14th Feb, 2020 20:00
Aspire X PIASA | Modern & Contemporary African Art
41
Dumile Feni (South Africa 1942–1991)
Mother and child
charcoal on paper
Artwork date: 1966
Signature details: signed and dated bottom right
Sold for R625,900
Estimated at R200,000 - R300,000
charcoal on paper
Artwork date: 1966
Signature details: signed and dated bottom right
(1)
98.5 x 65.5 cm
Notes:
Dumile Feni (1939-1991) has a formidable reputation as one of South Africa’s great lost black modernist artists. The visceral quality and intensity of his work is consistent, as is the uniqueness of his vision. Forced into exile in 1968 by the Apartheid regime — never to return home alive again — Feni placed great emphasis (by gradually mastering his line work) on the deranged and displaced interiority of his subjects. This work, drawn before he left South Africa for first London, and then New York, demonstrates clearly the anguish and dislocation that he saw in the people around him. Feni would return often to the classical iconography of the Mother and Child motif, imbuing it with a unique twist of his own rather than attempting to wrestle with the centrality of the motif in Western art history. Having lost his own mother at a young age, he returned often to the theme in order to portray the pathos and tragedy of the mothers and children under apartheid whose lives were blighted and disrupted by that regime. This particular drawing attracted the ire of one contemporary reviewer, who pointed to its disturbingly ‘ugly’ appearance. Far from being ugly, the work expresses the disjointed and tortured demeanour of the dispossessed.
James Sey
You can place an absentee bid through our website - please sign in to your account on our website to proceed.
In the My Account tab you can also enter telephone bids, or email bids@aspireart.net to log telephone/absentee bids.
Join us on the day of the auction to follow and bid in real-time.
The auction will be live-streamed with an audio-visual feed.
Auction: Aspire X PIASA | Modern & Contemporary African Art, 14th Feb, 2020
Aspire Art Auctions partnered with Paris-based house Piasa, to introduce an Africa-focused auction presenting some of the best examples of modern and contemporary art produced on this continent. This was the first time an African and European auction house partnered to present a sale of African art, in Africa, for a global audience.
The sale included 139 artists representing 27 countries from Africa and the diaspora and spotlighted key collecting segments from 20th century modernism to contemporary production and photography. The lead-lot, Marlene Dumas’ Oktober 1973 achieved a stellar R7,055,600 well above its high estimate of R3-5 million. Also on offer were some of the most in-demand African artists including Chéri Samba, Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, Gareth Nyandoro, Mustafa Maluka and William Kentridge.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
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.