Strauss & Co's Bold Mix of Global Icons and Rising Stars Comes to Market This May

Daily Maverick

23-05-2025

Johannesburg Auction Week by Strauss & Co is a central pillar of South Africa's autumn art calendar, and this year encompasses 217 lots spread across two curated auctions that track more than a century of artistic innovation.
The superb offering encompasses Frans Oerder 's portrait from the mid-1890s depicting four farmworkers, Leisure Hours (estimate R200 000 – 300 000 / $11 047 – 16 571), and Nelson Makamo 's Child with Red Glasses (estimate R300 000 – 400 000 / $16 571 – 22 095), painted 125 years later in 2018.
Vladimir Tretchikoff 's celebrated 1955 portrait Lady from the Orient (estimate R5 – 7 million / $276 181 – 386 654), widely reproduced in print globally, leads the excellent consignment of pioneer moderns. They include Maggie Laubser, Hugo Naudé, George Pemba, Alexis Preller, Gerard Sekoto, Irma Stern, JH Pierneef and Anton van Wouw.
Gerard Sekoto's pre-exile masterpiece The Mother on the Road (estimate R2 – 3 million / $110 473 – 165 709) is one of three works by this singular painter. The other works are the affecting Portrait of a Young Boy (estimate R200 000 – 300 000 / $11 047 – 16 571) and Paris-era street scene from 1974 Walking Figures (estimate R500 000 – 700 000 / $27 618 – 38 665). Like Sekoto, George Pemba is key voice in the representation of working-class life and is represented by The Road Diggers (estimate R300 000 – 500 000 / $16 571 – 27 618).
Much loved and still widely collected, South Africa's modernists laid the groundwork for later twentieth-century innovators like Bill Ainslie, Keith Alexander, Walter Battiss, Erik Laubscher, Robert Hodgins and Harold Voigt, all represented in the sale. Two founder Amadlozi Group members, Cecil Skotnes (Abstract Couple, estimate R400 000 – 600 000 / $22 095 – 33 142) and Edoardo Villa (African Mask II, estimate R350 000 – 450 000 / $19 333 – 24 856), bolster the presence of late modernists in this sale. Of note, Villa is currently the subject of a career-spanning exhibition Discipline of Sculpture at Nirox Sculpture Park, Johannesburg.
Leading contemporary artists include Jake Aikman, Deborah Bell, Pieter Hugo, William Kentridge, Dylan Lewis, Nelson Makamo, Gerhard Marx, John Meyer, Karel Nel, Penny Siopis and Sue Williamson. Kentridge's sculpture output will shortly receive its first major institutional show outside South Africa at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield. Williamson's excellent career survey, There's Something I Must Tell You, is currently on view at the South African National Gallery.
The 217 lots of modern and contemporary art on offer during Johannesburg Auction Week will be presented across two sales: a 115-lot online-only Day Sale (concluding Tuesday, 27 May 2025 from 2pm) and a 102-lot live Evening Sale (commencing Tuesday, 27 May 2025 at 7pm). The curation of these sales emphasises value and diversity. As is tradition, museum-quality works by Sekoto and Tretchikoff will be offered live to the public in the premier Evening Sale.
Johannesburg Auction Week confirms Strauss & Co's role as a bulwark of the South African art market, offering collectors access to blue-chip names and rising stars in a curated, insight-rich format.
Noteworthy highlights from Johannesburg Auction Week include:
Irma Stern: three works, including the 1962 harvest scene Pimento Pickers (estimate R3 – 4 million / 165 709 – 220 945), vibrant gouache Near Amanzimtoti (estimate R250 000 – 350 000 / $ 13 809 – 19 333), and charcoal Watussi Man Smoking a Pipe (estimate R200 000 – 300 000 / $11 047 – 16 571).
JH Pierneef: seven works, including the top-valued Piesanghoek, Soutpansberg (estimate R2.5 – 3.5 million / $138 091 – 193 327) and a collector favourite, Landscape with Acacias (estimate R1.4 – 1.8 million / $77 331 – 99 425).
William Kentridge: seven works spanning decades and media, including an untitled charcoal drawing from his Masked Ball series (estimate R2 – 3 million / $110 473 – 165 709), the multi-panel etching Marcus Aurelius (estimate R800 000 – 1 000 000 / $44 470 – 55 588) and the bronze Shadow Figure III (estimate R1.2 – 1.5 million / $66 284 – 82 854).
Penny Siopis: two works, Ribbon (estimate R300 000 – 500 000 / $16 571 – 27 618) and Trouble (estimate R200 000 – 300 000 / $11 047 – 16 571), which exemplify her lyrical humanism and politically attuned figurative practice.
Keith Alexander: Dawn of a Long Night (estimate R300 000 – 500 000 / $16 571 – 27 618) from 1993 is a photo-realist narrative painting by this sought-after painter.
Anton van Wouw: A rare edition of the Slegte Nuus bronze (estimate R1 – 1.5 million / $55 236 – 82 854), cast by the Nisini Foundry in Rome and one of only two in existence.
Erik Laubscher: Two standout landscapes, Winter Landscape (estimate R150 000 – 200 000 / $8 338 – 11 117) and Rooi Rotse, Bokkeveld (estimate R200 000 – 300 000 / $11 117 – 16 676), show Laubscher's enduring power.
Harold Voigt: The richly textured Abstract Landscape with Hornbills from 1973 (estimate R 80 000 – 120 000 / $4 419 – 6 628) exemplifies this painter's elegant legacy.
Hugo Naudé: San Marco, Venice (estimate R80 000 – 120 000 / $4 419 – 6 628) is a luminous plein-air view that showcases Naudé's European training and Impressionist leanings.
Robert Hodgins: four works, including three oils with keen estimates of between R300 000 – 500 000 / $16 571 – 27 618 that represent his biting wit and painterly strength, as well as a portfolio, Uhanga Dihangara (Coat Hanger Print Portfolio) showcasing his excellent printmaking skills.
John Meyer: six works, a mainstay of the local market, the works span his signature narrative figuration (Broken Reed, estimate R400 000 – 500 000 / $22 095 – 27 618) and much-loved landscape subjects.