gathering an important grouping of South African women botanical artists. Due to commence on Monday, 31 May, the timed online-only sale includes a substantial offering of art, including important photos and ceramics, as well as a themed wine session that focuses on Stellenbosch’s best producers. The online sale concludes on Monday, 7 June 2021 at 8pm.

Strauss & Co is very fortunate to be offering an important single-owner collection of botanical paintings and prints by some of the most significant South African women botanical artists, including Thalia Lincoln, Auriol Batten, Barbara Jeppe and Gill Condy, who was the resident artist at the South African Biodiversity Institute in Pretoria from 1982 until her recent retirement. The selection of botanical art has been de-accessioned from a major financial institution’s corporate collection as part of a strategic repositioning towards contemporary art and will be offered in a dedicated session.

A particular highlight of the botanical art session is the 11 original watercolours by Ellaphie WardHillhorst produced for the 1994 monograph on the aloe-like genus Gasteria written by Ernst van Jaarsveld, an internationally recognized expert in the field of succulents. This collaboration between botanist and artist was a significant milestone in botanical publishing in South Africa at the time. Other notable lots include Auriol Batten’s striking Scadoxus puniceus, commonly known as the paintbrush lily (estimate R3 000 - 5 000), and three beautifully rendered depictions of irises by Barbara Jeppe (estimate R 3 000 – 5000 each).

Sam Nhlengethwa, Woman with Basket, collage on paper, 46 x 46cm, R 30 000 - 50 000

John Newdigate, Birds in Foliage, porcelain with underglaze pigments diameter: 37,5cm, R 15 000 - 20 000 Opposite Page: Auriol Batten, Scadoxus puniceus, watercolour and pencil on paper 27 by 20,5cm, R 3 000 - 5 000

Following on from the successful April sale of a tranche of works de-accessioned from the KWV Collection – highlights of which included Cecil Skotnes’ hand-carved and incised panel piece The Origin of Wine/The Epic of Gilgamesh, sold for R910 400 – Strauss & Co is pleased to offer a further consignment of works from this collection of post-war paintings rooted in the Cape region, its landscapes, people and industries.

The KWV Collection includes Carl Büchner’s Red Interior (estimate R35 000 - 50 000), one of two oils by this romantic humanist and student of Maurice van Essche. Fifteen drawings and watercolours by François Krige variously depict winemaking operations, such as ploughing and picking, as well as Cape landscapes. Other artists represented in this consignment include David Botha, Herbert Coetzee, Llewellyn Davies, Pranas Domsaitis, Zakkie Eloff, Amos Langdown, Kobus Louw, Alexander Rose-Innes, Edward Roworth and Gordon Vorster.

Reviewing the art offering in the forthcoming sale, Wilhelm van Rensburg, head curator and senior art specialist at Strauss & Co, has identified a number of pieces by contemporary artists worthy of consideration by collectors. They include Sam Nhlengethwa’s 2005 collage on paper, Woman with Basket (estimate R30 000 – 50 000), and five recent watercolours by Colbert Mashile. Painted in 2020, the watercolours (estimate R5 000 – 8000 each) feature a vibrant palette and represent a new departure from Mashile’s earlier initiation subject matter – three fine examples dated circa 2007-08 are also included in this sale (estimate R15 000 – 24 000 each).

Johannesburg-based Samson Mnisi’s 2013 work, Abstract Composition in Red (estimate R30 000 – 50 000), presents a quirky combination of abstract expressionism and traditional African scarification marks. Durban-born Louis Maqhubela, now aged 82 and living in London, is an important figure in the early development of an indigenous abstraction, and is represented in the sale by Abstract Composition with Birds (estimate R5 000 – 7 000), a chalk pastel and charcoal work from 1968. Strauss & Co is delighted to offer four hardwood sculptures by Michael Zondi made circa 1978-82. They include Two Figures (estimate R8 000 – 12 000 each), an elongated figure work in the style of Zondi’s Calabash (1963), first shown at the 1966 Venice Biennale.

Santu Mofokeng’s Paul Dintshi and Child: Sunday at a Shebeen (estimate R20 000 – 30 000) leads the photography selection. This important portrait was taken at Vaalrand Farm, Bloemhof, circa 1988, during Mofokeng’s association with the African Studies Institute at Wits University. Other contemporary photographers featured in this sale are Jane Alexander, Pieter Hugo and David Lurie.

