By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 13 March 2018)
Circle Art Gallery’s
didn’t just break records last Monday night during their 5th Art
Auction-East Africa, making well over KSh21 million from the sale of 56 phenomenal
works of African art.
Circle also
shattered stereotypes, particularly the one that suggests East African art need
not figure into international art auctions such as those taking place at
acclaimed venues like Sotheby’s and Bonham’s. These are sites that just
recently started giving auction time to contemporary African art. By recently, I
mean Sotheby’s only started in 2017 to hold contemporary African art auctions
and the closest they came to Kenya was Uganda. Otherwise, they were focused
mainly on South African art and on West African artists like El Anatsui.
Bonham’s has
been a bit better, having auctioned eight Kenyan artists’ works back in 2013.
But even then, the revenue from the sales didn’t go to the artists. It went into
a fund meant to promote ‘visual art education in Kenya.’
Bonham’s
last art auction in February stunned the global art world when the Nigerian
artist Ben Enwonwu’s ‘African Mona Lisa’ sold for 1.2 million pounds.
On Monday
night, it was Kenya currency, not British pounds that was being used by the
former Sotheby’s auctioneer Dendy Easton. Nonetheless, there were several sales
that shot significantly over a million. The most highly prized was by the late
Ugandan artist Geoffrey Masaka. His 1993 oil painting ‘In the Sugar Plantation’
went for a whopping KSh1.65 million. Just below that came Sudanese artist’s Rashid
Diab’s 2016 ‘Bird Omen’ which sold for Sh1.4 million.
Those prices
were anticipated since Masaka’s works have been sought after by international
collectors for some years. The same is true for Diab whose main collectors are
Middle Easterners swimming in oil money.
What wasn’t
expected was the bidding war that resulted in Yony Waite’s 1989 ‘Cameleopard in
the Clearing’ selling for Sh1.2 million. It’s a beautiful piece, one of the
most subtly colorful works by the artist who is best known for her stunning black
and white paintings.
But Yony’s
painting wasn’t the only one that elicited a bidding war on Monday night. In
the intimate assembly hall known as The Den of the Dusit D2 Hotel, there were
several more ‘wars’ over amazing artworks coming from all over Africa (not only
the East) than in years past.
In part the
combative bids, picked up quickly by the eagle-eyed auctioneer Easton, had to
do with the quality of works curated by Circle Art’s cofounder Danda Jaroljmek
who this year assembled 53 lots and 56 artworks from ten countries. The ten
were the Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria,
Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
What also
could have contributed to enthusiastic bidding was the bubbly Moet &
Chandon Champagne that the guests freely imbibed shortly before the bidding
began.
But the
reality was that the ‘bidding wars’ began early in the auction. In fact,
Charles Sekano’s 2010 mixed media on paper painting ‘In the Jungle Night’
started the evening off earning just about what Danda had predicted (between KSh280,000-390,000)
or KSh320,000. But the excitement took off by Lot 2 when the first Geoffrey
Mukasa painting went on the auction block. His 1993 ‘Birds at Home’ got bidders
going both by phone and from the floor. It was all strictly confidential but
Danda had a table set up near the auctioneer where proxy bidders sat glued to
cell phones as they listened to clients making instant decisions, whether to up
the ante or not. Ultimately, the winning
bid was for KSh850,000.
The energy
in the room had warmed up fast and it wasn’t long before a second slightly
shorter ‘war’ got underway for Peterson Kamwathi’s 2007 Untitled sheep. It didn’t
matter that Kamwathi’s work was in charcoal and pastel on paper. What mattered
was it was by this particular artist who happens to be one of Kenya’s most
acclaimed painters whose career is being carefully observed by various collectors
around the world. The sheep went for KSh800,000, which again is just about what
Danda had predicted.
In fact,
before the auction, Danda had told Business Daily that a good deal of research goes
into making an estimated valuation of a specific artwork. It isn’t just the
quality of the artist’s technique that count. It’s also the history of previous
sales of that artist’s works among other factors.
There was no
surprise then when Rashid Diab’s painting went for Sh1.4 million (although the
estimate was slightly higher). But it was a thrill to see one of my favorite
paintings in the show, the 2017 Untitled piece by the young Sudanese artist
Miske Mohmmed inspire a mini-spat that led to her colorful acrylic on canvas work
go for Sh380,000.
