ART TIMES

THE SOUTH AFRICAN

Maud
December 2009 - January 2010
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CAPE TOWN JOHANNESBURG
Decorative and Fine Arts Decorative and Fine Arts
Tuesday and Wednesday April 2010
23 & 24 February 2010 Entries close early February 2010
Enquiries: 021 794 6461 Enquiries: 011 880 3125

The Great Cellar, The Alphen Hotel, 13 Biermann Avenue

Alphen Drive, Constantia 7806 Rosebank 2196
PO Box 818, Constantia 7848 PO Box 52431, Saxonwold 2132
ct@swelco.co.za jhb@swelco.co.za

Erik Laubscher STILL LIFE WITH MANDOLIN, MUSIC SCORE AND FRUIT R1 120 000
Stanley Pinker SUNTAN R672 000
Maurice van Essche INTERIOR, CAPE R672 000
Cecil Skotnes THREE STANDING FIGURES R873 600

www.swelco.co.za
South African Art Times. Dec 2009 - Jan 2010 Page 3

The 2009 auction year in review

By Michael Coulson
Just how big is the SA art auction
market? Well, the only thing you
can be sure of is that any pub-
lished figures -- including those in
this article -- will be wrong. Some
reasons for this are unavoidable:
on the one side, it’s not uncommon
for works not sold on the night to
be sold afterwards by public treaty;
on the other, buyers caught away
by the excitement of the night may
subsequently renege (as appar-
ently happened in large numbers
at the Paris sale of the collection of
the late Yves St Laurent).
R52m for the year, while I make it
slightly less, at about R48.5m.
Rosewitz, incidentally, tells me that
Swelco’s total turnover (all depart-
ments) in 2008 was R180m, so
it certainly took a big knock from
Strauss. He admits Swelco had
to cut its dividends but says it’s
still profitable and well capitalised,
flatly denying market rumours a
couple of months ago that he and
chairman Mark Kretschmer had
had to put in more capital. Turno-
ver is back to where it was in 2006
when they took over, which was
50% up on the previous year. -
SA art but arguably not part of the
SA art market.
Errors and omissions excepted,
these figures are remarkably
symmetrical. They show that in its
first year Strauss & Co captured
as near as dammit 50% of the art
auction market with the balance
split equally by Britz and Swelco .
Remarkably, too, some 45% came
in two of the first three sales of the
year, Strauss’s inaugural sale and
the Kebble sale. These were for
different reasons one-offs.
gest, indicating the impact this
newcomer had. However, even
it may not be immune from hype:
Strauss claims its sales topped
R100m. By my count, it grossed
just R91.5m from art, with another
R4.8m from its first furniture and
silver sales, at its Cape sale.
In a review of its year, Strauss
chairman Elisabeth Bradley cites
some of the artists for whom the
house achieved record prices:
Anton van Wouw, Irma Stern,
Jean Welz (father, of course,
of Stephan), Wolf Kibel, Frans
Oerder, Freida Lock, Dorothy

Neither of these events can be

captured in the price lists auction
houses put out immediately after
the sale, which are what media
reports and the houses’ own PR
releases are based on. Nor are
they generally publicised later,
the failed “Tretchikoff” at Graham
Britz’s sale of the Brett Kebble col-
lection being a rare exception. The
first event means that reports are
understated, the second that they
are overstated.
Then, allowance must be made
for publicity-related hype. In
November, consultancy Artvault
estimated Stephan Welz & Co
(Swelco)’s art sales to that date at
R40m. Swelco told the Financial
Mail that they were in fact R55m,
with another R15m expected in the
November sale.
When I asked Swelco deputy
chairman Jack Rosewitz what
Swelco’s total 2009 turnover was,
and how much of it was art, he put
the total at R100m, of which about
R80m was art. By both Artvault’s
and my calculations, this is a sub-
stantial overstatement. Artvault’s
figure would gross up to about
By my count, there were nine sales by the three major auctioneers in 2009, summarised in the table below:
Month House Venue Sold by number# Sold by value* Gross revenue+
March Strauss Jhb 87 123 37.0
April Swelco Jhb 83 70 6.0
May Britz Jhb 92.5 101 50.6^
May Swelco CT 79.5 76 7.6
Aug Swelco Jhb 71 75,5 7.8
Sep Strauss Jhb 73.5 102 23.5
Oct Strauss CT 83 75.5 33.5
Oct Swelco CT 70 93 14.8
Nov Swelco Jhb 77 107 12.3
Total 193.1
- This compares with a grossed- The Kebble sale was unique, and Kay, May Hillhouse and Edoardo
up figure from Artvault of about there can be no doubt Strauss’s Villa. As highlights, she mentions
R235m, though they work on Stephan Welz pulled out all the R7.24m, a world record for a Stern
hammer prices while, in line with stops and used his unequalled still life, R5.57m for Stern’s por-
international practice, my prices contacts to ensure an unprec- trait Carla, a world record both for
include buyer’s premium. On a edented event. But for this, some the artist and an SA sculpture of
comparable basis, the Artvault of the lots may have been held R946 900 for Van Wouw’s Noitjie
figure would probably be some- back from 2008, others may have van die Onderveld and a record
where above R260m. Artvault appeared later in the year and oth- R1.225m for Jean Welz’s Still Life
also includes some (but not all) of ers may not even have come on to Cezannesque.
the minor houses, like Pretoria’s market at all.
Bernardi Bros, as well as sales in Continued in Business Art
London, which it puts at R45m and Still, after Kebble, Strauss’s
are no doubt part of the market in sales were the year’s three big-