Strauss & Co’s focus on modern and contemporary ceramics continues with a selection of works by celebrated makers Juliet Armstrong, John Newdigate, Hyme Rabinowitz, Clementina van der Walt and the collective at Rorke’s Drift. Newdigate’s Birds in Foliage (estimate R15 000 – 20 000) is a large porcelain dish decorated with his characteristic bird designs. Armstrong’s Ingcayi (estimate R15 000 – 20 000) is a very fragile porcelain depiction of a ceremonial cowhide pregnancy apron that includes gold leaf detailing.

Juliet Armstrong, Ingcayi (Pregnancy Apron), mixed media and bone china with gold leaf 45 by 49 by 5cm, R 15 000 - 20 000

(Detail) Walter Battiss, Liza, silkscreen on paper 61 by 48,5cm, R 12 000 - 16 000

Walter Battiss is a stalwart of Strauss & Co auctions and is represented in the forthcoming sale by delightful works connected to his Fook Island period. They include a bronze Fook coin (estimate R5 000 – 7 000) and two Fook T-shirts (estimate R2 000 – 3 000). The sale also includes a number of Battiss screenprints, notable among them Liza (estimate R12 000 – 16 000). A number of Battiss associates and collaborators are also represented. They include Carl Büchner (Harlequin Boy, estimate R8 000 – 12 000), Norman Catherine (two posters, estimate R3 000 – 5 000 each), Braam Kruger (two lots of artist and model drawings, estimate R3 000 – 4 000 each) and Rupert Shephard (Landscape, estimate R6 000 – 8 000).

“Büchner taught with Battiss at the Pretoria Art Centre for a decade, until 1954, and Shephard was a good friend of Battiss in the 1950s,” says Wilhelm van Rensburg. “Battiss and Shephard often exchanged works, like artists often do. Kruger, a maverick artist and culinary chef later in life, befriended Battiss as a young man in the 1970s, and like Battiss, was a compulsive drawer.”

Also worth noting in the sale is a selection of lots by Wolf Kibel, Charles Gassner, Judith Mason and Fred Page, all handled by legendary Cape Town dealer Joe Wolpe. They include Mason’s 1966 charcoal and pencil drawing Caryatid (estimate R7 000 – 9 000). Strauss & Co’s June sale will be held exclusively online and commences on Monday, 31 May, and concludes on Monday, 7 June 2021 at 8pm.

BROWSE > BID > BUY: www.straussart.co.za

Art News HOW WE PROVED A REMBRANDT PAINTING OWNED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA WAS A FAKE

First Published on www.theconversation.com

The paintings of Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn are displayed in prestigious art galleries in capital cities around the world.

One – a small oil painting on a wood panel depicting the profile of an old man in a hat and cloak – made its way to South Africa in the late 1950s. It was part of an extensive collection belonging to a Dutch businessman, JA van Tilburg, who emigrated to the country. In 1976 the work was donated to the University of Pretoria.

For decades, the work was attributed to Rembrandt, the world famous artist from the Dutch Golden Age of painting (15881672). After all, it had a good provenance. Provenance is the study of the history of an object after its creation. Typically in the case of a painting it would be the history of the ownership of the artwork.

The painting was documented as being part of the Warneck Collection, an important private art collection in Paris, as described in the book by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. But provenance research carried out in the Netherlands in 2015-2016 showed that the painting’s provenance to the Warneck Collection was in fact incorrect.

We work for University of Pretoria Museums and an academic unit called Tangible Heritage Conservation, the only one of its kind in subSaharan Africa. Here, over the last three years, we have developed analytical techniques to study the materiality of artworks and objects – all relevant information related to the work’s physical existence, including its history and conservation. In an effort to get to the bottom of the origins of this particular Rembrandt we started to do provenance research and then started to learn the techniques used in studying the works of Rembrandt on a technical level. In a research paper we concluded that the work previously accepted as a Rembrandt was indeed not by the artist.

The search

We could trace the painting back through 14 buyers and sellers by researching auction catalogues at the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History). The painting could be tracked all the way to 1899, when it was described as “surely authentic” by De Groot.

Several factors made us believe the painting might be original. Distinctive marks on the back of the frame, mention of an invoice in Rembrandt’s handwriting accompanying the painting at the 1889 auction, as well as expert reviews suggested that it could indeed be a Rembrandt, or at least from his studio. (It was commonplace for a master to have apprentices work in his studio and on his paintings.) There were even references to chemical analyses of the painting in 1941 by one of the time’s most eminent and earliest technical art analysis scientists, AM de Wild.

