THE SOUTH AFRICAN
ART TIMES
www.arttimes.co.za • June 2008 • Issue 6 Vol 3 • Subscription RSA 180 p.a • June Print & Distrib. 7 000 copies • RSA Free. available in Namibia & Zimbabwe
Goodman
Gallery sold
By Michael Coulson
In the biggest development in the
gallery world since Rand Merchant
Bank tycoon Paul Harris bought
into the Everard Read Gallery,
control of Johannesburg’s other
biggest and longest-established
gallery has changed hands. Linda
Givon, who founded the Goodman
Gallery 40 years ago, has sold
out to film producer (her credits
include Oscar winner Tsotsi), art
consultant and serial entrepreneur
Liza Essers.
The sale was finally completed,
with money changing hands, in the
last week of May, after prolonged
negotiations that are believed by
insiders to have been so fraught
at times as to have come close to
being called off – which those who
have known Givon for decades
will have no difficulty in believing.
The sale also includes the offshoot
Givon established in Cape Town
last year.
The price has not been disclosed,
but Neil Dundas, senior curator
in the Johannesburg gallery, says
market talk of a figure between
R50m-R100m is way off the mark.
He points out that while the Good-
man has accumulated a huge and
valuable inventory over the years,
most of the works are held on con-
signment and remain the property
of the artists.
When Givon (nee Finger,
formerly Goodman) started out in
the 1960s, she had an inestimable
advantage: a wealthy family back-
ground. Her father owned most of
Johannesburg’s leading private
hospitals. But she was no dilet-
tante: the gallery was never run on
less than totally professional lines,
and from the outset she set out to
find and encourage black artists at
a time when most galleries stuck
to the tried and true.
The Goodman’s 1960s Sunday
night openings were legendary,
not least because black artists
who later found international
renown were on occasion forced
to pose as waiters when the
apartheid police came to sniff out
Communists and other subver-
sive elements who, by Calvinist
definition, made up the bulk of the
audience.
As the gallery’s Web site allitera-
tively says, its policy was to foster
the culture of the country despite
despotic duress. Post-1994, this
has widened to embrace the
promotion of SA artists internation-
ally. The Goodman is a private
company (to be precise, it’s a
closed corporation that is now
converting into a Pty company) so
doesn’t publish results, but Givon
indicated to me some years ago
that more than half her sales were
to foreign buyers.
Artists fostered by Givon in those
early days include Judith Mason
Dumile Feni, Sydney Khumalo and
Ezrom Legae. More recently she’s
brought the likes of David Gold-
blatt, Moshekwa Langa, Kagiso
Pat Mautloa, Mikhael Subotzky
and Nontsikelelo Veleko to interna-
tional attention. And though she
didn’t “discover” William Kentridge
– that honour belongs to Nadine
Gordimer’s husband, the late Re-
inhold Cassirer – his international
éclat owes much to her.
Others who currently show there
include Deborah Bell, Robert Hod-
gins, Penny Siopis, David Koloane
(whose current exhibition contains
some of his best work in years),
Sam Nhlengethwa, Tracy Rose,
Walter Oltmann, Diane Victor,
Jeremy Wafer, Sue Williamson,
Clive van den Berg and Minette
Vari. Essers plans to meet all
One beautiful lady: from R 350K to R 3.74M in one night
these, and the rest of the stable, to
assure them that it’ll be business
as usual. Tretchikoff joins the Blue Chip old South African Masters Club as
At the time of writing, Essers and
The Fruits of Bali sells for 10 x pre- sale estimate for a staggering R 3. 74 M
Givon are in Switzerland for Art
39 Basel, the prestigious art fair
at which Goodman is the only SA The South African art fraternity gasped in amazement as a Tretchikoff put on reserve for R300 000 sold for
gallery invited.
R 3. 740 M at a Sothebys auction in Cape Town on 26th May. Everyone has their own version for the reason for
Continued on Page 2 this extraordinary auction result, which brings Russian born so-called “King of Kitsch” into line with icons of the
local art canon such as Irma Stern and Maggie Laubser. Story on Page 3
Page 2 South African Art Times. June 2008

The South African

Art Times
June 2008
www.arttimes.co.za

Published monthly by
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Shows: show@arttimes.co.za
Artwork: art@arttimes.co.za (Left) Goodman Gallery - Johannesburg situated on a busy Jan Smuts Ave forms one of the cornerstones of the new artstrip galleries opposite. (Right) Goodman Gallery - Cape Town
Views expressed by writers and
opened in 2007 in the new trendy Woodstock art belt, subsequently Michael Stevenson and Bell- Roberts Gallery have moved to close proximity to the Goodman.

