LONDON.- The grande dame of South African art, and one of the top-selling female artists of all time, Irma Stern once again dominated the Bonhams sale of South African art today in London (1st October 2014).

Top item in the sale was her ‘Still life with African Woman’ which sold for £962,500 (R17.6m). The 128 lot sale made a total of £2.4m (R44m).

Two paintings by Alexis Preller that were inspired by the artist’s international travels also fetched high prices. ‘The Creation of Adam II’, which sold for £326,500 (R6m), was motivated by the artist's visit to Greece, where he was struck by the distilled beauty of the Greek kouros figures: archaic sculptures from the 6th century BC that celebrated young athletes at the height of their physical prowess. ‘Pirogues, Beau Vallon’, which sold for £122,000 (R2.2m), depicts a scene in the Seychelles, a trip he made in 1948 as an homage to the work and life of Paul Gauguin.

South Africa’s leading black artist, Gerard Sekoto, also fetched a six-figure sum. ‘The Kitchen table’, which sold for £158,500 (R2.9m), depicts a kitchen interior of a shanty in Sophiatown. Sekoto's unique skill as an artist lay in his ability to convey the human drama behind such domestic scenes. Hannah O’Leary, Head of South African Art, explains: “This painting reveals more than a simple kitchen interior; it expresses the deep familial bond that exists between the sitters. By emphasising their humanity, Sekoto encourages us to empathise with these figures and recognise the injustice of their situation.”