But, to determine whether the painting was in fact by Rembrandt, provenance research was not enough. It needed to be complemented by an art historical connoisseurship, which looks at a stylistic review. Are things like the style, colours and composition of the painting typical of the artist’s work? It needed to be backed up by physical evidence through technical art analysis.

Technical art analysis is not widely available in South Africa and there were challenges in taking the painting to Europe to be authenticated. The solution was to start developing local expertise. This included learning to use and understand techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, ultraviolet light and infrared photography to inspect the painting.

Using cutting edge technology we searched for fresh evidence about the painting’s authenticity.

The evidence

Authentication requires multiple steps to ensure all aspects of the painting point to the creator of the work. Photographs taken under ultraviolet light investigated possible retouching and restoration. Infrared imaging techniques looked for any under-drawings or compositional changes. X-rays identified structural components of how the panel was secured in its cradle – and the presence of a lead-based underground to prepare the panel, as well as lead white in the paint.

The wood panel was examined using dendrochronology, a method to date wood down to the year that the tree was cut down, in this case in the 1640s. An analysis of the individual pigments in the painting was also done using a handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.

All the results suggested that the correct elements were present in the painting, specifically lead, to place it in the 1600s, the time of Rembrandt.

But then the opportunity arose to bring in an X-ray fluorescence scanner, which combines X-ray fluorescence sampling with scanning technology. This can help determine the elemental composition of materials. The scanner allowed us to map the entire surface of the artwork, instead of relying solely on a handful of small areas to identify and characterise certain pigments – as was done using the handheld spectrometer. Now data could be analysed in layers, allowing for layers to be selected or removed from the digital map in order to look at the elemental distribution over the entire surface. A desktop scanner

“The attribution and age of these works when donated or purchased are simply believed, due to the lack of expertise in art authentication and the cost of sending them to Europe to be authenticated.”

was sufficient in the case of this small painting but the technology is the same as that used at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in their Rembrandt Operation Night Watch project.

Although the scanning picked up the same elements consistent with Rembrandt’s palette, these were in minimal quantities compared to what was expected and has been identified in other Rembrandt paintings around the world. Lead white should have been used in the preparatory ground layers and in the white paint, but only minimal quantities were present.

Zinc white was also present. This is problematic as it was only introduced as a pigment in 1834. In addition barium sulphate was found in large quantities. But mining of barium sulphate was only possible from the 1850s onwards.

The outcome

Thus, a creation date is only possible after 1850 when barium sulphate was introduced. This painting in the collection was thus made 200 years after Rembrandt. It remains unattributed.

Several collections in South Africa contain old master paintings like this one. The attribution and age of these works when donated or purchased are simply believed, due to the lack of expertise in art authentication and the cost of sending them to Europe to be authenticated. Proving that these works are not what they seem is likely to become more common.

Art News LAW

The E.U. Rules Against Banksy in His Trademark Fight With a Greeting Card Company, Citing His Own Statement That ‘Copyright Is For Losers’

It doesn’t appear to be a cheeky prank or a practical joke this time. The “Cancellation Division” of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) just issueda decision declaring a trademark owned by street artist Banksy invalid.

Further, an attorney says the mysterious street artist and his attorneys are themselves to blame. The “real nail in the coffin,” attorney Aaron Wood told the World Trademark Review in announcing the news on May 19, was the “public comments of Banksy and his lawyer.”

Wood represents a greeting card company known asFull Colour Black Limited, a specialty retailer of street art greeting cards, that went head to head with Banksy over its use of Banksy’s Laugh Now. One of the artist’s most famous images, the work shows a monkey wearing a sandwich board. Some versions of the image bear the inscription “laugh now but one day we’ll be in charge.”

The company officially charged with issuing certificates of authenticity for Banksy, known as Pest Control, first filed an EU trademark claim for the monkey sign artwork in late 2018. A year later, in November 2019, Full Colour Black fought back, and applied for cancellation of the trademark, arguing that it was filed in bad faith and that it was nondistinctive.

It was here that Banksy’s own MO came back to haunt him.

Full Colour Black claimed that the art is a work of graffiti sprayed in a public place— and EUIPO agreed. “It was free to be photographed by the general public and has been disseminated widely,” the ruling states. “Banksy permitted parties to disseminate his work and even provided high-resolution versions of his work on his website and invited the public to download them and produce their own items.”