The Goodman sale

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Continued from Page 1
As well as showcasing a number
of SA artists at its stand, the gal-
lery is representing Tom Mulcaire,
a South African now resident in
Brazil, on Art Unlimited, the major
curated exhibition at Basel.
Givon, who is taking the opportu-
nity to introduce Essers to major
international contacts, says: “Liza
reminds me of myself at that age
and I feel very confident about
handing over to her”. Essers will
also accompany Kentridge to the
Sydney Biennale in mid-June and
Subotzky to his exhibition at MoMA
in New York in September.
Originally a management
consultant with Accenture (for-
merly Andersen Consulting), after
studying art in Florence, Essers
shifted careers in 2003 to become
an independent art advisor and
curator.
She advises several private and
corporate collectors in SA and
abroad. Recent large-scale public
art projects include the Anglo
American sculpture initiative
(2003 ongoing), the David project
sponsored by Nedbank and The
Legacy group (2005) and, more
recently, the Nirox International
Artist’s Residency Programme,
established in 2007.
Group exhibitions she has curated,
include Integrating Cultures (2003,
Cape Town), Faces to Names
(2006, Johannesburg) and Shift
(2007, Johannesburg, and Lon-
don). The last-mentioned included
Kentridge, Nhlengethwa, Mautloa,
and Claire Gavronsky, so she’s
already familiar to a number of the
Goodman stable.
Essers recently initiated a large-
scale documentary series on
contemporary SA art, with the first
episode featuring Kentridge and
Marlene Dumas. Other current
projects include the development
of a major public art initiative for
2010 and a large-scale sculptural
exhibition for the Nirox sculpture
park. Located near the Cradle
of Mankind, the Nirox park,
beautifully designed by top garden
architect Patrick Watson, recently
hosted the latest exhibition by
the evergreen sculptor in metal,
Edoardo Villa.
Essers intends to maintain the
Goodman’s reputation as a leading
contemporary art gallery. No ma-
jor changes in staff are planned,
the name will remain, and Givon
herself will stay on as a consultant
for three years. At least, that’s
the intention, though it remains
to be seen how she adapts to no
longer being the mistress in her
own house.
And as Dundas points out, like
its major rivals the gallery is
fully booked for exhibitions for
the next couple of years, so
without breaking firm contracts no
sudden shift of emphasis would
be possible, anyway. So far this
year the gallery has shown Alison
Kearney and Emily Stainer in a
joint exhibition, the late Walter
Battiss (whose whimsical Fook
Island fantasy, devised in conjunc-
tion with Norman Catherine, was
a feature of the Goodman in the
1960s and 1970s), Rose and
Goldblatt. Booked in the next few
months are Hentie van der Merwe
(July-August), Mautloa (August-
September), Mulcaire (Septem-
ber-October) and Jeremy Wafer
(October-November).
In typical PR speak, the official
announcement says the gallery
anticipates a smooth transition
during this change in leadership
and a continuous programme of
exciting and challenging exhibi-
tions and art works for visitors’
viewing pleasure. Well, that’s
what they always say on such oc-
casions; it doesn’t always work out
so trouble-free.
Much of the value of a business
like the Goodman Gallery is the
goodwill attached to the proprietor,
felt by both artists and clientele.
Essers plans to meet all the latter
to reassure them. But clients
who’ve virtually grown up as
collectors with Givon may prove
harder to keep on board.
The other question still stimulating
gossip is where the money’s com-
ing from. Rumour is that Essers is
being backed by a businessman
with a career in the financial serv-
ices business neither as long nor
as distinguished as Paul Harris’s;
but that’s something on which the
parties involved are staying firmly
and immovably silent.

