• Alexander Calder's "Spiral" (detail). Picture: STRAUSS & CO

  • Tretchikoff's "Zulu Maiden" (detail). Picture: STRAUSS & CO

  • "Untitled", by Walter Battiss (detail). Picture: STRAUSS & CO

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IN THE five years of its existence Johannesburg-based fine art auctioneers Strauss & Co have sold R5bn in artworks.

Although this pales so much in comparison to the New York sale last week of a single painting for $179m that Strauss & Co client advisor Susie Goodman said on Wednesday the company’s sales were "a blip in a small pond", this is a solid record for SA art sales. While some had suffered financial hardship since Strauss & Co launched itself onto the art scene in 2009, others were able to keep buying, and some people’s downsizing and selling had released interesting works onto the market.

Strauss & Co are gearing up for their large annual sale, scheduled for June 1.

It will feature works from international artists such as Picasso, Kees van Dongen (The Netherlands), William Kentridge (SA), Alexander Calder (US), Irma Stern (SA), Francis Bacon (UK) and Athi-Patra Ruga (SA).

Last week Picasso’s famous Women of Algiers (version O) was sold at $179m at Christie’s auction house. Collectors’ appetite for masterpieces of impressionist, modern and contemporary art is increasing, The Guardian reported at the time. In 2013 South African sculptor Jane Alexander surpassed records to be come the highest-selling living artist in SA when one of her The Butcher Boys series sold for R5.45m at a Strauss & Co auction in Johannesburg.

Ms Goodman said the trend towards greater interest in contemporary art was also visible in SA. In the five years that Strauss & Co has been selling art in SA, and online, its contemporary section had expanded to meet growing demand.

The sale has two parts — an afternoon sale that starts at 4pm, and an evening one that begins at 8pm. Top lot is Stern’s "Still Life With Roses", estimated at R4m-R6m. Stern is one of the top selling female artists of all time, Strauss & Co said.

The painting was made in 1952 and contains all the attributes for which her work is admired — thick, impasto paint, assured use of colour and tone, strong compositional elements and her characteristic Expressionist mark-making. Another Stern on sale is Zanzibari Street Scene, estimated at R800,000-R1,2m.

Strauss & Co cataloguer Alastair Meredith said two pieces on sale were unusual — one by South African Frans Oerder and another by compatriot Robert Hodgins. Oerder’s "Fairy Tale Freize" (estimate ....) stepped out of his better known still life oeuvre, while Hodgin’s oil on board, "Hidden Man", was unusual for an artist better known for brighter colours. "It’s an exciting work," said Mr Meredith. "It seems to have been passed on to an engraving student of his. It’s untitled — we called it Hidden Man — and it is such an unusual Hodgins. It’s an earlier work and it’s almost experimental in terms of technique. We had to have it cleaned to bring out the reds and greens".

Perhaps most striking are Calder’s gouache and ink "Spiral" (estimated at R1,2m-R1,6m) and Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Zulu Maiden (estimated at R1,8m-R2,4m), both bold and bright. "We sold a similar work (of Tretchikoff’s) in Cape Town and it was estimated at R1,9m-R2m but we got about R3m. The market for Tretchikoff has really gained," said Goodman.

A fairly small, but striking sculpture by South Africa’s Sydney Kumalo, "Stalking Leopard" is also on sale. Goodman said appetite for Kumalo’s work appeared to have increased.

Strauss & Co has also started a separate Strauss Online auction platform that was proving popular, especially among younger collectors and those unable to attend the Johannesburg sales.

* There is open viewing at Strauss & Co’s offices in Houghton, Johannesburg, on May 29-31, with a walk through from the company’s senior specialist Ruarc Peffers and MD Stephan Welz at 11am on May 31.