A painting by spacialist Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) is to star in a South African auction.

The work, a rare nude study, is expected to make $23,853-31,804 at Russell Kaplan Auctioneers in Johannesburg on August 1.

Lucio Fontana was the founder of the specialist movement

Auctioneer Russell Kaplan explains: "We see that art pieces such as this retain their value in foreign currency. There is demand for this artist in Europe, and consequently works such as this are being bought as a rand hedge investment."

Fontana's work is growing steadily in value, with a new $1.4m record set for his work in 2014.

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