Irma Stern’s 1936 portrait ‘Malay Woman’ has sold for R5 032 500 at a virtual auction hosted by Strauss & Co this week. Estimated at between R3 and R5 million, the painting was the standout lot at the Modern and Contemporary Art live auction.
The work depicts an unknown Malay woman, possibly a paid model, with folded arms and a hijab. Rather than offering a portrait of psychological withdrawal, art experts describe the composition as a fine example of Stern’s sustained attention to individual presence within a group construct, conveyed through pose, colour and pictorial economy.
The quiet intensity recalls a Picasso Blue Period work, yet the vision remains distinctly South African.
Stern’s controversial first solo exhibition in Cape Town, held in 1922, included a composition titled Malay Girls in Twilight. Over the ensuing decades she built up an extensive portrait archive of Cape Town’s diverse Muslim population, capturing adolescents, working women, brides, flower sellers, minstrels and religious leaders. She was particularly drawn to the outward expressions of social ritual and religious faith, often depicting her sitters in traditional or ceremonial dress.
The sitter’s folded arms and averted gaze invite psychological interpretation when viewed through the lens of modernism’s interest in interior states and Apartheid history. Yet Stern cautions against easy assumptions. Rather than narrative explanation, the work conveys presence through visual means alone.
Born in 1894 to German-Jewish parents, Stern trained under Expressionist influences in Germany before returning to Cape Town. While the public initially struggled with her work, she went on to exhibit at the Venice Biennale four times, won the Peggy Guggenheim International Art Prize and sold works to Queen Elizabeth for her personal collection. She died in 1966, cementing her legacy as one of Africa’s defining modernists.
In 2011, her ‘Arab Priest’ sold at Bonhams London for around R34 million, setting the global record for a South African painting. Back home in South Africa, her 1939 masterwork ‘Children Reading the Koran’ fetched R22.3 million at Strauss & Co in 2023.
The auction raised R12.7 million from 52 lots. The Strauss & Co Modern and Contemporary Art auction takes place virtually, offering registered bidders access to browse and place bids online.
Stern’s legacy continues to gain prominence locally.
Last October, the Irma Stern Museum closed abruptly, prompting considerable response from the local art community. Since then, the Norval Foundation has unveiled Irma Stern: A Life of Displacement, a new exhibition of her works running until 17 August 2026. The Irma Stern Trust will arrange a new permanent home for her works in due course.
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R36.9 million raised in an auction devoted to Irma Stern, Cape Town
Picture: Strauss & Co / Facebook