Furthermore, in his 2007 book Wall and Piece, Banksy had said that “copyright is for losers.” The ruling notes that the street artist explicitly stated that the public is morally and legally free to reproduce, amend, and otherwise use any copyright works forced upon them by third parties. The artist has known for years that his works are widely photographed and reproduced by a range of third parties without there being any commercial connection between these parties and Banksy, the EU office found.

Another factor that played into the ruling was the fact that Banksy’s true identity remains a mystery. “It is also noted that as Banksy has chosen to be anonymous and cannot be identified this would hinder him from being able to protect this piece of art under copyright laws without identifying himself, while identifying himself would take away from the secretive persona which propels his fame and success,” the ruling states.

The ruling noted the connection between Banksy and Pest Control, but said “the evidence is not exhaustive in this regard as the identity of Banksy cannot be legally determined.”

Banksy might be in for more bad news in the weeks and months ahead. Similar trademark applications—including for another famous image, Flower Bomber—are pending. Wood said in total, there are five more cases before the EUIPO and he anticipates four of them being decided within the next month or so in the same way as this latest decision.

And the issues are not limited to the artist’s EU trademarks. Many of the applications filed by Pest Control Office around the world are based on registered rights within the European Union, so the EUIPO finding will have knockon effects.

“I believe the decision sounds the death knell for his trademark portfolio—at least in the European Union—and it raises the spectre of cases in other countries,” Wood told the World Trademark Review. “In the United States, for example, you have to make a declaration of your intent to use a mark and the effect of fraud is substantially more important. I dare say a finding that Banksy is a fraudster will not go down well.”

Art News HOLOGRAMS TO BEAM OVERSEAS GALLERISTS INTO ART BASEL HONG KONG FOR VIP CLIENT MEETINGS

Some exhibitors at Asia’s biggest annual art fair have found a novel way of meeting clients without braving Hong Kong’s twoweek quarantine rule for arrivals

Sales at the scaled down affair and other events this week will be watched for confirmation the top end of the global art market is holding up amid the pandemic

Art Basel Hong Kong, which opens its doors on Wednesday, will transport some overseas gallerists directly into the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition Centre, venue for the annual fair, via a groundbreaking, quarantine-dodging method: holography. The 2021 edition of Asia’s largest art fair features 104 galleries, about half the usual number; 50 per cent of them are operating satellite booths for which overseas exhibitors have sent over artworks but no staff. On Wednesday, when the fair opens to VIPs, some of these will conduct private “hologram viewing sessions” on site, with people such as Emi Eu from the non-profit Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI) “beamed in” to present highlights from her booth.

The return of Art Basel, which was cancelled in 2020, is partly down to the Hong Kong government’s eagerness to promote a business-as-usual vibe as the number of new

Covid-19 cases in the city dwindles. The art fair will be held at the same time as local fair Art Central and Christie’s Spring auctions at the Convention Centre, with all rent covered by the government’s “Anti-epidemic Fund”.

Hong Kong’s exhibitions industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic; visitors from China and overseas have not been able to enter since spring 2020 unless they have a work permit and are willing to put up with strict quarantine requirements.

With Hong Kong having relaxed social distancing restrictions this year, commercial galleries and auctions have reopened to the public. Lots worth HK$3.85 billion went under the hammer at auctioneer Sotheby’s spring sales in the convention centre last month, the second highest total on record for the company’s auction series in Asia. Visitors at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2019. Tickets for this year’s fair are sold out. About half the usual number of exhibitors will have booths at the event. Photo: James Wendlinger

Sales in Hong Kong this week are likely to confirm the strength at the top end of the international art market as the pandemic continues to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Art Basel Hong Kong is held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 19 – 23. All public tickets have sold out. Winners of the Post Magazine competition for Art Basel Vernissage tickets will be informed by email before May 20.

Art News ‘IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPARE 2019 AND 2021; IT’S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLD’: WHAT HAS SOLD AT ART BASEL IN HONG KONG

First Published on the artnewspaper.com bylisa Movius 21st May 2021

Aradically altered but still lively Art Basel in Hong Kong (ABHK) kicked off on Wednesday (until 23 May), with VIP visitors reaching full Covid capacity, limited to 75% of regular visitors, on the opening day. Turnout was bolstered by the Buddha’s Birthday holiday in the city. “Hong Kong is a small city, and [the Covid era] has the benefit that collectors are here, and not traveling like many would be in usual times,” says Henrietta Tsui-Leung, the co-founder of Hong Kong-based gallery Ora-Ora, showing six artists including Mai Miyake and Peng Jian at the fair.