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 Erik Laubscher
Page 4 South African Art Times. Dec 2009 - Jan 2010
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

Landscapes and legacy

This December, the artist, cultural activist, educator and big-time contributor
to the local artistic scene can, with satisfaction (and no doubt a degree of
A long-awaited biography and retrospective at nostalgia), look back at those heated days. He’ll have good reason, for his
SMAC Art Gallery, Stellenbosch long-awaited biography has finally been elegantly published, and a decent
retrospective exhibition is accompanying the launch at the SMAC gallery in
Stellenbosch.

For all his importance in South African art, up to now no book has been
published about this man who started the famous Ruth Prowse School of
Art (1971), founded the Artists’ Guild, the Artists’ Gallery (1965), the
Cape Arts Forum (1980), and served for many years in the then dynamic
SA Association of Arts.
His art, its themes and execution, have not been thoroughly engaged with
from an art-historical point of view. This is put right by Erik Laubscher: A
Life in Art by Hans Fransen. Accompanied by the retrospective, it has been
published by the SMAC where the exhibition continues until
February.
Fransen’s book finally records Laubscher’s personal history, and it tells a
colourful and adventurous story. The book also has contributions by Elsa
Miles and Abraham de Vries.
If he couldn’t get the Cape Town city council to put up nicer Christmas
lights, Erik Laubscher’s contribution to the local scene is to be found in
many places.

One of the first things the hot-headed leader of the newly-formed Artists’
Guild did in 1979 was to appeal to the Cape Town city council to upgrade
the annual ‘festive lights’ in Adderley street to something somewhat better-
looking, and of a little more aesthetic worth. Three decades down the line,
the kitsch and silliness that stare us in the face in the Mother city’s main
drag this December, is sure to irritate Erik Laubscher as much as then.
(That fight against bureaucracy and foolishness was never won, but it was
only one among many he did walk out as victor.)
Many lollers on Sea Point’s promenade have been puzzled by the facade
of Bon Esperance, a tall, elegant apartment building on Beach Road. The
eye-catching mosaic facade of dancing spikes and spooky figures is Laub-
scher’s work, a memorable invention of 1958.
The 32-year-old artist, who had been taught and deeply inspired by the
famous French painter and teacher Fernand Léger, called it Terrazzo Mural.
It serves as apt Cape public marker. Also because the Laubschers had
been residents in the neighbourhood for decades. (He and his wife Claude
Bouscharain live famously in Green Point’s Cheviot Place.)
Another important public work hangs in the foyer of the Artscape performing
arts complex on the Foreshore. Commissioned for the inauguration in 1971,
the large bright and colourful tapestry is one of the few of those original
artworks that today still has an eye-catching presence.
Over the years, the artist has had numerous commissions and sold major
pieces to collectors. Among the public collections on his CV are those
of Sanlam, Sasol, the Iziko SA National Gallery, SABC, Standard Bank,
the Rembrandt Art Foundation, SA Reserve Bank, CSIR, Investec, KWV,
Telkom, Didata, and the Deutsche Bank. (A few years ago, the post office
used two of his paintings from the SANG collection on stamps).
 South African Art Times. Dec 2009 - Jan 2010 Page 5

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In February this year, Erik Laubscher turned 82. He is as breezy and
clear-eyed as ever and has keenly co-operated with Fransen on the book
and the curators of the SMAC show. Earlier this year, in March, he got a
shock. It made the news that a Erik Laubscher painting, the 1953 Still-life
with mandolin, sheet music and fruit, was sold to an unnamed buyer for
R1.2 million in a hotly-contested Stephen Welz & Co auction at Kirsten-
bosch. The Cape Times reported that the sale was a record-breaking
amount for a living South African artist.
The artist told the newspaper he was dumb struck. He had given the
painting to a friend, who was emigrating to England way back, as a gift.
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This is typical of the artist’s life-long generosity towards others.

Although the high price (these days, foolishly, a major marker of an
artist’s stature) was a surprise, it was a signal. For all its superficial mean-
ing, it put him in the limelight, and confirmed his cultural status.
The SMAC gallery, of course, had drawn particular public attention to
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Laubscher had made in 1969. Still-life with red pear, was included in a
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Frederik Bester Howard Laubscher was born in Tulbagh in 1927, and
the boy showed an early aptitude by making drawings of the town’s

May the miracle of Christmas

touch your heart
with peace and joy!

Mag die vreugde en vrede

van die Kersgety met u wees!

