Five centuries, one catalogue

INTERNATIONAL SALE: BRINGS GLOBAL MASTERPIECES, SA COLLECTOR HISTORY TO MARKET

- Citizen reporter

Strauss & Co will present the third edition of its cross-category art auction The International Sale next Tuesday.

The two-part auction brings together collectable artworks spanning five centuries, with a distinguished selection of paintings, prints, photography and sculpture by international artists drawn from private South African collections.

Headlining The International Sale is Irma Stern's Malay (Black Headdress), a sensitive 1946 portrait of a Cape Muslim sitter from the artist's celebrated golden period.

Fresh to market after more than 50 years, the work carries an estimated value of R7 million – R10 million.

Stern, a friend of Brücke artist Max Pechstein and founding member of the Novembergruppe, regularly exhibited in Berlin's leading galleries during the 1920s and 1930s. She is currently the subject of an exhibition at Berlin's Brücke Museum.