‘Untitled’: Malangatana sells for the highest price among Portuguese-speaking artists in New York auction

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‘Untitled’: Malangatana sells for the highest price among Portuguese-speaking artists in New York auction

8:33 CAT | 07 May 2021

Image: Bonhams

A painting by the artist Malangatana, related to the independence of Mozambique, raised the highest price of a set of works by Portuguese-speaking artists auctioned by Bonhams in New York on Tuesday. It was sold for US$ 8,925 .

The works of Mozambican artists Malangatana, Bertina Lopes, Ernesto Shikhani and Angolan António Ole, sold yesterday for prices between €3,500.00 and €7,430.00, in an auction of modern and contemporary African art in New York, with live streaming over the internet and online and telephone participants.

Decolonization in Africa was the subject of two works in the collection, the most expensive of which was an untitled painting dating from 1965 by Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (Mozambican, 1936-2011), sold for US$8,925.00 (€7,430.00), including taxes and commission.

“Like most Malangatana paintings from the mid-1960s, this work portrays the concerns and struggles of ordinary people while their native country, Mozambique, fought for independence from Portugal,” the description in the auction catalogue reads.

According to Bonhams, Malangatana is considered “a prominent figure” who influenced “Africanist aesthetics” and did not hide the intimate connection between his work and the socio-political conditions of Mozambique during the struggle for independence, won in 1975.

The oil painting ‘Sonho no Espaço’ by Bertina Lopes (Mozambican, 1924-2012) was the first work to be sold on Tuesday at the auction of 50 lots, for US$6,375.00 (€5,300.00).

The painting by Angolan artist António Ole, born in 1951, inscribed with the word “Untitled” was auctioned for US$5,100.00 (€4,245.00), final value.

The ‘Liberation of Black People’, a painting dated 1974 by Ernesto Shikhani (Mozambican, 1934-2010), was sold for US$4,200.00 (€3,500.00), not including taxes and commission.

“At the time of the execution of this work, a ceasefire had just been negotiated between the Mozambican party FRELIMO and Portugal, putting an end to a decade of violence,” the auctioneer’s description reads.

“This was a crucial moment for the artist, finally free from the bonds of colonial censorship,” the description continues, after recounting a period Shikhani spent in Portugal under the watchful eye of the International and State Defence Police (PIDE).

The date of the work refers to the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship, on April 25, 1974.

Shikhani was, like his compatriot Malangatana, one of a group of prominent artists who “played a key role in extending aesthetic reciprocity across Africa, Europe and the United States”, according to Bonhams.

The most expensive work sold at the auction was the 1954 painting ‘Zulu Girl with Cocks’ by South African artist Irma Stern (1894-1966), which went for more than US$150,000.00 (€125,000.00).

The painting portrays a Zulu girl with roosters, described by Bonhams as an “explosion of extravagant energy that attributes extraordinary presence and power to the young female subject”.

The auction featured numerous works by the Ethiopian artist Alexander Skunder Boghossian (1937-2003), among which ‘The Great Orange’ stood out, selling for more than US$95,000.00 (€79,000.00).

Source: Lusa