 

    



   

    
     


 

 
 What speaks to me is the silence of the spaces of the world, and not merely silence itself, but what lies behind it. That is why I paint snow and vast
stretches of water, and skies, and deserts…the “feeling” of it suggests another dimension, which is nameless. It is this feeling that I have tried to portray.
Maud Sumner
For most of her life Sumner travelled between three homes. Ollerset- the
colonial home of her birth and childhood, in Johannesburg, Eathorpe- an
ancestral home in Warwhickshire, England, and the various studio apart-
ments she kept in Paris and London. She said she “felt attached to each,
yet to a degree alien in all.” The fact that she was often abroad put her
out-on a limb from other South African artists of her time, and although
she did exhibit with “The New Group”- (having been invited by Walter
Battiss,) she is often left out of retrospective collections of their work.
Sumner was a loner and a traveller and her life and work are a reflection
of these two major influences: her external world (in which she was an
international citizen- long before the internet and jet planes) and her
internal world, which found her painting in solitary spiritual contemplation.
Sumner’s life as artist really began in Paris, when in 1929, she shared a
house in the Rue Boulard (which had two interlinked apartments) - with
Spanish cubist painter Maria Blanchard. Blanchard was an established
painter and very well connected. Sumner immersed herself in painting
with the guidance of Blanchard. She was privileged to spend time with
many of the artists who were pivotal to the development of pre-Second
World War art. According to Sumner’s Recollections of Paris (Published
by Apollo- October 1975) - the likes of “Henry Mattisse, Eduard Vuillard,
Severini and Claude came to the Rue Boulard.” During this time she
took lessons at various art schools and with individual masters, including
Born / Died Johannesburg 1902 - 1985
Supplement to The South African Art Times
a short apprenticeship with the Sculptor Naom Arendson. She was
eager to absorb as many compatible influences as possible. “I wanted
to get various ideas on art, not pick up the style of any one master, but to
find my own.” She wrote.
She had been drawn to Paris for years, but only once she had com-
pleted her masters in English Literature at Oxford and spent a year at the
Westminster school of Art in London, did she feel independent enough
to take the step. Her father had frowned upon of her dream of becoming
an Artist, insisting she get an academic training first. So once that was
done, she found a job teaching at a boy’s school in Paris until she was
supporting herself with her art. She wrote that, she found of Parisian art
–“a lively spirit of adventure- a richness in colour and perfection in taste
not found in the London school of painting.” She was passionate about
her art. It allowed access to part of herself, which she described both in
her poetry and her paintings: the spirit- like muse, whom she cherished,
and only met when there was sufficient peace and quiet and her mind
was clear of the fuss and clutter of daily practical things. She overcame
all obstacles in her need to paint, risking life and limb to paint in war, rain,
snow and desert winds. (When caught painting watercolours in the rain,
she is reported to have incorporated the raindrops into her painting as
washes.) In later life when she was crippled by a rare illness, (Guillaume
Barre Syndrome) the hospital chaplain encouraged her to paint again.
Making this breakthrough helped her make a remarkable recovery. She
continued to work and be present at retrospective exhibitions until her
death in 1985.
Analysis of the Artist’s work/ Key influences
A French critic Paul Giniewski dubbed Maud Sumner “The Great Painter
of Silence” This theme echoed throughout her career as a painter.
Just as in her life, she travelled regularly between the intimate social
settings of Europe and spacious landscapes of South Africa, Maud Sum-
ner’s work explored polarities in subject matter. In her intimiste stage in
the 30’s and 40’s, as influenced by the French Intimiste masters Vuillard
and Bonnard as well as her teachers Denis and Desvaillier’s, her works
in oils focused inward, mostly on cosy domestic interiors with bright pat-
terned fabrics and flowers, usually incorporating a figure or reflections of
herself in the mirror as some kind of enigmatic presence.
In the 60’s and 70’s she went to the other extreme, when she let go of
all boundaries and stretched outwards, painting from an aerial perspec-
tive- as if with a birds eye view- looking down at borderless wide open
sea, sky and desert. But between these two points of her journey, there
was an experimental phase in which she analyzed and played with rays
of light and planes of colour in a fragmentation of form to the point of
abstraction.
When Sumner returned to Paris after a 5 -year sojourn in South Africa
during the war, she was delighted by the new movement towards ab-
stract expressionism. “It was exactly like looking through a window into
a bright new sparkling country.” She recalled. She had taken lessons
with Roger Bissiere (a father of abstract expressionism) but had not been
ready to incorporate his methods into her work until this stage.
She used Bissier’s teachings in combination with the Rayonist technique:
exaggerating the reflecting rays of light playing off the natural lines of ob-
jects, thus creating facets of space to which she gave colour and texture.
She played with these principles of light and colour in studies of all her
subject matters from still lives and portraits to landscapes, discovering
the shapes and patterns created in nature, taking them to the edge of ab-
straction but never completely abandoning reality. Paul Bercot – a friend
and abstract painter also painting in Paris at the time, who was practicing
a similar technique, was important influence in her use of colour. The
method allowed her to suggest a fourth dimension through her work.
She developed this conceptual technique for a period of over 10 years
until the 60’s when the facets faded out from the elemental suns and
moons she was painting in the late 50’s into her desert-scapes of the
60’s and beyond into hyper-realism in the 70’s.
Artist’s Signature Style
In her earlier years in Paris, Sumner painted a number of portraits,
nudes, still lives and interiors in oil, however in terms of subject matter
it seemed that the idea of being all indoors was stifling as she always
included a window a door or a vase of flowers representing nature to
escape out of. In spite of all her work on “Intimiste” interior studies, it
was with water-colour snow-scapes, painted in England that she created
a stir at her first solo exhibition in Paris. Like English and French, water
-colours were like her mother tongue, and oils were the language her
study. She took oils more seriously, relishing their versatility and richness
of colour and texture. However, watercolors were a more comfortable
form of expression and a meditation for her (and more portable.)
As she adapted her technique to accommodate her mood and develop-
ing maturity, Sumner’s painting style went through a series of major
shifts. However, the fundamental character of her watercolours remained
almost constant. She was a sensitive artist, striving to capture the innate
character of whatever she was painting, whether it was a landscape, a
person, or a vase of flowers. The only notable change in her watercol-
ours, is that in the 60’s and 70’s, when she was trying to achieve a sense
of limitless space she abandoned the use of ink lines to accentuate form.
In her later years, Sumner found a happy medium between the abstract
and the figurative- having simplified the compositions, she sensitively
described mood and the essence of the place, abandoning the details.
She now used thin layers of paint applications resulting in a sense of
depth and dimension, beyond the veil.
 Portraiture
Portrait of Lippy Lipshitz - oil on canvas – After it was exhibited on the 1942
South African Academy, a reviewer for the Rand Dailey Mail called this painting of
the South African sculptor, “Provacative”. Saying that she “captured the essential
character of her subject and displays once more her happy knack of avoiding the
obvious in portraiture…a more deliberate technique might have lost her the subtlety
of the Puck-like smile.
Self-Portrait- 1933 (oil on panel ) the inscription on this painting dedicates this
picture to her father. Her confident, loose painterly technique in oils, shows that by
the age of 31, she had already begun to master her skill as an artist and possibly
wanted her father to accept her in this identity.
Portrait of the Artist’s Mother-
Sumner often found creative ways
to sign her work. In this portrait, she
has signed her name on the book her
(Top) The Painter, (Below) Self Portrait
mother is holding.
(Left) Drawing on rooftop, Johannesburg
Life in Paris
Muse, 72 Rue Notre Dame des Champs oil on canvas, Pretoria Art Museum.. In
this work is typical of her Intimiste phase, Sumner combines exterior an interior,
creating a tension of polarities-which add to the atmosphere and seem to describe
her state of mind. She includes a blurred reflection of herself as the artist in the
mirror, but the fragile seated figure of “the muse” is more dominant. Sumner often
used this doll- whom she named Louise- to personify the “whimsical muse” she
describes in her poetry. Sumner had a dramatic relationship with her “muse”-
claiming that she worked “inspirationally” rather than “intellectually,”
Annihilating All That’s Made To a Green Thought in A Green Shade, Oil on
Canvas. . “This is not deformation, but formation or creation, transformed: - like
a pot–as-its- individual–self to an object of art.” Said Sumner of this painting, in a
lecture on Modern Art in June 1950. In this landmark painting, which represents
a decisive shift away from her previous representational style, Sumner annihilates
space and depth of form – using white outlines to stylize and give the still life a
decorative design element-reminiscent of Mattiss and Georges Braque- who had
recently made an impression on her. (She met him at an opening and he invited
her to his studio.) The painting was described as “sensational advance of her past
achievement” by The Cape Argus 1950. (It was reserved for the Venice Biennale
of 1950.)
Red Venice- Oil on Canvas (Johannesburg Art Gallery) Sumner’s Rayonist-in-
spired technique of extending imaginary rays of light from the lines created by
forms to divide the painting in facets, and then finding criss-crossing planes of
colour in nature, is well illustrated by this painting of ships on water.
 Religious Work Inspiration from the Desert