Custom Stretched Canvasses

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Painting & print stretching Artist: Ann Gadd

Tel: 021 448 2799 Fax: 021 448 2797 ArtStuff now available on the Garden Route
Free delivery within Cape area artstuff@webmail.co.za www.artstuff.co.za Call Paul Tunmer 083 2610084
South African Art Times. June 2008
Tretchikoff joins the local Blue Chip (Million) Masters Club
Art Investment writer
The South African art frater-
nity gasped in amazement as a
Tretchikoff put on reserve for
R300 000 sold for R3. 740 M
at a Sothebys auction in Cape
Town on 26th May.
Everyone has their own version for
the reason for this extraordinary
auction result, which brings Rus-
sian born so-called “King of Kitsch”
into line with august icons of the
local art canon such as Irma Stern
and Maggie Laubser.
Both these venerable hallowed
females recently fetched what
were considered record prices at
recent London auction houses.
But stocky blonde inimitable Tretch
is enjoying what will probably be
a whole series of last laughs from
the grave as he considers how
all his South African life time he
was derided and resented by local
art critics and snobs. All he ever
said of local opinion was “Bullshit
!” while his reputation grew ever
greater world wide and his Chi-
nese Girl became the best selling
art print in history and continues
selling.
Robert Brooks, Emiritus professor
and former head of Fine Art at
Rhodes University, said the R3.7-
million sale trashed those critics
and academics who had “muttered
away” about Tretchikoff, whose
work has previously been labelled
kitsch and lacking in substance.
“He was accessible and he bright-
ened people’s lives in the 1950s
and 1960s.”
He explained the price leap as
being related to art investment be-
ing in a “tremendously good way”.
He said there was “a lot of money
floating around looking for things
to buy” but he said people were
also looking back and seeing the
value of Tretchikoff’s work. He said
Tretchikoff had been the first to
realise that money could be made
from prints and had the ability to
paint for the public in a way that
made people feel important in that
they were able to understand the
meaning of his work
Brooks believes that the price
achieved for The Fruits of Bali
will result in a “total re-evalua-
tion” because it would be difficult
for anyone to ignore the kind of
money that had been raised.
Andries Loots of 34 Long Art
Gallery in Cape Town has another
take on the high price. 34 Long
auctioned Trechikoff’s “Dying
Swan” two years ago just after
the artist died and got R300 000
for this famous painting. Andries
firmly believes that the Russians
are buying heavily into art as are
the Chinese. He does not think
that “Fruits of Bali” is all that great
a Tretchikoff work but this would
not matter to the Russians.
“They are driving the art market
at present. The Russians think of
Tretchikoff as one of their own and
they want his work back in Russia.
There is enormous wealth there
now - money totally no object and
I believe that they will be looking
for more Tretchies now. After all,
Tretch has always been bigger
anywhere else in the world but
here. Everyone shunned him here
as not being a truly South African
artist but I reckon that his portraits
of some of our African tribesmen
and local people of colour are the
finest representations of the genre
you can find in South Africa’.
Graham Britz of Grahams Fine
Art gallery, however, was loud in
praise of “Fruits of Bali” “I think
that this is an absolute classic,
iconic work by a master painter.
This is a definitive piece. The
Balinese woman as the centre
piece is so striking and so beauti-
ful and the colours of the fruit glow
intensely. I don’t believe that this is
a flash in the pan price - I think we
will see steadily increasing prices
for Tretchikoff as long as they are
works of this kind of quality”
An art auctioneer in Durban who
prefers to remain anonymous and
who has dealt often auctioned
original Tretchikoffs believes that
this astonishing price was part of a
scam to raise the asking price for
Tretchikoffs.
“Everyone knows what Brett Keb-
ble did with his collection of Irma
Sterns. He significantly raised
the price of his Stern collection by
having some of them auctioned
and then bought for hugely inflated
prices. In this way he dramatically
increased the asking price for her
works. I think the same thing has
happened here. After all, why did
the others on the auction go for
average prices - why just this one
for 10 times the estimate ?”
The same art expert knows of the
well-know fan in Durban who is
reputed to have the largest collec-
tion of original Tretchikoffs in the
world, collected from the artist’s
earliest days when this Durban
man became an instant and undy-
ing fan of his work.
“I have been in touch with
someone who knows him and this
collector is totally ecstatic at the
Sotheby’s result - naturally.......”
In quoting Ian Hunter of Sotheby’s
Constantia Cape said:
“We were all very surprised but of
course extremely pleased when
Fruits of Bali achieved this record
price over our estimate. We
pegged it at R300 000 because
ww ecoud nt find a sale price for
Tretchikoff over R400 00 so we
were abit of the conservative side.
Page 3
KUNSGALERY
All the others up sold well within JOHANS BORMAN
their margins but I think this one
exceeded all expectations be-
cause it is a picture that comfort-
FINE ART GALLERY
able embraces all the strongest
elements of the artist’s visual
vocabularly. Tretch was well know
for his love of baroque exoticism,
