ABOUT

Peffers Fine Art is a connoisseur gallery and consulting agency focused on Modern and Contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Specialising in fine paintings, sculpture, prints, and unique works on paper by African Modern and Contemporary Masters, with particular focus on Black Modernism, lens-based work, and leading contemporary art.

 

With private viewing rooms in the city of Cape Town, Peffers Fine Art is dedicated to the promotion of artists from Africa, and provides professional art consulting, advising, and collection management services.

 

In addition to our physical gallery, Peffers Fine Art operates online viewing rooms and is a developing research laboratory dedicated to art history. Our program includes digital presentations and online exhibitions, supported by research essays from prominent South African art historians and writers.

    • Ruarc Peffers

      BA (Hons) (Fine Art); MSc (Modern Art: History, Curating, Criticism)

       

      Ruarc is an art consultant with over twenty years of experience. He qualified with a BA in Fine Art from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, and a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh. He was the Senior Art Specialist and Director at the auction house Stephan Welz & Co in association with Sotheby’s, where he specialised in African modernism. He subsequently worked at Strauss and Co. where he was involved in the development of their online bidding platform, and brought various important collections and artworks to market. He subsequently worked at Goodman Gallery before founding Aspire Art in 2016, with notable financial backing and a distinguished board. As the leader of Aspire, he successfully auctioned groundbreaking collections, including the Collection of Nwabisa Xayiya, the first ever single-owner collection belonging to a black female collector that has come to market. Ruarc has been one of the leading forces contributing to re-positioning the work of under-represented Black Modernists such as Albert Adams, Dumile Feni, Sydney Kumalo, Gladys Mgudlandlu, Julian Motua, Ephraim Ngatane, George Pemba, Helen Sebidi, and Gerard Sekoto, amongst others.

    • Dr. Matthew Blackman

      BA (Hons) (English Literature & Philosophy); MSc (Philosophy); PhD

       

      Matthew has over fifteen years of experience working in the art world. He was the interim director of the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) and the editor of the art magazine ArtThrob. As a journalist and art critic, he has worked for The Art Newspaper, Art Review, and World of Interiors. Matthew has written as a journalist on corruption in South Africa, as well as on art, literature, and history. He has a PhD from the University of East Anglia and an MSc in philosophy from the London School of Economics.

       

      Matthew has worked as a lecturer and tutor at both the University of Cape Town and the University of East Anglia, lecturing on the philosophy of aesthetics and literature. He has co-authored several best-selling books on South African history as well as contributing academic papers to peer-reviewed journals. He co-runs Blackman Rossouw, a creative media agency that designs and publishes books as well as developing and designing websites. An artworld veteran, he has a wealth of knowledge and strong relationships with top collectors, artists, academics and artworld influencers.