“It’s nothing like normal, [but] what’s important is to have the core people there,” Art Basel’s global director Marc Spiegler says, speaking by phone from Switzerland. “We can’t have the same numbers at the opening, so it’s not crowded compared with last time, in order to stay within the [Covid] controls. It’s just that people are now not used to being in big crowds.”

Hong Kong can now boast zero community transmissions of Covid-19, but protective measures remain in place, including 21-day quarantines for the few people permitted to enter the territory. Besides the crowd controls and mask mandate; the checking of

Hong Kong’s contact tracing app; the lack of congregations above four people; a much grumbled about ban on vendors’ eating at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre; and the whittled down size (104 galleries compared with 2019’s 242), the absence of an international presence was the greatest transformation. Over half of the participants from overseas were operating “satellite” or “ghost booths”, run by temporary staff hired by the fair, due to the difficulty of getting into Hong Kong.

“It’s impossible to compare 2019 and 2021, it’s a completely different world. We’re happy about the numbers of galleries and people that came, and the sales both online and in-person,” Spiegler says. “Fundamentally, galleries feel that they are selling well, which is important. This is the first step, in exploring the hybrid model, and bringing back the cultural vibrancy of Hong Kong.” Big galleries are reporting plenty of the usual hefty sales, such as Joan Mitchell’s 1962 12 Hawks at 3 O’Clock at Lévy Gorvy gallery, which sold for around $19.5m. The gallery also sold works by Pat Steir, Tu Hongtao and Michael Lau on the opening day. Hauser & Wirth sold George Condo’s Blues in A Flat (2021) for $1.75m and Haunted by Demons (2020) for $800,000, as well as Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Broken Crowd (2021) for $595,000 to Shanghai’s Long Museum. Seoulbased Kukje gallery sold Le Ufan’s Dialogue (2020) for “in the range of $400,000-$450,000” and Park Seo-Bo’s Ecriture No. 970428 for “in the range of $250,000-$280,000”.

Hong Kong-based galleries are likewise ebullient at the focus put on the city’s art scene this year, including a poster campaign for the fair shot by the local artist Stanley Wong (aka Anothermountainman) of 26 art world figures including gallerists Tsui-Leung,

Anthony Tao and Amanda Hon, writer Vivienne Chow, and artists Yuk King Tan and Andrew Luk. Luk’s installation, in a focal spot of the fair floor, sold to Adrian Cheng’s K11 Foundation via de Sarthe Gallery, says its director Willem Molesworth, who also sold a work by the mainland collective Double Fly Art Center for $18,000. Another local gallery, Blindspot, saw works by Sarah Lai, Trevor Yeung and Sin Wai Kin (fka Victoria Sin) sell for between $5,000$30,000, plus Lam Tung Pang’s Meaningless No.12 (2020) for $60,000-$70,000.

“We were not censored [this year], and we’ve never been censored [in Hong Kong]” - Marc Spiegler, Art Basel’s Global Director

ABHK this year shares the convention centre with the Art Central fair (20-23 May) as well as a section for Fine Art Asia fair, which included an ABHK pop-up in its 2020 edition last November. Art Central highlights include Chan Wai Lap’s project The Lonesome Changing Room, exploring nostalgia and identity by recalling Hong Kong’s iconic public swimming pools. “Art Central is fun and energetic, both young and old,” Tsui-Leung says. “People have been researching quickly. I sold to some collectors in their 20s, and I can’t say they are knowledgeable but they are abreast of trends—like NFTs, good figurative art and bad figurative art,” she adds

Mainland gallerists with “ghost booths” in Hong Kong gave mixed reports: those able to get at least one regular staff member to Hong Kong claim to be doing brisk sales, while those entirely reliant on temporary staff aptly describe business as ghostly.

A Good Read OXFORD COLLEGE WILL NOT REMOVE CONTROVERSIAL STATUE OF BRITISH IMPERIALIST CECIL RHODES

Independent commission recommends contextualising the sculpture instead

First Published on the artnewspaper.com by Gareth Harris 20th May 2021

Oriel College says it has no plans to “begin the legal process for relocation” of the statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes following a report by an independent commission which recommended that the college should “now invest in understanding and contextualisation of its relationship with Rhodes”.

The commission, chaired by Carole Souter, was set up last year to assess the fate of the contentious sculpture by Henry Alfred Pegram which stands on the façade of the Oxford University college. According to the commission report, “in respect of the future of the Rhodes statue, a majority of commission members supported the expressed wish of the governing body to remove it”.