glowing sensual colour, rich tropi-
CAPE TOWN
cal massing of fruits or flowers,
black naked beauty of human
form....it’s all in this picture.”
(Art Times) Flash in the pan then,
a once off or a foretaste of what iis
to come for Tretchikoff sellrs and
buyers of the future ?
Says Ian “Well, it is in my opinion
an exception but I suppose we will
get owners of his works phoning
us and demanding no less than 3
mil for their paintings ! We’re used
to that. In the same sale we had
a record price for an Alexander
Rose-Innes and for an Adriaan
Boshoff. But as for Tretchikoff,
it’s difficult to say: the barrier has
been broken now, anything can
happen as far as we’re concerned. Hussein Salim, My People II
With Tretchikoff, both the art and
the artist, you can never take
anything for granted”.
A showcase for the best of
South African Masters,
Ian confirmed that the painting had
been bought by a South African. as well as some leading
However the Art Times would like contemporary artists.
to not rule out that they could have
acted on a local or international
clients behalf. Telephone: 021 423 6075
Tretchikoff’s daughter Mimi, who www.johansborman.co.za
was approached by SA Art Times
for comment regarding the results Mon-Fri: 10h00 - 18h00
remarked in true Tretchi spirit Sat: 09h00 - 14h00
“about bloody time” or by appointment
In Fin Art Building
Upper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town 8001
Cell: 082 566 4631
E-mail: art@johansborman.co.za
Page 4GG_ArtTimes_80x260_300508 5/28/08 12:18 PM Page 1
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
(left) Artists Nico Eilers and Gavin du Plessis are not charmed by Laurens Barnard (right) of the Moustache Gallery, Stellenbosch.
Detail: Laubser, Maria Magdalena (1886 – 1973) “Landscape with Houses and Figures”.
Droopy moustaches over Stellenbosch art gallery
Oil on board, 50.8 x 43.2 cm. Signed “M Laubser” (lower/left)
Patrick Burnett
THE MODERN A group of artists have accused
PALIMPSEST: a Stellenbosch gallery owner of
ENVISIONING shoddy treatment, alleging that
they have been kept in the dark
SOUTH AFRICAN about the sale of their work,
received sporadic payments and
MODERNITY been unable to collect their work
when deciding to end their deal-
THE OPENING OF AN ings with the gallery.
EXHIBITION OF SOUTH
AFRICAN MASTERS The artists say they have had
ongoing problems with the Mous-
FROM 1853 ONWARDS. tache Gallery, situated in Church
The exhibition will conclude on the 29 August 2008.
For private viewings and appointments please contact
Street, Stellenbosch, and owned
Graham Britz on 083 605 5000 by Laurens Barnard, an artist and
filmmaker.
Barnard, however, has hit back,
saying that only a minority of art-
ists are unhappy with his gallery.
Shop 46, Broadacres Lifestyle Centre, Cnr.
Cedar & Valley Roads, Broadacres, Fourways.
He said he had invited artists
Graham Britz 083 605 5000 who were unhappy to fetch their
Sarah Keys 084 568 5639
Gallery 011 465 9192
work and only three artists had
responded.
One of the unhappy artists, Gavin
www.grahamsfineartgallery.co.za du Plessis, said he was owed
money for work and he had only
been paid in “little bits”, claiming
that he was owed nearly R10,000
for oil paintings sold through the
gallery.
Du Plessis said over the years he
had received poor treatment from
art galleries in general.
“They think we owe them, but
without us they would be selling
scrap metal and vrot fish.”
Another artist, mixed media sculp-
tor Nico Eilers, said by 2007 he
had become suspicious because
Barnard was full of “promises,
promises”.
This year he said he had decided
“enough was enough” and he had
made an appointment in April to
get his work back, but when he
had arrived at the gallery Barnard
had not been there.
“I am considering taking legal
action,” said Eilers, who said he
would talk to his lawyers once his
work around helping refugees as
a result of the current xenophobic
South African Art Times.
violence had settled down.
Another artist, Julia Forman from
Durban, said she had sent two
paintings to Barnard.
“He sold one, but I have never
seen the money,” she said, say-
ing she believed she was owed
R2,500.
“It’s just the principle to not even
know where you stand,” she said.
She said she had given Barnard
three months until the end of April
and he had responded saying
he had called for an audit which
would take three months. She said
she had therefore decided to give
him “that grace”.
When contacted, Barnard said: “I
have 70 artists, do you want me to
give you 25 happy people?”
He said there would always be
problems with artists. “Artists are
emotional,” he said.
Dealing with the specific com-
plaints, he said he had made a
sale for Du Plessis and had paid
him “up to I think R20,000.”
June 2008
He said he had another painting
that had to be sent Germany and
this was all that was outstanding.
With regards Eilers, he said he
had sold one work and the others
had been picked up. “I don’t know
why he is complaining.”
As to Forman’s complaints, he
said one of her paintings had been
sold and he was returning the
other one.
He said payments were slow
because people paid by credit
card and these payments had to
be cleared by banks. Sometimes
the banks reversed payments and
so he had to make “double sure”
before paying out.
Barnard said he had sent an email
to artists informing them that if
they were not happy they were
welcome to collect their work, but
only three artists had indicated
they wanted their work back.
-- WCN
 Page 6 South African Art Times. June 2008