Flight into Egypt – (oil on canvas) First shown in 1951, after the death of both
her parents, this bold painting is a statement of individuation. She breaks away Mary and Martha- oil on canvas.
from previous representational work using the Rayonist technique and bright Sumner’s interpretation of the conflict
colours in combination with this religious theme, it takes on the effect of a stain- between two types of humanity (and
glass window. The elongated donkey and rope are part of the deliberate horizantle has been interpreted as a portrayal of
emphasis, strongly crossed by the verticle figure of Mary and the baby. two very distinct aspects of her own
personality)- the one who seeks the
divine by contemplation and the other
who seeks it in action. However, most
mysterious is the reflection of a man’s
face in the mirror. Is he an admirer, Flight of the Flamingo’s- oil on canvas. Sumner used photographs as references for her desert paintings. This painting was
a lost brother, or could he be the shown on the exhibition in London in November 1969 entitled “Silence and Space.” She may have delighted in the way that
sub-conscious masculine aspect of the the collective birds in flight form the shape of a standing Flamingo, incidentally as they fly.
Artist herself?

Supper at Emmaus- oil on canvas . Created with the influence of her mentors at
Ateliers d’Art Sacre, Sumner permeates an every day scene, with religious undertones. (right) Pieta, oil on canvas

Sumner’s later Memory Paintings

Louise Writing a Love Letter – oil

on canvas – The Annunciation oil on
canvas, Union Buildings Pretoria. It is
a poignant reflection of an earlier work
“Louise writing a Love Letter.” She
has used the same setting – her trusty
mannequin muse Louise is seated in
deep contemplation, writing a mys-
terious love-letter, but in the memory
painting Sumner’s twinkle of humour
delights in zooming out to a broader
view of the room, to reveal an angel
standing near the table. Did Sumner-
who never married and remained a
lone traveller all her life, in painting
this picture want to show both her and
the world that she was not alone, and
never had been? Or was it a vision, of
her guardian angel making an appear-
ance at the sunset of her life.
Sun and Moon, Sahara – oil on canvas, Pretoria Art Museum. An example of her cosmic phase, in which she refined the proc-
ess of finding plains of colour and texture out of the lines of natural form, allowing them to play off each other in transparent
The Painter oil on canvas Johannes-
layers, creating an illusion of depth.
burg Art Gallery Painted around the
same time as “Muse, 72 Rue Notre
Dame…” except that it is reversed,
with the artist in the forground and the
manniquin in the background