Miske was
one of eight women artists in the auction. Eight out of 55 artists isn’t exactly
gender parity. That’s one woman to every seven men almost. Nonetheless, the
eight are all amazing artists. And while none except Yony incited uber-bidding
wars, all of their work aroused bidding interest. For instance, the Egyptian
artist Souad Abdel Rassoul’s Untitled painting tied with Miske’s for a sale of
Sh380,000. Next in line was the Congolese photographer Gosette Lubondo whose ‘Imaginary
Trip’ sold for Sh270 followed by the highly textured ‘Kingdom of Night’
painting by Nigerian artist Nike Okundaye which elicited another mini-bidding
war till the final bid landed at sh260,000. After that, another photographer’s
work, ‘City of Saints’ by Ethiopia’s Eyerusalem Jirenga sold for sh200,000. Finally,
both Ugandan painter Theresa Musoke’s and Kenyan collage artist Rosemary Karuga’s
works sold for sh190,000.
Personally, I
feel Rosemary’s collage was under-valued as were several other sales, such as
those of Nigerians Bruce Onobrakpeya and Rufus Ogundele.
Nonetheless,
the art auction attracted a host of new bidders this year. Some were invisible,
as they only bid by phone; others having heard the auction was an important
place to be if one wanted a ‘crash course’ in what’s happening around the East
African region artistically. That was true for Lorraine Maina, the regional Marketing
Manager for Microsoft who attended her first East African art auction on Monday
night and was thrilled with the prospect of coming back and bidding next year.
But there
were also veteran auction attendants like the architect Karuga Koinange who won
the Sh400,000 bid on Fabian Mpagi 1996 painting, ‘Masquerae Fetish’. “I’ve
attended all five art auctions and I always take home at least one painting,”
he says. “I enjoy being supportive of African art.”
Finally, the
works by Kenyan artists in the auction all did relatively well. However, not
all of them will benefit from the formidable sales the auction achieved. That’s
because their art had already been sold, so it was the owner who came to Circle
asking Danda if she’d like to put their art up for auction. As such, the two
works by Kamwathi, the collage by Rosemary, Onditi’s painting of ‘Smokey’,
Kyalo’s twin paintings and even those of Wanyu Brush all came from private
collections. So only Gor, Edward Njenga, Yony and the Wajukuu artists including
Shabu will be reaping the fruits from the 5th Circle Art Auction.
Nonetheless, all the artists whose works featured in the auction are
beneficiaries, however the pie is sliced.
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Collectors Snap Up Artworks in
Nairobi Auction
Margaretta wa Gacheru (revised with editor’s input)(what appeared in BDLife 14.3.2018)
Circle Art Gallery’s 5th East African Art Auction
broke records on Monday night, making almost Sh21
million from the sale of 56 African works of art. Collectors snapped up modern
and contemporary paintings, collage, photographs and sculptures in an exclusive
auction held at Dusit D2 Hotel.
The auction’s success is a reflection of the renaissance
that contemporary art generally is having among the well-to-do worldwide. According to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2018,
art is becoming the top luxury possession that the rich are buying. Forget about the classic cars, watches,
wines and jewelry. It’s art, including African art, that had
an outstanding growth rate of 21 per cent last year with classic cars and
watches falling far behind.
“We’re
delighted with the results of this year’s
auction,” said Danda Jaroljmek, founder and
co-director of Circle Art Gallery. She’s
also the curator of all five East African Art Auction, making her what the
evening’s auctioneer Dendy Easton called “a pioneer” in East African art.
The most highly-prized artwork of
the night was by the late Ugandan artist Geoffrey Musaka. His oil painting done
in 1993, ‘In the Sugar Plantation’ went for Sh1.9 million. The artist’s works
have been sought-after by international collectors for many years.
Meanwhile, Ghanaian artist Ablaze
Glover’s painting ‘Market Chaos’ also
went for over Sh1 million.
There was a lively bidding war
for Yony Waite’s ‘Cameleopard in the Clearing’. The one bidding by phone from
the States ultimately secured the 1989 painting for Sh1.4 million. It is one of
the most subtly colourful works by the artist who is best known for her
stunning black and white oil paintings.
But Ms Waite’s work was not the
only one that elicited a bidding war. There were several more ‘wars’ over
amazing artworks coming from all over Africa, including DR Congo, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
In part the combative bids,
picked up quickly by the eagle-eyed former Sotheby’s auctioneer Mr. Easton, had
to do with the quality of works curated by Ms Jaroljmek who this year assembled
artworks from 10 African countries.
The art auction is a strictly
confidential affair with bidders’ and buyers’ identities carefully guarded. At
Monday’s auction, there was a table set up
near the auctioneer where proxy bidders sat glued to cell phones as they
listened to clients making instant decisions, whether to up the ante or not.
When Geoffrey Mukasa’s other painting in the auction, ‘Birds at Home’ done 29
years ago, went on the auction block, it got bidders going both by phone and
from the floor. Ultimately, the winning sale was for Sh997,900.
