“This powerful image from Stern’s highly regarded Zanzibar period, is one of the artist’s finest works. It also has a fascinating past – from an important role in the political history of South Africa to its recent fate as a notice board in a modest London apartment,” said Bonhams head of South African art Hannah O’Leary.<\/p>\n
Arab in Black<\/em> was put up for auction in the early 1960s to raise money for Mandela and his co-accused’s treason trial’s defence fund to raise money for legal fees and support their families. Stern donated a work to this cause.<\/p>\n The painting’s original owner was art collector Betty Suzman, whose father, Max Sonnenberg, MP, founded the chain store Woolworths.<\/p>\n Betty Suzman was anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman’s sister-in-law.<\/p>\n “In the 1970s, it came to Britain when the buyer emigrated to the UK and was subsequently bequeathed to the current owner. For many years, Arab in Black<\/em> hung in a London flat and was used as a notice board.”<\/p>\n Arab in Black by Irma Stern (via Bonham Auction House)<\/p><\/div>\n It was discovered during a routine valuation.<\/p>\n “I was undertaking a routine valuation when I spotted this masterpiece hanging in the kitchen covered in letters, postcards and bills,” said O’Leary.<\/p>\n Now Arab in Black<\/em> is among the top ten South African paintings ever sold at auction.<\/p>\n In 2011, Bonhams sold Stern’s paining Arab Priest<\/em> for more than \u00a33 million, setting a new world record for Stern.<\/p>\n R19 million SA painting used as a kitchen board in London<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Arab](\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Arab-in-black.png\")
<\/a>More on art in SA<\/h3>\n