(left and above) Sumner took

numerous trips into the Desert

(above ) Avion dans le Desert, oil

on Canvas (1953/4) Painted after her
first flight over the desert to Isreal.
The vantage point gave scope to
her the Abstracted style and concept
she was working with in playing with
Rayonist segmentation of shapes. It
marks the beginning of a new era - a
phase of cosmic paintings and desert
landscapes representing silence and
space- often from a birds-eye view.

(left) Still Life with Candle - oil on

canvas, Pretoria Art MuseumSumner
was eccentric in her signing and dating
of works. She hardly ever dated them
and sometimes did not sign them. This
The Listeners- Silence is the Deserts Song, One of her memory paintings, one is not signed, only dated -43- sig-
created near the end of her life. Sumner sits among a collection of her friends- (the nificantly the year that both her brother
people in the painting are recognizably close friends and family)- at what could be John and her great friend and mentor
a recital or church service. In the background the sun is setting on a desert horizon. Maurice Denis were killed.
By combining sketches with imagination – Sumner– made her dreams real through (above) Sumner in her studio, and at
her art. her retrospective show, Pretoria
Sumner’s Early Career
Sumner’s fascination and love for French culture and her early ground-
ing in the language was probably inspired by the French Governess who
home schooled the Sumner children in their Johannesburg home. She
was a bright, feisty individual with a mischievous sense of humour. When
a young Maud turned a whole bowl of treacle over onto her little brothers
head, her strict Edwardian parents decided that it was time for boarding
school! She was sent across town to Roedene girls school in Johan-
nesburg where she was privileged to receive her first formal art classes
from an excellent art teacher- who had trained at the Royal Academy in
London. She had begun painting at an early age - but at boarding school,
Sumner’s keen business acumen showed its colours. She began trading
paintings and sculptures, with school- mates in exchange for favours
such as having her socks darned!
Artistic Breakthrough
Sumner was set the road to being a professional artist, by her early years
in Paris at the Ateliers De Art Sacre. She chose this school not so much
because of its religious leanings, but because she loved the new style of
painting taught by the masters George Desvallieres and his co-founder
Maurice Denis, where every day scenes are permeated with religious
under tones- the enigmatic “Supper with Emmaus” is an example of this.
Sumner wrote in her memoirs: “Desvalliers and Denis complemented
each other as masters, the one being romantic and the other classic.
Desvalliers was full of enthusiasm, interested in the arabsque and hidden
emotion, Denis was more precise, a thinker, more able to explain to his
pupils what he meant… Nothing was too much trouble for these two men.
If their pupils were working seriously they were taken seriously.”
Through these teachers, Sumner immersed herself in studying the works
of Serusier, Roualt, Odilon Redon, Cezanne, Renoir, Vuillard and others
of the Ecole de Paris and reflected their influences in her paintings.
Maurice Dennis helped arrange her first solo exhibition in 1932 at Galarie
Druet. She showed 14 Water colours and 4 oils. After her friend- Maria
Blanchard, died, she returned to South Africa for a year. She held
successful solo exhibitions at Ashbeys in Cape Town and Lezard’s in
Johannesburg, receiving enthusiast reviews. She sailed back to Paris In
1934. Later that year, she sold 2 watercolours to the Hague Municipal Art
Gallery. In 1935 She held her first solo exhibition in London- showing 40
works. And In 1939, she became the first and only SA painter to have had
work bought for the State collection at the Jeu de Paume Gallery where it
hangs in the Museum of impressionist and Post impressionist art.
Middle Career
Her exposure to the great masters and the atmosphere of the Ecole de
Paris before the war, put her in a strong position to be among the first
South African artists to bring change South Africa’s art legacy. Sumner’s
work was easily accessible, even to a more conservative public, who may
have been averse to what they might have perceived as “vulgar” modern-
ist styles at that time. During the war years, Sumner held 16 exhibitions in
all the main centres of South Africa, and was seen by South African critics
as a representative of the French intimiste style. (Although she was not
actually the only South African artist painting in this style at the time.)
By the 60’s Sumner had become a very popular and well-recognised art-
ist, her painting selling out quickly at well-attended exhibitions in London,
Paris, Cape Town and Pretoria, and receiving rave reviews from French,
English and South African art critics. In 1971, she was presented with
the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns medal for paint-
ing. By this time Sumner had made the transition to painting wide-open
landscapes, and deserts and skies, in veils of transparent colour, which
proved very popular with the South African public.
Sumner’s religious public works are a part of her legacy often forgotten by
the art world. They grace churches and institutions all around the world,
from Nigeria and Whales to England and South Africa. One of her major
religious works being 14 oil paintings entitled “Stations of the Cross” for
St. Mary’s Cathedral in Cape Town in 1961.
Stylistically she was still working with elements of Rayonism but had
muted the tones and softened the lines. She makes expressive use of
