oil on canvas
Artwork date: 1960
Signature details: signed and dated 22.5.1960
Sold for R682,080
Estimated at R300,000 - R500,000
Condition Report
Good.
Please note, we are not qualified conservators and these reports give our opinion as to the general condition of the works. We advise that bidders view the lots in person to satisfy themselves with the condition of prospective purchases.
oil on canvas
Artwork date: 1960
Signature details: signed and dated 22.5.1960
(1)
23.5 x 18.5 cm
Notes:
A couple make their way along a country road, perhaps on a farm as the fields are fenced in and a whitewashed gable protrudes beyond the hill. Unlike some of Peter Clarke’s later works where displaced people trudge despondently, this pair feels at home in a leisurely rural landscape. The date of 1960 relates it to his many expeditions to Tesselaarsdal after Clarke had decided to become an artist in 1956. The date also reveals that it was painted before he worked briefly at Michaelis in late 1961, and then travelled abroad to the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. So some might feel surprised at his bold reduction of form and awareness of the picture plane, reflected in the tipped-up road that provides a foil for the figures – characteristics that seem too assured to be the work of a ‘naïve’ artist with no formal tuition. They demonstrate that Clarke had already established his painting style before he experienced fine arts training.Clarke’s determination to become an artist saw him studying art early and independently. As far back as his schooldays, when the art teacher gave promising pupils access to his copies of The Studio, Clarke was looking at examples of ‘modern art’ in the colour plates. Later he subscribed to journals himself, visited exhibitions in Cape Town, and read art books in ID Booksellers – while avidly drawing and painting the local scene. Magpie-like he collected different ideas and experimented with them, but soon developed his iconic personal style. Clarke’s subject matter always came from the world he knew, but he gave the everyday a sense of robust resilience through the simplified forms, strong outlines and dense colour areas that lend a tangible substance to his paintings. In Figures on a path they create a timeless pastoral world where the sun perpetually shines.
Elizabeth Rankin
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Auction: Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art, 17th Jul, 2017
Aspire Art Auctions’ second Johannesburg sale offered a selection of some of the best works produced by local and international artists available on the local market. Offerings included Cameroonian-born, Belgium-based, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Chilean, Eugenio Dittborn, and South Africans, William Kentridge, Kendell Geers, Louis Maqhubela, Cecil Skotnes, Maggie Laubser, Irma Stern, and Mohau Modisakeng, amongst others.
The sale was led by an international auction record of R1 200 320 achieved for a drawing, Children under Apartheid, by exiled South African artist Dumile Feni, as well as the successful sale of top international lot Golden Mask by renowned performance artist Marina Abramović.
Viewing
Friday 14 July 2017 | 10 am – 7 pm
Saturday 15 July 2017 | 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday 16 July 2017 | 10 am – 4 pm
Currency conversions are based on the exchange rate at the auction's start time and date. Bidders should verify the current exchange rate on the day of the sale. All invoices and payments must be made in South African Rands.
Logistics
While we endeavour to assist our Clients as much as possible, we require artwork(s) to be delivered and/or collected from our premises by the Client. In instances where a Client is unable to deliver or collect artwork(s), Aspire staff is available to assist in this process by outsourcing the services to one of our preferred Service Providers. The cost for this will be for the Client’s account, with an additional Handling Fee of 15% charged on top of the Service Provider’s invoice.
Aspire Art provides inter-company transfer services for its Clients between Johannesburg and Cape Town branches. These are based on the size of the artwork(s), and charged as follows:
Small (≤60x90x10 cm): R480
Medium (≤90x120x15 cm): R960
Large (≤120x150x20 cm): R1,440
Over-size: Special quote
Should artwork(s) be collected or delivered to/from Clients by Aspire Art directly, the following charges will apply:
Collection/delivery ≤20km: R400
Collection/delivery 20km>R800≤50km
Collection/delivery >50km: Special quote
Packaging
A flat fee of R100 will be added to the invoice for packaging of unframed works on paper.
International Collectors Shipping Package
For collectors based outside South Africa who purchase regularly from Aspire Art’s auctions in South Africa, it does not make sense to ship artworks individually or per auction and pay shipping every time you buy another work. Consequently, we have developed a special collectors’ shipping package to assist in reducing shipping costs and the constant demands of logistics arrangements.
For buyers from outside South Africa, we will keep the artworks you have purchased in storage during the year and then ship all the works you have acquired during the year together, so the shipping costs are reduced. At the end of the annual period, we will source various quotes to get you the best price, and ship all your artworks to your desired address at once.
Aspire Art will arrange suitable storage during, and cost-effective shipping at the end, of the annual period.
Collections
Collections are by appointment, with 24-hours’ notice
Clients are requested to contact the relevant office and inform Aspire Art of which artwork(s) they would like to collect, and allow a 24-hour window for Aspire Art’s logistics department to retrieve the artwork(s) and prepare them for collection.
Handling Fee
Aspire Art charges a 15% Handling Fee on all Logistics, Framing, Restoration and Conservation arranged by Aspire.