Online Gallery: Art that clicks

When artist Fred Schimmel, a pioneer of abstract expressionism in post-war South Africa, died in 2009, soon after a retrospective exhibition of his work to mark his 80th birthday, he left the contents of his studio to his daughter, Gail.

Among other remarkable works, she found a large collection of silkscreen prints all bearing a distinctive embossed logo with the letters GC - Graphic Club. They were mostly from the 1970s and by a wide range of artists, some prominent, some now forgotten. She remembers her father working on the prints with the artists in his studio and garage.

Schimmel launched the Graphic Club in 1970 to make good contemporary South African art affordable. ''The Graphic Club gave entry-level buyers a chance to own an investment piece of art," says Gail.

For an annual subscription (R22 in 1970), members were entitled to two prints a year. Schimmel would do a print run usually not lower than 65 editions or more than 250. ''The artist kept half [the proceeds] and the Graphic Club would get half," she explains.

Schimmel drafted in Walter Battiss, Cecil Skotnes, Lucky Sibiya, Judith Mason, Dirk Meerkotter and Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, among others. (Schimmel taught for a time at the now famous Polly Street Arts Centre, run by Skotnes, where he befriended some of the most prominent and influential artists of the time.)

Other artists who contributed works have subsequently fallen into obscurity, but many produced work of good quality. Gail mentions Bill Hart and Frank Hawley among her favourites.

The Graphic Club eventually petered out in the 1980s when Schimmel began concentrating on painting as his own work gained prominence.

To help archive her father's work, Gail enlisted the help of Dale Sargent of Artvault, a digital archiving service. Artvault occasionally holds exhibitions and Sargent provides services as an art dealer. Schimmel had been organised and meticulous with the Graphic Club works.

"Every work was signed, dated and editioned," says Sargent. He estimates there were more than 200 different editions. Schimmel himself did in the region of 100 prints for the Graphic Club over the years.

Gail and Sargent began to reintroduce the Graphic Club to a new generation, in the original spirit of giving entry-level buyers access to high-quality artwork. They initially intended to make the works available online then mostly exhibited them at art fairs. Some were also available through Artvault.

• This week, graphicclub.co.za relaunches. The works vary in price from R1500 to R60000 and many are priced in the R3500 to R5000 range. They represent the work of an era that is important in the history of South African art. graphicclub.co.za