{"id":796441,"date":"2024-10-22T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=796441"},"modified":"2024-10-22T15:25:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T13:25:34","slug":"a-picasso-original-is-being-sold-in-south-africa-this-is-how-much-its-going-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/796441\/a-picasso-original-is-being-sold-in-south-africa-this-is-how-much-its-going-for\/","title":{"rendered":"A Picasso original is being sold in South Africa \u2013 this is how much it\u2019s going for"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An original artwork by Pablo Picasso is going on auction in Cape Town this week, and could fetch R8 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artwork, “T\u00eate” (Head) (recto and verso), is a double-sided artwork, or recto verso, meaning front and back, and is signed on both sides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It features two drawings of a man done on the same day, with colourful wax crayon used on the front, and a dark ink and wash on the back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artwork will go on sale<\/a> at the Strauss & Co International Sale today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the starting bid is currently R 5.6 million, it will likely fetch an estimate of R6 million to R8 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Art Specialist at Strauss & Co, Ian Hunter, told Newzroom Afrika<\/a> that although the gallery often receives prints of Picasso\u2019s works for their auctions, this artwork is especially exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo have an original work, and a double-sided work such as this\u2026 we\u2019re very excited about it,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPicasso was a man of huge energy. He was prolific, and he was reinventing the visual language of the 20th century throughout probably six decades of production.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work, which is dated as 20 July 1967, was likely executed at Chateau Vauvenargues, in Mougins in the South of France. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Strauss & Co, \u201c1967 was the year that Picasso lost his studio in Paris on the Rue des Grands-Augustins where he had painted Guernica (1937).\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat year, Roland Penrose organised a Picasso exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London, which later moved to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPicasso\u2019s drawings from that period serve as evidence that he sketched almost daily while working on large-scale pieces such as The Kiss (1967) and a series of nudes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter explained that seeing a dual-sided Picasso, like T\u00eate, is not necessarily surprising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t think it’s that rare because he was actually making notes for paintings, making constructions of compositions for graphic works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve seen the etchings and the lithographs as well and the works on ceramic, so I think he was working on a design concept and a short hand to simplify something as simple as a male face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This auction will generate an estimate of over R20 million in sales, and features other historic artworks from famous artists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, \u201cLa Fen\u00eatre \u00e0 Paris\u201d (The Window in Paris), by the Russian\/French artists, Marc Chagall, will also fetch an estimated R6 million to R8 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The featured artist, Scottish-born Jack Vettriano, has three oil paintings for sale in the auction, with the lowest starting bid being an impressive R650,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are the pieces being sold at the International Sale this week which are estimated to go for over R1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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T\u00eate (Head) (recto and verso)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n