Publications
Partners
Cape Town - African art accounts for about $1bn (about R12bn) of the total global top-end art market valued at about $75bn, according to the South Africa 2018 Wealth Report released by AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth last week.
About $450m (about R5.5bn) of the top-end African art is held in South Africa.
Analyses for the report estimate that South African fine art prices have risen by 28% over the past 10 years in dollar terms. Over the same period, global fine art prices rose by 12%.
The report lists the leading South African artists in terms of prices obtained for their work.
Who leads the pack?
Irma Stern is currently the most valuable South African artist. Her work fetches up to R30m per painting, with an average price of around R5m.
Works by Maggie Laubser currently fetch up to R5m per painting. The average price for her work is around R600 000.
AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth expect a substantial increase in the value of her paintings, possibly matching prices obtained for Irma Stern in the near future.
Paintings by Pierneef currently fetch average prices of about R800 000 per painting, but his works can fetch up to R20m.
Irma Stern. (Supplied)
- READ: How to invest in art
Next up is Alexis Preller, with the average price for a painting of about R600 000. His paintings can fetch up to R10m.
Paintings by Gerard Sekoto fetch an average price of around R400 000, but can fetch up to R5m, while paintings by Hugo Naudé fetch an average price of around R300 000, but can cost up to R2m.
The average price for a painting by William Kentridge is about R800 000, but it can fetch up to R5m, while the average price per painting by John Meyer is about R300 000, but it can fetch up to R3m.
Up-and-coming artists
AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth list six SA artists whose works they expect could fetch prices similar to those of the top local artists in the near future.
They are Adrian Boshoff, Stefan Ampenberger, Branko Dimitrov, Roberto Vaccaro (sculpture), and Portchie and Isabel le Roux.
Portchie. (Supplied)
* Sign up to Fin24's top news in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TO FIN24 NEWSLETTER