The lengthy list of recommendations put forward by the commission include agreeing a plan for “improving educational equality, diversity and inclusion within the college”. Crucially, it stresses that “if the statue and plaque are moved they could be relocated inside the college to a less prominent position”. However, it has rowed back on making any firm recommendations regarding removing the sculpture.

Oriel’s governing body says in a statement that it has “carefully considered the regulatory and financial challenges, including the expected time frame for removal, which could run into years with no certainty of outcome, together with the total cost of removal”.

Instead, “it is determined to focus its time and resources on delivering the report’s recommendations around the contextualisation of the college’s relationship with Rhodes,” and has agreed to establish a task force to consider the recommendations contained in the report. It plans, for instance, to “commission a virtual exhibition to provide an arena for contextualisation and explanation of the Rhodes legacy”. It will also fundraise for scholarships to support students from Southern Africa and “provide additional training for academic and non-academic staff in race awareness”.

Neil Mendoza, the provost of Oriel College, says in a statement: “We understand this nuanced conclusion will be disappointing to some, but we are now focused on the delivery of practical actions aimed at improving outreach and the day-to-day experience of BME students. We are looking forward to working with Oxford City Council on a range of options for contextualisation.”

However last June, the governing body voted in favour of removing the statue of Rhodes (the college launched the independent commission into the “key issues “ surrounding the contentious work at the same time). The governing body said in a statement that they “expressed their wish to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes and the King Edward Street Plaque [commemorating where Rhodes lived in 1881]. This is what they intend to convey to the independent commission of inquiry.”

Dan Hicks, a curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum and professor of contemporary archaeology at the University of Oxford, says that “the terms of reference of Oriel’s independent commission of Inquiry did not include making the decision about the removal of the two monuments… the next question is about the technical process and timetable of applying for Listed Building Consent.”

He adds: “Many will wish to hear more about what the college describes as the ‘complex challenges and costs’ associated with this

Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College, High Street Oxford

next step. Some may also call for the written submissions received by the Commission to be placed in the public domain, and to receive reassurance that there has not been any interference in this democratic process by politicians.”

The historian David Olusoga tells The Art Newspaper that all of the interventions announced by Oriel are welcome. “The legacy of Rhodes needs to be contextualised and details of what he did in Southern Africa, rather than merely what he said, need to be examined publicly. But the college could have done this at any time,” he adds.

“The lack of contextualisation of Rhodes, like the diversity and inclusion failures of the collage and the university could have been addressed years ago. This decision is part of a mindset that presents the addressing of modern-day inequalities as an alternative to addressing the fact that we live in a nation studded with memorials that celebrate the lives of men who committed terrible crimes,” says Olusoga

Campaigners from the Rhodes Must Fall group—inspired by the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol last year by Black Lives Matter demonstrators—say that the 19thcentury politician and diamond mining magnate represents white supremacy and supported apartheid-style measures in South Africa.

But the Save our Statues campaign group, described as a “coalition formed to protect Great Britain’s cultural heritage”, said on Twitter said it “would fight [any decision to remove the Rhodes statue] every step of the way”.

A Good Read THIEVES STEAL ROSARY BEADS CARRIED BY MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS TO HER EXECUTION

First Published on the artnewspaper.com bylisa Movius 21st May 2021

Aset of gold rosary beads clutched by Mary Queen of Scots during her execution in 1587 was among a number of treasures stolen from Arundel Castle in West Sussex.

Staff were alerted when thieves tripped an alarm in the medieval castle at 10:30pm on Friday. When police arrived on the scene they found around £1m worth of artefacts stolen from display cases in an area usually open to the public. Items taken include 16th-century coronation cups given by Mary to the Earl Marshal and gold and silver objects.

Police are examining a 4x4 saloon car which was found abandoned and on fire in nearby Barlavington. A spokesman for Arundel Castle Trustees said: “The stolen items have significant monetary value, but as unique artefacts of the Duke of Norfolk’s collection have immeasurably greater and priceless historical importance.” Arundel Castle, ancestral home to the Dukes of Norfolk, had only opened its doors to the public on Tuesday after closing for five months during England’s national lockdown. Of the rosary beads, West Sussex police said in a statement: “It has little intrinsic value as metal, but as a piece of the Howard family history and the nation’s heritage it is irreplaceable.” Mary was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire for her complicity in a plot to murder her cousin Queen Elizabeth I.

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