the abstract Rayonist radiating lines, to show emotional energy of each
moment of the Stations of the Cross. For example they radiate sharply
out from the agonizing nail as in Christ’s Hand. They crumple tiredly in
on him as he is dying and circling round as he is laid in his mother’s arms.
Her intention was to make the story of the crucifixion real by presenting it
in a Cinematic style- so that the viewer would feel jostled along with the
crowd.
End
As her life progressed, the dimension of spirit, increasingly became her
focus. Her art became a form of worship. “My paintings speak, while
remaining silent.” She explained. “The noisier the world gets, the quieter
my pictures become. Quiet pictures are the perfect escape,” Sumner told
a reporter.
“Every artist is a witness of his time,” wrote Paul Giniewski- after her
desert paintings showed at the Jacques Massol Gallery in Paris in 1971,
“The best way to be part of your time is to give it what it lacks, and not
what it already has in abundance. Maud Sumner’s vision to this universe
of noise, confusion and clutter which leads to our destruction, is the vision
of virgin space, of nature without man.”
After recovering from Guillaume Barre syndrome – which left her wheel-
chair bound and almost voiceless due to a tracheotomy, she managed
her final “Memory paintings.” They were based on sketches she had
made in previous years of scenes in years gone by combined fantasy
scenario’s to create statements the ideal, sometimes with a twinkle in
her eye – her ever present sense of humour. (See Silence is the Deserts
Song and The Annunciation.) She used soft colours and lines- probably
because of her frailty, which gives them a dream- like quality.
Artist’s Commission: Stations of the Cross :
St Mary’s, Cape Town
Setting of paintings in St . Mary’s Jesus falls for the second time, Jesus falls
for the third time, Jesus is stripped of his clothes, Jesus meets his mother,
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross, Veronica comforts Jesus
Stations of the Cross
Maud Sumner was vehemently apposed to “pretty” popular church art: “ It
does nothing to confront people with the harsh facts of the Christian faith,
making no intellectual or spiritual demands on the viewers.” She said in a
lecture to the Kolbe Association in 1952. She felt a need to educate and im-
passion other Catholics about modern art, as she felt that they had become
lazy and stagnant in their choice of only the old masters. She called this
“mental laziness.”
Perhaps as a result of being so vocal about her opinions, she found herself
with the task of painting “Stations of the Cross.” When she was com-
missioned, she was warned by John Paris Director of the South African
National Gallery- who had been advising the Archbishop, that it would have
to be a “labour of love because the most they could pay was five hundred
pounds for the whole job – which consisted of 14 panels -each 90 by 90
centimetres.
She told friends that she was “terrified by the task,” but put her heart and
soul into the massive commitment. She consulted theological texts, sought
out other renderings of the “Stations,” and according to Frieda Harmsen,
“visited a Christian visionary to hear how she had visualised Christ’s
Passion.”
Sumner believed that “all art is Christian (or spiritual), whether the subject is
religious or secular because art is creative and therefore divine. “ Although
she did not see herself as a religious painter, she had earned a reputation
due to the public showing of two major works, painted while in deep mourn-
ing after the death of close family members; “The Pieta” after the untimely
death of her brother, (killed in action in Egypt in 1943) and “Flight into
Egypt” after the passing of both her parents in 1949 and 1950.) In the 50’s
she became more comfortable with painting religious works and designed
several stain glass windows for churches in Nigeria and Wales, as well as
two Madonna paintings for churches in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Sumner wrote that her intention in creating the 14 oil paintings describing
Christ’s journey to the cross was to “turn the focus on Chris –in an almost
cinematic idiom -for example there are two “close-ups,” She wrote in her
notes to elecudiate The Stations of the Cross, “I wanted to show it as His
saga-with the whole condemnation, journey and death of the Hero, giving
the spectator the impression that they are actually following Him on the road
to Cavalary. To do this I have varied the size of the Christ figure. When he
is near us He looks larger, and gets smaller as we are jostled back in the
crowd.”
The works correspond stylistically to the elemental works of dunes, suns,
moons, sky and water that she had been making in the late 60’s and early
70’s, in which she was still employing abstract techniques, she had begun
in Paris in the eary 50’s. However, her of Rayonist inspired style had
developed to a stage colour was more subtle and the radiating facets and
lines had softened and become intuitive tools of expression, movement and
mood. For example, the lines radiate sharply outward from the agonizing
nail as in Christ’s Hand, crumple tiredly in on him as he is dying and circle
round to echo the intimate moment as he looks sadly at his mother before
his crucifixion.
1953 - A year in the life of the artist
The early 50’s had been an emotionally and spiritually catalytic time for her. Her
brother had died in the war and her both parents died within a few months of each
other in 1949 and 1950. Ollerset, her childhood Johannesburg home was donated
to the Silesians who converted it into a convent, day care centre and shelter for
