A RISQUÉ crayon drawing by revolutionary artist Pablo Picasso is to go on auction in Cape Town on June 7, with an estimated value of R3m-R3.5m. It is the first Picasso sketch to go on auction in SA.Picasso’s 1955 painting Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O') fetched the highest price ever paid for an artwork — $179.4m — at a Christie's auction in 2015, South African art auctioneers Stephan Welz & Co said on Tuesday after unveiling the drawing in Cape Town."Given the favourable rand and US dollar exchange rate, this could prove a massive draw card to both local and international bidders," said auctioneer Anton Welz in a statement.Titled Au Cirque (At the Circus), the coloured crayon sketch is dated January 31 1954 and was last sold by auctioneers Sothebys in New York in 2006 when it fetched $240,000. The seller is a South African who lives in Cape Town and who bought the sketch on that auction.Picasso, who died in 1973, is regarded as one of the most revolutionary and influential artists...
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