{"id":49739,"date":"2013-11-30T01:45:54","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T23:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=49739"},"modified":"2013-12-16T19:36:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T17:36:24","slug":"delaire-graff-sparkles-with-new-graff-jewellery-store-and-iconic-the-chinese-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/restaurant-news\/delaire-graff-sparkles-with-new-graff-jewellery-store-and-iconic-the-chinese-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Delaire Graff sparkles with new Graff jewellery store and iconic The Chinese Girl!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Delaire<\/a>One of the social highlights of this year was the unveiling yesterday of Vladimir Tretchikoff’s ‘The Chinese Girl’,<\/em> South Africa’s most internationally recognised painting, at its new home at Delaire Graff in Stellenbosch, which celebrates its 10th year of being in Mr Graff’s ownership. \u00a0The 40th Graff jewellery store was also opened at the wine estate, the first in Africa.<\/p>\n

Delaire was bought by Laurence Graff OBE in 2003, and he invested a lot of money in setting up a cellar, a winetasting centre, the main restaurant, and investing in interior design created by the late David Collins from London. The Boutique Hotel followed, which houses Indochine and the Spa, also decorated by Collins. \u00a0Commendable has been Mr Graff’s investment in South African art, and his William Kentridge dominates the main restaurant, \u00a0while Lionel Smit’s work is striking, a four-piece work as well as a portrait of Mr Graff dominating the reception of the main building.<\/p>\n

The 80 guests were welcomed in the foyer by GM Johann Laubser, where he\"Delaire<\/a> introduced the team that helped to create the event, a second fundraising event having been held last night, generating funds for FACET, a charity which Mr Graff created.\u00a0Graff has diamond stores all over the world, including in London, Monte Carlo, Geneva, Moscow, St Petersburg, New York, San Francisco, Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul,Taipei, and now in Stellenbosch. \u00a0The newest 54 square meter store is inside the main Delaire Graff restaurant and tasting room building, to the left of the reception desk, which has been shortened by half to make space for the Graff jewellery store, designed by the Graff Monaco-based interior design team. \u00a0The interior design detail\u00a0draws inspiration from\u00a0African and Cape Dutch\u00a0styling. \u00a0One of the jewellery ranges is called Bulls Eye,\"Delaire<\/a> and was an intricate circular diamond design, with a red stone in the centre, perfectly named! The peach pip flooring, which runs down the passage, was extended to surround the Graff Jewellery store, a process which I observed on a previous visit to the building.<\/p>\n

We moved through to the main restaurant, where The Chinese Girl had been set up on an easel. It was mentioned that Tretchikoff’s daughter Mimi Mercorio and granddaughter Natasha Swift were also present. \u00a0The granddaughter had organised an extensive exhibition of Tretchikoff’s work in the SA National Gallery in 2011, with the assistance of University of Cape Town Michaelis School of Fine Art Senior Lecturer Andre Lamprecht. Lamprecht introduced the work, and said that an oil painting has permanence, compared to prints which tend to fade. He described Tretchikoff as a genius, in recognising that people wanted art around them, and he wanted to share it via his prints. \u00a0Even Mr Graff\u00a0grew up with Tretchikoff’s work, the first art awareness of many young persons. He said: ‘As a young man, I noticed the image of\u00a0Tretchikoff\u2019s Chinese Girl continuously\u00a0displayed in many different locations in print\u00a0form. It was the first piece of art that made an\u00a0impact on me, and I believe ignited my\u00a0interest and passion for art. You can imagine\u00a0my surprise to have learned of the sale of\u00a0the original painting and of course, my\u00a0decision to buy it was immediate’.<\/em> \u00a0The Chinese Girl was placed on the same level as the Mona Lisa in its popularity. Mr Lamprecht thanked Mr Graff for bringing the painting back to South Africa from Chicago, which Tretchikoff will have sold to the family on his exhibition tour of his work in the USA in the ‘Fifties. \u00a0 He was also praised for having such significant South African art in his collection.<\/p>\n

