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 seasoned collectors. Important blue-chip artists like William Kentridge, JH Pierneef, Alexis Preller and Irma Stern are introduced with helpful biographies.
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Jean Welz
South African 1900-1975

Johann Max Friedrich Welz, known by the French version of his name, Jean, was born in Salzburg, Austria, into a family of gilders and picture framers. He studied architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna and went to Paris in 1925 to oversee the construction of the Austrian Pavilion at the International Exhibition for Applied Arts. He immersed himself in the flourishing arts and culture scene in Paris and worked on various building projects with prominent Modernist architects such as Le Corbusier, Robert Mallet-Stevens and Adolf Loos. In 1937, Welz, with his wife Inger and firstborn son emigrated to South Africa with a letter of recommendation from Le Corbusier. In Johannesburg he was involved in redesigning and overseeing the rebuilding of the entrance foyer of the Wits University Great Hall after a fire.
Welz’s precarious health forced the family to seek out the dry climate of the Klein Karoo, where they lived in the isolated Tradouw Pass, and then at De Wet outside Worcester. In 1942 Welz was approached to curate the Hugo Naudé Estate after Naudé’s death and he established the Hugo Naudé Art Centre. That year he held successful solo exhibitions in Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Johannesburg and was invited by fellow artist Gregoire Boonzaier to join and exhibit with the New Group.
Welz represented South Africa on the Venice Biennale in 1948 and 1952, and on the São Paulo Biennale in 1957. In the 1960s and 70s paintings by Welz fetched the highest prices of any artist in South Africa. His oeuvre consists of abstracts, still lifes, landscapes, nudes and portraits, often painted in layers of colour glazed or scumbled. Jean Welz was the father of former Managing Director of Strauss & Co, auctioneer Stephan Welz.
151 lots offered 53.64% sold ZAR 15 084 574
Results in green indicate post sales.
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- Andrzej Urbanski
- Anton Uys
- Roberto Vaccaro
- Jean-Baptiste Valadié
- Jules van de Vijver
- Clive van den Berg
- Shany van den Berg
- Caroline van der Merwe
- Eben van der Merwe
- Hentie van der Merwe
- Strijdom van der Merwe
- Hieronymous van der Mij
- Gunther van der Reis
- Hannatjie van der Wat
- Pieter van der Westhuizen
- Kees van Dongen
- Attributed to Isaac van Duynen
- Maurice van Essche
- Johan van Heerden
- Louis van Heerden
- Piet van Heerden
- Gail Kathleen van Lingen
- Herman van Nazareth
- Charl van Niekerk
- Johanna Jacoba Bleuland van Oordt
- Frank (Francois) van Reenen
- Derric van Rensburg
- Jacob van Schalkwyk
- Jaco van Schalkwyk
- Linda van Someren
- Bastiaan van Stenis
- Louis Jansen van Vuuren
- Ruhan Janse van Vuuren
- Anton van Wouw
- Riaan van Zyl
- Minnette Vári
- Victor Vasarely
- Yvaral Jean-Pierre Vasarely
- Aristotelis Vasilikiotis
- Patricia Mary Vaughan
- Nontsikelelo Veleko
- Kobie Venter
- Nico Verboom
- Jan Vermeiren
- Marié Vermeulen-Breedt
- Daan Vermeulen
- Pierre Vermeulen
- Casper Versluis
- Andrew Verster
- Jack Vettriano
- Diane Victor
- Edoardo Villa
- Jacques Villon
- Wendy Vincent
- Maria Manuela Vintilescu
- Harold Voigt
- Leigh Voigt
- Walter Voigt
- Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk
- Vera Volschenk
- Marlene von Dürckheim
- Christine von Huetz-Davisson
- Heinrich von Michaelis
- Anna Vorster
- Alma Ita Vorster
- Gordon Vorster
- Margaret Vorster
- Edouard Vuillard
- Jeremy Wafer
- Mary Wafer
- Andrew Walford
- Marjorie Wallace
- Sarah Walmsley
- Aidan Walsh
- Andy Warhol
- Agnes Waruguru
- Royal Lesotho Tapestry Weavers
- James Webb
- Jessica Webster
- Ingrid Weiersbye
- Wolf Weinek
- Harrison William Weir
- Jean Welz
- Pieter Wenning
- Kylie Wentzel
- Tom Wesselmann
- Walter Westbrook
- John Laviers Wheatley
- Taffy (Matthew) Whippman
- Izanne Wiid
- Helen Wildeboer
- Walter Gilbert Wiles
- Graeme Williams
- Quinten Edward Williams
- Sue Williamson
- Gerd Winner
- Edward Wolfe
- Joseph Wolpe
- Max Wolpe
- Judy Woodborne
- Susan Woolf
- Zao Wou-Ki
- Florian Wozniak
- Paul Wunderlich
- Karen Wykerd
- Nhlanhla Xaba
- Mzuzile Mduduzi Xakaza
- Teruko Yokoi
- Ed Young
- Russell Young
- Gavin Younge
- Billie Zangewa
- Florence Zerffi
- Asha Zero
- Dominique Zinkpè
- Michael Gagashe Zondi
- Sandile Zulu
- Vuminkosi Zulu
- Ravi Zupa
- Portia Zvavahera