Andrew Verster
Tapestry of Tall Trees in Blue Landscape; Cartoon for Tall Trees in Blue Landscape, two
About the SessionStrauss & Co is delighted to present Andrew Verster: Gorgeous and Free, a landmark timed-online auction devoted exclusively to the celebrated Durban painter, educator, critic, and activist Andrew Verster. This collection serves as a focused snapshot of a prolific career, offering new generations an opportunity to engage with an artist who was a prominent figure in the 1980s. It is a chance to explore a body of work that is deeply compelling and a tribute to the legacy of an artist of such significant contributions.
The 38 lots on offer span the full breadth of Verster's creative output. We are thrilled to present a comprehensive selection that includes his characteristic oil paintings, watercolours, a captivating sculptural door piece, and five monumental tapestries created in collaboration with Stephens Tapestry Studio. Each piece reflects a singular visual language, rich with a distinctive chromatic exuberance and an unapologetic vision.
Leading this outstanding collection is Expulsion, a four-panel tour de force from 1987. This powerful artwork, with its vividly coloured wilderness and hunched male figures, revisits the biblical expulsion from Eden, reinterpreting the narrative through the lens of queer desire. This was a profoundly courageous and dignifying gesture in apartheid South Africa. The aesthetic beauty of Verster’s work often belies the quiet but fearless political messages embedded within, demonstrating how he navigated an oppressive social landscape with subtlety and strength. His bold use of colour and intimate scenes also show a clear debt to painters like David Hockney.
This auction reaffirms Verster’s vital place within a lineage of queer South African painters, including Edward Wolfe and Alexis Preller. This catalogue delves deeper into his body of work and his place in art history, solidifying our commitment to championing significant South African artists.
About this Item
the second signed
Notes
The tapestry was hand-woven by Marguerite Stephens and includes the original cartoon by the artist, commissioned by Engen.
The present lot hung in the marble-clad foyer of the office.
Stephens Tapestry Studio, operating out of both Johannesburg and Swaziland, is a family-run hand-weaving studio that is currently run by Marguerite's daughter Christine Weavind. Marguerite got her start weaving large tapestries for South African fine artist's after her mother, Coral, volunteered her to weave one of Cecil Skotnes' woodcuts in 1963. The work sold almost immediately, which led to her abandoning her career as an Occupational Therapist to run the studio full time.1 Going on to collaborate with various artist's, notably William Kentridge, Walter Battiss and Andrew Verster.
The studio creates their tapestries based on an original artwork supplied by the artist. The cartoon will then be dictated onto a piece of paper. A large copy of the artwork will then be laid out and transferred over to the base of the tapestry. The work often undergoes some editing by Marguerite to ensure that it transfers correctly to the fabric medium. To create the looming tapestries, the mohair is carded and spun before being dyed in vats over a wood fire and dried in the sun. Using the French Gobelin technique, the weavers work on vertical looms with Stephens’ cartoon behind them, creating the tapestry from the bottom up.2
1(no date) Stephens Tapestry Studio, Our Story, online, https://stephenstapestrystudio.com/pages/about-us, accessed 18 August 2025.
2Matthew Freemantle (2015) Matthew Freemantle, Interview with Marguerite Stephens, online, https://mafreemantle.tumblr.com/post/121754365996/interview-with-marguerite-stephens, accessed 18 August 2025.
Provenance
The Engen Collection.
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