Boris Gorelik was introduced, having written the ‘first independent biography’<\/em> about Tretchikoff. \u00a0There was a ‘mystery’<\/em> about The Chinese Girl, he said, and where it had landed. \u00a0 The daughter of the family that had bought it saw it on TV, and so learnt of its value. \u00a0 The painting became an ‘icon of popular culture of the 20th century’<\/em>, having been created in Cape Town sixty years ago. \u00a0Stephan Welz, art expert and auctioneer, expressed that art is taking the place of religion, which is the true definition of ‘iconic’<\/em>. \u00a0Funny was when Neil Pendock asked whether The Chinese Girl would become the new Irma Stern, introducing himself not as a wine writer but from the (petite) ‘Pendock Wine Gallery’<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>! \u00a0Welz felt that Tretchikoff is more valuable (with a price tag of R13 million for The Chinese Girl), as ‘exotic and erotic art’<\/em> sells! \u00a0 The green in the face was the artist’s experiment, and he created a version without the coloured face, but print sales showed the popularity of the former. \u00a0\"Delaire<\/a>Welz also saluted Mr Graff for his confidence in South Africa, and for having created such a superb estate, which is a ‘monument to a great man, in what he has done for art and South Africa’.<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0Mr Welz and the sitter for The Chinese Girl painting, Monika Pon-Su-San<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, who flew down from Johannesburg with her family, unveiled The Chinese Girl (sometimes called The Green Lady) to applause. An interview with the BBC<\/strong> earlier this year revealed that Tretchikoff walked into the laundry of \u00a0Monika’s uncle, and asked to paint her. She wore a blue gown when he painted her, but he changed the colour while painting her.<\/p>\n

\"Delaire<\/a>We moved outside, to enjoy lunch on the terrace. Chef Christiaan Campbell and his team,<\/strong><\/span><\/a> which made the Eat Out Top 20 shortlist,<\/strong> <\/a><\/span>with their sister restaurant Indochine, \u00a0prepared unusual and beautifully plated dishes, the starter and main course in particular. \u00a0The canap\u00e9s were beautiful, the salmon trout each having an edible flower. The starter was farmed kob, smoked\"Delaire<\/a> hake millet ‘risotto’<\/em>, fennel bulb, and flavours of citrus, which was paired with Delaire Graff Coastal Cuv\u00e9e Sauvignon Blanc, with sound effects of ohs and ahs! \u00a0My first ever Delaire dish I ate at the main restaurant was a crayfish lasagne, which sadly \"Delaire<\/a>has disappeared off the menu, but I remembered it when eating the main course of lamb neck and goats cheese lasagne with pickled globe artichokes, paired with Delaire Graff Botmaskop. \u00a0The dessert was summer berries\"Delaire<\/a>, cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche, short bread, meringues, and jelly, paired with Delaire Graff Cape Vintage.<\/p>\n

The new Graff jewellery store and the public display of The Chinese Girl will make Delaire Graff even more attractive as a destination for locals as well as tourists to visit.<\/p>\n

Disclosure<\/strong>: The media pack contained a bottle of Delaire Graff Sauvignon Blanc 2012.<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 16\/12<\/strong>: The Sunday Times<\/strong>\u00a0has provided some additional information about the painting. \u00a0It was reproduced 500000 times; it is to be seen in the ‘The Stars<\/em>‘ music video by David Bowie; \u00a0it has hung on the walls of houses in movies such as ‘Monty Python<\/em>‘, ‘Frenzy<\/em>‘, and ‘Alfie<\/em>‘ (1966); he exhibited his works at Harrods, seen by more than 200000; he had his work sold by door to door salesmen!; and he had a total of 252 exhibitions seen by more than 2 million.<\/p>\n

Delaire Graff Restaurant<\/strong>, Delaire Graff Estate, Helshoogte Pass, Stellenbosch. Tel (021) 885-8160.\u00a0www.delaire.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the social highlights of this year was the unveiling yesterday of Vladimir Tretchikoff’s ‘The Chinese Girl’, South Africa’s most internationally recognised painting, at its new home at Delaire Graff in Stellenbosch, which celebrates its 10th year of being in Mr Graff’s ownership. \u00a0The 40th Graff jewellery store was also opened at the wine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[124,6924,1918,20,31,21,293],"tags":[19222,22625,890,22627,22620,32378,11308,22933,6206,1736,15040,22619,22935,22617,11007,5246,17280,17137,22618,1748,22626,22622,22628,22934,22623,497,22621,20740,22624,16093,22616,22629,438,4974,32373,8492],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t