The energy in the room had warmed
up early in the night and it wasn’t long before a second slightly shorter ‘war’
got underway for Peterson Kamwathi’s 2007 ‘Untitled’ sheep done in charcoal and pastel on
paper. The artist is one of Kenya’s most acclaimed painters. His sheep sold for
Sh939,200, which was right within the range of valuation that Ms. Jarolmjek had
estimated and included in the catalogue.
She informed BDLife before the auction that a good deal of research goes into
making an estimated valuation of every artwork in the auction.
‘‘But it isn’t just the quality
of an artist’s technique that counts. It’s also the history of previous sales
of an artist’s works, among other factors, that affects the valuation,’’ she
added.
In the case of Rashid Diab, one
of Sudan’s most celebrated painters, the bidding for his beautiful ‘Bird Omen’
reached Sh1.4 million. But as that figure was below the low end of the
estimated valuation, the artwork could not be sold.
Nonetheless, it was a thrill to
see young Sudanese artist Miske Mohmmed’s ‘Untitled’ painting inspire a mini-spat that led
to her colourful acrylic on canvas work go for Sh446,120.
But Miske was one of just eight
women artists in the auction this year. The others included the 90 year old
Kenyan artist Rosemary Karuga whose ‘Untitled’ collage went for Sh281,760. The other women
painters included Theresa Musoke of Uganda whose ‘Birds’ went for Sh223,060; Nigerian Nike
Okundaye whose ’Kingdom of Night’ sold for Sh305,240; Egyptian artist
Souad Abdel Rassoul whose painting went for Sh446,120 and of course, Ms. Waite.
Women photographers also had work
in the auction. Congolese Gosette Lubondo’s ‘Imaginary
Trip’ got a top bid of Sh270,000 just below the minimum required, so that sale
is pending. Another photo artwork by Ethiopia’s Eyerusalem Jirenga sold for
Sh234,800.
This year’s art auction attracted
a host of new bidders. Some were invisible, as they only bid by phone; others
having heard the auction was an important place to be if one wanted a ‘crash
course’ in what’s happening around East Africa artistically.
Lorraine Maina, the regional
marketing manager for Microsoft who attended her first East African art auction on Monday was thrilled with the
prospect of coming back and bidding next year.
But there were also veteran
auction attendants like Karuga Koinange, an architect, an art collector who is
now the proud owner of Fabian Mpagi’s 1996 painting, ‘Masquerae Fetish’.
“I’ve attended all five auctions
and I always take home at least one painting,” he said soon after the auction
ended. “I enjoy being supportive of African art.”
African art is attracting
investors from all over the world. Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest
brokers of fine art, for instance, started to hold contemporary African art
auctions last year. However, the closest they came to featuring East Africa
artists was Uganda. Focus has mainly been on South African art and on West
African artists like El Anatsui.
In contrast, the UK auction house
Bonhams was auctioning Kenyan artists’ works back in 2013. However, the revenue
from those sales did not go to the artists. They went into a fund meant to
promote ‘visual art education in Kenya.’
For the past five years, the
auction has attracted high net worth art collectors who bid energetically on
phone or on the floor for pieces dating from the 1960s.
Last year’s auction netted about Sh19.2 million.
‘‘We are proud that the auction
has continued to grow and build a space for collectors of African art and
members of the East African business community to not only acquire art, but
also to be able to learn about the important artists in the region,” said Ms
Jaroljmek.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDE BAR
KENYAN
ARTISTS & THE SECONDARY ART MARKET
Kenyan artists’ works did relatively well at the
auction. However, not all the artists will benefit from the auction’s sales because their art had
previously been sold. So it was the owners who came to Circle asking Ms.
Jaroljmek to put their art on auction who reaped the spoils. They were owners
of artworks by Peterson Kamwathi, Rosemary Karuga, Paul Onditi, Justus Kyalo
and Wanyu Brush.
Those artists who benefited
directly from sales are the ones who gave Circle their work to be auctioned.
They include Gor Soudan, Edward Njenga, Yony Waite and the Wajukuu artists,
including Shabu Mwangi, Ngugi Waweru and Joseph Waweru. Nonetheless, all the
artists whose works featured in the auction are beneficiaries, however the pie
is sliced.
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OUTSTANDING
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
+ Bruce
Onobrakpeye, elderstatesman of Nigerian art. His Dancing Masquerade sold for
Sh258,280.
+ Edward
Saidi Tingatinga, Tanzanian painter died in 1972 but his style lives on.
Original Tingatinga sold for Sh845,280
+ Samson ‘Xenson’
Ssenkaaba’s Pro Afro Woman sold for Sh915,720
+ Laila Mukhtar
Adam’s painted clay figures sold for Sh223,060.
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