The joyful announcement by organizer Amanda Bloch of total sales of R4.5 million, beating out the previous event’s total of R3.4 million, brought South Africa’s most prestigious charity art auction to a close on the evening of Saturday, September 3. Two works alone, a mohair tapestry worked by the Marguerite Stephens studio from a William Kentridge cartoon, which appeared on the cover of the auction catalogue, and a Kentridge charcoal on paper, added just under R1 million to that total.

The Red Cross Children’s Hospital...

The joyful announcement by organizer Amanda Bloch of total sales of R4.5 million, beating out the previous event’s total of R3.4 million, brought South Africa’s most prestigious charity art auction to a close on the evening of Saturday, September 3. Two works alone, a mohair tapestry worked by the Marguerite Stephens studio from a William Kentridge cartoon, which appeared on the cover of the auction catalogue, and a Kentridge charcoal on paper, added just under R1 million to that total.

The Red Cross Children’s Hospital 2011 Art Benefit, organized by hospital patron Amanda Bloch and curated by artworld doyenne Linda Givon is definitely the most glitzy, and with the strongest drawing power on the charity art auction circuit. This year, the event was hosted by BoE Private Clients, whose lavish sponsorship ensured that all the money raised goes directly to the Red Cross.

Givon, who is shortly to open a new gallery in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, commented that since she and Bloch first entered into a partnership to benefit the hospital, the auction has grown in prestige to the point where artists beg her to accept works to go under the block.

The event was held on the sweeping lawns of Leeuwendal, official residence of Western Cape premier Helen Zille, and guests were greeted with flutes of champagne, and ad hoc performances from the dancers of Jay Pather’s Siwela Sonke Dance Company.

The dinner and auction itself took place in a high-ceilinged marquee with the proportions of a ball room and glass windows which looked up at a spotlit Table Mountain, and it seemed that every place at every table in the vast space was taken. Bloch spoke of the immense importance of the role of the hospital, which treats children from all over Africa, and Zille pointed out how appropriate it was that the money would go to the Burns Unit – every year, shack fires in the cold Cape winters cause terrible burn wounds to dozens of children.

Then the bidding began. First under the hammer was a recent Clive van den Berg painting, Man Flails with a Map, which fetched R45 000, and from then on, lot after lot attracted keen bidding. From the floor it seemed as if nothing went unsold. Unlike many such events, where the artists see the work they donated going for less than the gallery prices, attendees were clearly prepared to add on an extra percentage for this particular charity. Said Sophie Perryer, a director of the Stevenson Gallery, ‘All our artists' works were above or on value, which I think is a wonderful reflection of the generous spirit of this fund-raising event.’

Lot number 9, for instance, was Wim Botha’s Untitled (‘Witness’ series), a bust carved out of Michaelis Collection catalogues. Used as the image for the invitation to the auction, this sculpture garnered an astonishing R240 000 – a record for the artist. Jabal Arafat, Mount of Mercy 2011, a panoramic photographic print of a pilgrimage by Hasan and Husain Essop fetched R90 000, another record for the artists.

A vintage Robert Hodgins’ silkscreen, Pretty Boy Floyd 1980, went for R70 000, and a Hodgins-like etching of a stout white man in a pin striped suit by his life partner, Jan Neethling, entitled The Boss 2006 fetched R50 000. Always popular at Cape Town auctions, and a generous donor of his work in his lifetime, Cecil Skotnes was here represented by a work which came from a private collection, a charming watercolour still-life of bottles and fruit which sold for R105 000. A 1994 gelatin silver print of pool players by Santu Mofokeng, whose retrospective at the Jeu de Paume in Paris this summer drew excellent reviews, went under the hammer for R55 000, and a Mikhael Subotzky print of workers on a construction site was knocked down for R80 000.

Excellent food and wine in elegant surroundings put buyers in an expansive mood, and the hard work by everyone concerned – the artists, the organizers, and the sponsors – paid off. The Red Cross Children’s Hospital will get its all important Burns Unit.