Artists

From Albert Adams to Portia Zvavahera, Strauss & Co maintains a detailed database of every artist sold at auction since 2009. Whether it is painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, ceramics or new media, this searchable database lists by artist every lot offered and provides aggregated data useful to collectors. Famous South African artists like William Kentridge, JH Pierneef, Alexis Preller and Irma Stern are introduced with helpful biographies along with the best contemporary artists.



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Danie de Jager

South African 1936-2003 


Danie de Jager, who pursued sculpture his whole life, struggled at the outset of his career. He doggedly entered every competition he could until he finally won his first major commission. This was the Hertzog Monument in Bloemfontein which kept him at work for the greater part of the 1960s. Later his reputation was such that that he could rely on patrons approaching him directly, and he had to employ a number of assistants to cope with the volume of work. Yet, his sculpture is not widely represented in South African museums, although immensely popular with the general public.

De Jager explored the great freedom often given to him by his clients to conceptualize a new commission, but he was also quick to adapt his style to their demands, with naturalistic images of historical figures and political dignitaries, wildlife studies for Sun City, and abstract pieces at such venues as Bela Bela, Polokwane and O R Tambo International Airport. His rendering of the iconic South African springbok is particularly desired by collectors.

His most famous sculpture is arguably Shawu, the life-size elephant at the entrance to the Lost City Palace Hotel at Sun City. De Jager stated that Shawu was cast in Italy because only there could something of that size be undertaken in the ceramic shell technique, which would also have facilitated the detailed replication of the texture of the elephant’s hide. But it is notable that the extensive editions of this work on smaller scale, expensive, but eagerly collected, was cast locally by Mike Edwards at the IMI Sculpture Studio at Lanseria.

Oscar the Seal, at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town became another favourite of the public, especially because Nelson Mandela inaugurated the sculpture.

Later in life De Jager gained widespread international status with such prominent commissions as the Flying Horses at the Atlantis Royal Hotel in the Bahamas, the ‘’Water at last’’ group of camels at the Royal Mirage Hotel, Jumeirah, Dubai, and the Arabian Horses for the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai. His oeuvre spans sculpting a war memorial at Delville Wood, France and as well as a series of Impala heads adorning the façade of the Impala Building on 5ht Avenue, New York. His clients included such luminaries as Bill and Hilary Clinton, Margret Thatcher, His Highness Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, Cliff Richards, Natalie Cole, Sting, Michael Jackson, and the actor, Robert de Niro.


34 lots offered      73.53% sold      ZAR 1 810 609
 

  Including Premium and VAT Results include Buyer's Premium and VAT
Danie de Jager; The Philosopher
9 Sep 2024
Sold for ZAR 23 450
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Old Man
8 Jul 2024
Sold for ZAR 5 628
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; In Flight, Maquette
8 May 2023
Sold for ZAR 25 795
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Shawu
28 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 14 070
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Shawu – One of the Magnificent Seven
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 152 425
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Rearing Horse
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 11 725
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Habib El Arab
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 11 725
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Drinker of the Wind
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 11 725
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; High-Stepping Horse
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 11 725
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Composition with Three Impala
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 257 950
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Impala Ram
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 111 388
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Danie de Jager; Impala Ewe
13 Jun 2022
Sold for ZAR 46 900
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT

Results in green indicate post sales.