homeless. She drew on religion for comfort in this time of confusion and worked
a lot with religious subject matter. ( See “Flight into Egypt”.) She became much
bolder in her use of Rayonist principles, using natural lines to divide the picture
in coloured facets, and moving further towards abstraction, although she was
not comfortable with letting go of reality. It is likely that she drew confidence and
inspiration from her colleague, Alfred Mannessier- an abstract expressionist and
fellow pupil of Bissiere, It is not known what kind of personal relationship existed
between them, but according to Frieda Harmsen- author of “Maud Sumner- Painter
and Poet”: “They were soul mates in that both were drawn to religious matter, saw
potential of stained glass as a prototype for their painting and designed windows
for churches. Both found spiritual solace in silence.
In 1953, on a pilgrimage to Israel, Sumner flew over the desert in an aeroplane
for the first time. The vantage point and view of the desert dunes awakened a free
spirit within her- allowing greater scope for abstraction and lead to her new phase
of painting desert landscapes and large tracts of sea and sky from a birds-eye
view.
1953 in the world
January 31 – February 1 – The North Sea flood of 1953 kills 1,835 people in the
southwestern Netherlands (especially Zeeland), 307 in the United Kingdom
and several hundred at sea, including 133 on the ferry Princess Victoria in
the Irish Sea.
March 17 – The first nuclear test of Operation Upshot-Knothole is conducted in
Nevada, with 1,620 spectators at 3.4 km (2.1 miles).
March 18 – An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing 250.
March 26 – Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine.
April 25 – Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish their description of the double
helix structure of DNA
9 May - The South African Liberal Party is formed in Cape Town by Alan Paton
June 2 – Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey.
June 18 – Egypt declares itself a republic.
August 8 – Soviet prime minister Georgia Malenkov announces that the Soviet Union
has a hydrogen bomb.
September 26 – Rationing of cane sugar ends in the UK.
Important artist’s dates
1902 16th September born in Johannesburg.
1922-5 Sumner completed a Masters in Literature at Oxford.
1925 Studied at the Westminster School of Art in London.
1926 Apprenticed with Sculptor Naom Arendson in Paris.
Then enrolled at the Ateliers d’Art Sacre.
1930- 12 November, She exhibited 2 pictures at the Salon d’Automne.
1931- 3 of her works showed at the Selles de Bains- and were singled out by the
reviewer of the French Times newspaper.
1932 on the 16 April: First solo exhibition at Galarie Druet. Maria Blanchard, Spanish
cubist painter and Sumner’s best friend died. November She held her first
solo art show in South Africa at Ashby’s Gallery in Cape Town.
1933 April: Exhibited at lezard’s in Johannesburg.
1934 Sold paintings to The Hague Municipal Art Gallery. Attended classes at the
Acadamie de la Grande Choumeire.
1935 Solo exhibition held in Berkely Square, London.
1936 Visited Spain – inspired by El Greco. Painted pictures in Spain and
exhibited them in Paris in group exhibition. Returned to Johannesburg for
a year- exhibited at Lezards in Johannesburg.
1937- Exhibited in South Africa in Johannesburg and Ashby’s Cape Town.
Exhibition at Ashbey’s in Cape Town.- Paintings were bought at this show
for the SA National Gallery. In April participated in a group show with Irma
Stern and two other artists. Also exhibited in Paris at Salon d’Automn.
1938- Studied under Rogier Bissier at the Academie Ransom.-
1938. 1939 – Became the first and only SA painter to have had work bought for the
State collection at the Jeu de Paume Gallery for the museum of
impressionist and post impressionist art.
1941- Joined the ambulance brigade in England, then SA for 5 years during the
war. Held 16 exhibitions in SA including some with the New Group.
1946- Returned to Paris to a Renaissance of Colour and began new era of
Rayonist expressionism which she refined throughout the 50’s.
1949- Returned to SA and exhibited in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town,
Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Her father died at the end of this year.
1950- Her Mother died in May.
1953: - Flight to Israel over the desert
1953 -78- Exhibited regularly in SA, London and Paris.
1978 - Admitted to American hospital outside Paris with Guillian Barre Syndrome-
had to have a tracheotomy.
1979 Returned to Johannesburg Workers hospital to recouperate.
1981 Exhibition at the Hoffer Gallery in Pretoria sold most of the paintings before
opening.
1983 April: Her sister Dorothy died. She attended the opening of a retrospective
exhibition of her paintings at the Hoffer Gallery. Pretoria.
14th of January 1985, she died at home.
Bibliography
Maud Sumner- Painter and Poet – Frieda Harmsen. Published by J.L. van Schaik
Unisa’s Maud Sumner’s in sequence- Frieda Harmsen – published in de arte 63
Recollections of Paris- by Maud Sumner – Apollo New Series, Vol 102
No164 Oct 1975
Maud Sumner and her Muse – Frieda Harmsen – a paper read to the
SA Association of Art Historians Conference, Women and the Visual
Arts, Wits, 1990
Maud Sumner- Charles Ellington, -Purnell & Sons, 1965
Art and Artists of South Africa, - Esme Berman- AA Balkema -1970
Mannessier Paris, - Jean Carol, Le Musee de Poche 1966
The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Centuary Art- Harold Osborne-
Oxford University Press 1981
Researched and written by
Helena Doe
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World Record Chairman’s Review