THIS MONTHS SHOW HIGHLITES SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

10 Green bottles, Installation, artist unknown. Photograph by Mary-Ann Orr (see article in next months SA Art Times) Sanell Aggenbach, Playboys, 2007. Digital print and mixed media. From upcoming show: Myth, Memory and the Archive 13
August – 19 September at Bell Roberts Gallery.. The show focuses on works that move toward experimental and new media,
as well as performance and installation. Archival concerns have always been a priority for printmakers.
For more info rmation see www.bell-roberts.com for more details

Sorry we are closed, work by Manfred Zylla who has just been selected
Hayden Proud curator of the Revisions+ Expanding the Narrative of South Afri-
for participation in the 10th Havana Biennale in Cuba next year. Zylla will
can Art at a book launch of the exhibition catalogue at The Stellenbosch Modern
be exhibiting at the Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town until 28 June.
and Contemporary art gallery (SMAC).

Nick Cave- Soundsuit . Found, beaded and sequined hand-sewn garments, manne-
quin, metal armature 254 x 66 x 35.6cm Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
As seen at Disguise The art of attracting and deflecting attention show at Michael
Stevenson Gallery until 5 July.
As part of their live-arts programme - the Sandton Central Open Street Sessions
- the infamous Gerard Bester will feature on the sidewalks of Sandton Central with a
performance at 13h00 on 16th and 17th May 2008. The act forms part of the Spier
Contemporary programme of visual art performed live in Johannesburg starting on May
14, and promises to be an unforgettable outdoor theatre experience.
Johan Thom shows the video projection Bind/Ontbind as “a metaphor for the constant
processes of decay and of regeneration [which] may disfigure us, but whenever we
attempt to replace them with new systems of thought we are in fact simply disfiguring
ourselves anew Three new exhibitions, a radical performance and an effort to save the
world. 13 May at KZNSA Gallery, Durban.
 Hout Street Gallery

Cape Town’s largest contemporary art gallery

exhibiting works by leading South African artists

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66 Vineyard Road, Claremont van der Westhuizen
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David and Gail Zetler. 270 Main Street, Paarl, 7646. Phone + 27 (0) 21 872 5030 Fax + 27 (0) 21 872 7133
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E-mail: zetler@icon.co.za www.houtstreetgallery.co.za Artwork: Peter Fincham, Afternoon Shadows

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Wendy Rosselli
Lyn Smuts
Phillipa Allen
Hardy Botha
Theo P. Vorster
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David Riding
Cecil Skotnes
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Jabu Nala Ceramics exhibition 18-30 June

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 Geroge Enslin (1919-1972) Tokyo Street Scene. Oil on Board 510 x 360 mm

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