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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Nesta Nala

South African 1940-2005 


Nesta Nala lived and worked in the arid and economically depressed Oyaya area in Thukela Valley near Middledrift. She began making traditional Zulu vessels at the age of twelve, under the guidance of her mother Siphiwe, who in turn had been taught by her mother. Until the late 1970s, Nesta Nala was making beer vessels for local consumption. The vessels were hand coiled from locally sourced clay, burnished and then fired with dried aloe leaves.

In 1976, Nala fist produced pots for the tourist market through the Vukani Association in Eshowe. Nala’s skill as an expert local potter was evident and her production soon became exclusively for an external market. In 1983 Nala was commissioned to replicate some iron-age sherds found in the area by archaeologist Leonard Van Schalkwyk. This was to have a profound effect on the designs she applied to her vessels. Nala’s ukhamba and uphiso shaped vessels produced since the mid-1980s were made largely for commissioned patronage, with refined raised, incised, impressed and imprinted textures becoming her trademark. Since the 1990s, recognition for Nala as one of KwaZulu-Natal’s most distinguished potters has continued to grow both nationally and internationally.

Nesta Nala won the FNB Vita Craft Competition in 1995 and National Ceramics Biennale in 1996, and she represented South Africa at the Cairo International Biennale for Ceramics in 1994 and at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in the United States of America in 1999. Nala’s work is represented in major public and private collections throughout South Africa and internationally.


16 lots offered      81.25% sold      ZAR 170 565
 

Including Premium and VAT Results include Buyer's Premium and VAT
Nesta Nala; Ukhamba (Traditional isiZulu Vessel)
12 Feb 2024
Sold for ZAR 19 933
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Uphiso II (Traditional isiZulu Pot)
14 Aug 2023
Sold for ZAR 15 243
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Uphiso I (Traditional isiZulu Pot)
14 Aug 2023
Sold for ZAR 9 380
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Uphiso (Traditional isiZulu Vessel)
8 May 2023
Sold for ZAR 21 105
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Pot
11 Apr 2023
Sold for ZAR 9 380
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Vessel
8 Nov 2020
Sold for ZAR 43 244
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Beer Vessel
6 Jul 2020
Sold for ZAR 12 898
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Beer Vessel
6 Jul 2020
Sold for ZAR 9 967
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Beer Vessel
19 Oct 2019
Unsold
Nesta Nala; Beer Vessel
19 Oct 2019
Unsold
Nesta Nala; Drinking Vessel
19 Oct 2019
Sold for ZAR 3 518
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
Nesta Nala; Beer Vessel
19 Oct 2019
Sold for ZAR 5 863
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT