Stanley Pinker (1924) in:
PERSPECTIVES 2
5 March – 11 April 2015
Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
The Bathers.
About:
STEVENSON presents the second in its series of group exhibitions titled Perspectives, featuring Walter Battiss, Zander Blom, Meschac Gaba, David Goldblatt, Pieter Hugo, Anton Kannemeyer, Moshekwa Langa, Zanele Muholi, Stanley Pinker, Robin Rhode, Penny Siopis and Portia Zvavahera.
Many of the works included in Perspectives 2 have been exhibited in the gallery over the past 12 years; others by gallery artists were exhibited further afield. They return to be offered to new collectors to start new conversations, and from this group several themes emerge.
About:
Girl with an umbrella.
“In a first for South African art, local artist Stanley Pinker’s work of art entitled Love, sold for R3,4 million at auction in March 2014. The sale has broken a world record for the artist. The auction involved ten telephone bidders and buyers at the Strauss & Co auction house, before it was eventually sold. The artwork was described as “rare and undocumented”. It depicts a woman lounging whilst smoking a cigarette. According to the auction house, the painting was inspired by Pinker’s time living in the UK and France during the 1950s and 1960s. “This is… a woman whose awareness of her own power lends her a sexy, Bohemian appeal. Her bouffant hair, a la Brigitte Bardot, is tousled as if she was recently aroused from sleep, but still remains stylish.”
Self Portrait as a Cactus.
Pinker, a celebrated painter and printmaker, was born in 1924 in Windhoek, Namibia and passed away in June of 2012. He trained at the Continental Art School of Cape Town under Maurice van Escche and at the Hammersmith School of Art in London, under Alistair Grant. He moved to Europe during the 1950s and 60s, hoping to find his roots, but soon returned to Cape Town. He made a modest life for himself in the Mother City working as a freelance illustrator and giving private art classes. In 1969 he began teaching at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, where he worked until 1986.
Ons land, 1957.
As an artist, Pinker’s early paintings were of African landscapes. Eventually he began to add figures and over time he became known for his signature style and conceptual approach to painting. His works are distinctive and colourful, and they have become a staple in auction rooms. Over the past three years there has been a dramatic increase in the prices of his artworks. His work The Wheel of Life sold at auction in 2010 for R 2 450 800, and Night, a famous piece by the artist, sold for R 946 900. But these figures are nowhere near the sensational sale price of Love, selling at R 3,4 million.
The Welder, 1974.
The auction that sold this piece was a successful one. Other pieces to sell on the evening were Irma Stern’s Dakar Woman which sold for R 6,6 million, Alexis Preller’s Red Angel which sold for R 2,8 million and a harvest scene by Maggie Laubser that sold for just under R 2,3 million. Sales at this Strauss & Co auction in Cape Town totalled R 40 million.” (from the site South African Museums, April 2014)
