Christie’s will be selling works to benefit the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, slated to open in September, with donations by artists including El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare, Isaac Julien, Rashid Johnson, and Antony Gormley set to hit the auction block on March 8.
Proceeds from the 14 works in question will go towards Zeitz MOCAA’s endowment with a view to ensuring the sustainability of the museum. Further donations include artworks by Pascale Marthine Tayou, Harland Miller, Athi-Patra Ruga, Frances Goodman, Yto Barrada, and Roger Ballen.
In addition, Photographer Roger Ballen will be donating his entire body of work to the museum, the Zeitz MOCAA tweeted yesterday.
“Zeitz MOCAA is dedicated to creating a platform for artists from Africa and the world, and providing access for all to our exhibitions and programming,” explains MOCAA executive director and chief curator Mark Coetzee. ”The extraordinary generosity of artists from around the world in donating to this fundraising auction will guarantee that we fulfil our mission for years to come.”
El Anatsui, Warrior (2015). Courtesy CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2016
One of the highlights of the action will be Warrior (2015) by Anatsui which will go on sale with an estimate of £400,000- £600,000 ($496,994 -$745,491) and Shonibare’s Boy Balancing Knowledge II (2016), which has an estimate of £50,000-£70,000 ($62,124-$86,973).
Zeitz MOCAA, which is being built to inhabit an old grain silo on the waterfront in Cape Town, has been set with a mission to “collect, preserve, research, and exhibit cutting edge contemporary art from Africa and its Diaspora.” The nine-story museum will also have a strong educational focus.
The works in question wcan be viewed prior to the benefit auction in an exhibition from March 3-7 as part of the series of auctions “20th-Century at Christie’s” which run from February 28 to March 10, 2017.