World Record
for a still life
Dr Strauss and I are indeed overwhelmed at the outstanding achievements
Strauss & Co. has accomplished in its first year of operation despite being the new
kid on the block, the recession and a highly competitive local and international
market. In one year, Strauss & Co. has become not only a name that speaks of
extraordinary art, as well as unparalleled expertise and service, but is also by
turnover the largest Fine Art Auction House in South Africa. Much of the success
Frans Oerder

of our sales can be attributed to the long standing relationship and trust the
directors and staff of Strauss & Co. have developed with collectors and dealers

Irma Stern
both in South Africa and abroad. We are grateful to our clients for their support
during 2009, our inaugural year.

SOLD R7 241 000

SOLD R1 782 400

VISION
Our vision of encouraging connoisseurship and passion at the top end of the local
art market, with a strong emphasis on quality, service and excellence is proving to
be a winning formula. This is due to our formidable team of world class art auction
specialists headed by the doyen of South African art auctioneers and experts,
Stephan Welz.
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World Record
ACHIEVEMENTS
Strauss & Co. hosted three sales in its first year of operation, two in Johannesburg
and one in Cape Town, generating a turnover of over R100 million of mostly high
end paintings establishing Strauss & Co. as market leader. Our market share is
currently nearly double that of our nearest competitor. We set numerous new
auction records for among others, Anton van Wouw, Irma Stern, Jean Welz, Wolf
Kibel, Frans Oerder and Freida Lock, Cape furniture and Paul Storr silver. Particularly
notable amongst these were:
• the highest price for a painting (Irma Stern’s Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot,

Jean Welz
Jean Welz

sold R7 241 000, a world record for a still life by the artist)

• the highest price for a sculpture (Anton van Wouw, Die Noitjie van die Onderveld,

SOLD R1 225 400

SOLD R1 225 400

sold R946 900, a world record for the artist)

• the highest price for a piece of Cape furniture (an 18th Century silver-mounted
Coromandel Buffet, sold R 1 058 300 establishing a new record)
• the highest price for an item of silver (a pair of George III silver wine coolers and
liners by Paul Storr, London 1819, sold R1 559 600)
HISTORY
After Stephan Welz’s sudden exit from the market in 2007 and subsequent
18-month trade restraint, there were no doubts in our minds that the South
African art market had lost its leader and mentor. Being seasoned collectors
and prompted by our passion for South African art, Dr Strauss and I approached
Stephan with a view to form a new auction house. We set off on our course to
create a sleek, solid and successful operation with Stephan and his formidable
Maggie Laubser

team as the key players in an attempt to give back to the market the credibility
and expertise it had lost. Francis Antonie, our then Managing Director, and Mary-
Jane Darroll were instrumental in laying the foundations. Strauss & Co. opened its

Irma Stern
head office in Houghton, Johannesburg in September last year to be followed by
the launch of the Cape Town operation in February 2009 and the opening of our

SOLD R5 570 000
SOLD R891 200

Newlands premises in May.

OFFICES
Our elegant offices in prime locations represent our vision of top quality and
excellence. Inspired by the marked move of International auction houses away
from the traditional Victorian image, Mary-Jane Darroll has achieved a gallery-style
minimalism that places the artworks centre stage with optimal hanging
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for a landscape

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and lighting considerations.
AUCTIONS
In our pursuit of rarity and quality, Strauss & Co. was entrusted with the sale of
several important works from private hands that were fresh to the market, either
acquired directly from artists or their estates or that had been out of the public
domain for years. These included Irma Stern’s Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot
(sold R7 241 000, a world record for a still life by the artist), Carla (sold R5 570 000),
Wolf Kibel’s arresting Self Portrait (sold R1 225 400, a world record for the artist) and
Jean Welz’s Still Life Cézannesque (sold R1 225 400, a world record for the artist). We

Freida Lock
Irma Stern

handled the most important piece of Cape furniture ever to appear at auction, an
18th century Cape silver-mounted coromandel buffet, establishing a new record
SOLD R5 792 800

SOLD R1 002 600
and a pair of 18th century wine coolers and liners, by master silversmith Paul
Storr which sold for three times its pre-sale estimate. The Leslie Milner Collection
comprising some 42 South African paintings achieved excellent results due in part
to our knowledge of the market and our exceptional marketing skills.
OVERSHADOWED ARTISTS STEAL THE SHOW
Strauss & Co. has done justice to several artists that have tended to be previously
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World Record

overshadowed achieving record prices for their work. These include amongst
others Frans Oerder, Wolf Kibel, Dorothy Kay, May Hillhouse and Edoardo Villa.
Although the works offered were exceptional examples of the artists’ work, the
fact that they were professionally presented to the market greatly enhanced their
final selling price.
A FORMIDABLE TEAM
Stephan Welz has been joined in Cape Town by the key staff from his former
company, Ann Palmer, Vanessa Phillips and Bina Genovese, all of whom have
Dorothy Kay

extensive experience and expertise in the auction world. Mica Curitz, silver
specialist, has followed suit and recently Emma Bedford highly regarded in the
Wolf Kibel

art world both locally and internationally has also joined us. In Johannesburg
SOLD R1 225 400

SOLD R1 448 200

Stephan is partnered by Mary-Jane Darroll who has considerable gallery and

auction experience.

Given this team I have no doubt that Strauss & Co. will in the future continue to
play an important role in the South African art market serving the best interests
of both sellers and buyers.
Record for
Cape Furniture

I should like to take this opportunity to wish all our clients compliments of
the season.
Furniture
SOLD R1 559 600

SOLD R1 058 300

Silver

ENQUIRIES: +27 (0)11 728 8246 OR +27 (0)21 683 6560

www.straussart.co.za
Prices quoted are inclusive of buyer’s premium