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.



Value your Art?Do you know the value of your Art?

Gerard Bhengu

South African 1910-1990 


Gerard Bhengu was born in 1910 in Southern Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) and expressed his artistic talent from a young age. While most teachers reprimanded him for doodling in his schoolbooks, Mr Duma encouraged him and gave him crayons, and Mr Jowett supplied him with his first set of watercolours. Not long after, Bhengu became ill and gifted a drawing to the doctor who treated him. Dr Köhler was so taken by Bhengu’s talent that he commissioned the boy to create several images for him to use in his lectures. The doctor further provided him with painting supplies and suggested that he paint the people and scenes from his village. Bhengu’s talent grew, and in 1936, the Department of Native Affairs commissioned him to paint a frieze in their building in Johannesburg for that year’s Empire Exhibition. In the 1940s, he sold his artwork through the Payne Brothers department store in Durban, where he found success in the tourist market. He went on to exhibit in the 1979 Contemporary African Art in South Africa touring exhibition and the Historical Perspective of Black Art in South Africa exhibition in 1986. Bhengu’s art is photorealistic in style and he worked primarily in watercolour and sepia. His works are included in the collections of the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, and the University of Fort Hare, amongst others.


48 lots offered      93.75% sold      ZAR 1 089 997
 

  Including Premium and VAT Results include Buyer's Premium and VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Figure with Hat and Collar
11 Mar 2024
Sold for ZAR 3 518
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Portrait of a Woman
11 Mar 2024
Sold for ZAR 3 518
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Portrait of a Laughing Man
11 Mar 2024
Sold for ZAR 13 800
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Portrait of a Woman and Child
11 Mar 2024
Sold for ZAR 4 690
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Landscape with Wood Carrier
19 Feb 2024
Sold for ZAR 52 763
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Landscape with Trees
7 Nov 2023
Sold for ZAR 58 625
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Portrait of a Man
15 May 2023
Sold for ZAR 1 759
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Portrait of a Woman
15 May 2023
Sold for ZAR 2 580
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Self-Portrait
28 Nov 2022
Sold for ZAR 29 313
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Portrait of Man with Necklace
3 Oct 2022
Sold for ZAR 4 690
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Portrait of a Man
27 Sep 2021
Sold for ZAR 4 690
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Gerard Bhengu; Zulu Warrior
19 Oct 2020
Sold for ZAR 9 380
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT