Of a set of works by Lusophone artists auctioned Tuesday in New York by Bonhams, a painting by artist Malangatana, related to the independence of Mozambique, was the most expensive work, having sold for nearly nine thousand dollars.
Works by Mozambican artists Malangatana, Bertina Lopes, Ernesto Shikhani, and Angolan António Ole were sold Tuesday at an auction of Modern and Contemporary African Art held in New York, with online and telephone participants, broadcast live on the Internet.
The decolonization of African countries was the theme of two works from the set of Lusophone works, of which the most expensive was a painting dated 1965, untitled, by Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (from Mozambique, 1936-2011), which sold for $8925, an amount that includes taxes and commission.
"Like most of Malangatana's paintings from the mid-1960s, this work depicts the concerns and struggles of ordinary people as his native Mozambique was fighting for independence from Portugal," reads the description prepared by the auctioneer.
According to Bonhams, Malangatana was considered "a prominent figure" who influenced the "Africanist aesthetic" and who did not hide the intimate connection of his work with the socio-political conditions of Mozambique during the struggle for independence, won in 1975.
The painting inscribed with the word "Untitled (untitled) by Angolan artist Antonio Ole, born in 1951, was auctioned for $5100, the final price.
The oil painting "Dream in Space" by Bertina Lopes (Mozambique, 1924-2012), was the first work to sell Tuesday at Bonhams' 50-lot auction, for $6375.
"Liberation of the Black Peoples," meanwhile, a painting dated 1974 by Ernesto Shikhani (Mozambican, 1934-2010), sold for $4200, a figure that does not yet reflect taxes and commission for the auctioneer.
"At the time this painting was executed, a ceasefire had just been negotiated between the Mozambican FRELIMO party and Portugal, ending a decade of violence," reads the auctioneer's description.
"This was a crucial moment for the artist, finally free from the bonds of colonial censorship," the description continues, after describing a period of Shikhani's life spent in Portugal, under the gaze and censorship of the International and State Defense Police (PIDE).
The date of the work goes back to the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship on April 25, 1974.
Shikhani was, like his compatriot Malangatana, part 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 topped $150,000 and was the 1954 painting "Zulu Girl with Cocks" by South African artist Irma Stern (1894-1966).
The painting, which depicts, in profile, a Zulu tribal girl with cocks, is, for Bonhams, an "extravagant burst of energy that attributes extraordinary presence and power to the young female subject."
The auction featured numerous works by Ethiopian artist Alexander Skunder Boghossian (1937-2003), including "The Big Orange," which sold for more than $95,000.
