Strauss & Co’s November Flagship sales see a multigenerational line-up of internationally celebrated South African modern and contemporary artists showcase their outstanding works. The artists include Igshaan Adams, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, Esther Mahlangu, Zanele Muholi and Irma Stern, together they lead Strauss & Co’s four-part November sales to be held over two days in Johannesburg starting on the 11th and concluding on the 12th of November 2024. The programme includes two online-only sales, both concluding on Monday the 11th of November 2024, and two live-virtual sales at Strauss & Co’s salesroom in Houghton, commencing at 5pm and 7pm on Tuesday the 12th of November 2024. The sales will collectively showcase the best of South African modern and contemporary art including important portraits by Georgina Gratrix, George Pemba, Alexis Preller, Irma Stern and Anton van Wouw. There are also highly collectable works by Keith Alexander, Walter Battiss, Wolf Kibel, Nelson Makamo, Walter Meyer, J.H. Pierneef and Athi-Patra Ruga. The November sales include a sale spotlighting the Everard Group, with works by all four generations of women artists.
The Strauss & Co sale features an early bronze from 1902 by Anton van Wouw titled ‘The Art Student’, which depicts a young Gordon Leith (estimate R700 000 – R1 million / $39 570 – 56 515). The bronze is accompanied by a portfolio of original architectural and figure study drawings by Leith, the architect of Johannesburg Park Station. The sale’s strong modernist consignment also includes Irma Stern’s important Congolese portrait titled ‘Watussi Chief’s Wife in Yellow’, a 1946 piece (estimate R4 – 5 million / $226 050 – 282 570) which was first exhibited in Johannesburg in 1947. A Johannesburg sale would not be complete without William Kentridge’s work. Strauss & Co offers a self-portrait from 1985 (estimate R650 000 – 850 000 / $36 725 – 48 040), originally gifted by Kentridge to his long-time dealer Linda Givon, founder of the Goodman Gallery. It is complemented by a Kentridge drawing from his 1989 film Stereoscope (estimate R2 – 3 million / $113 010 – 169 510) consigned by the estate of Linda Givon.
The thematic sale ‘Rough and Smooth: A Focus on Surface and Texture’ launches the live-virtual auctions and is estimated to gather an astonishment of riches. Leading this sale is a tapestry by celebrated textile artist Igshaan Adams titled ‘Landskap’, 2018 (estimate R500 000 – 700 000/ $28 260 – 39 570). Adams currently has a solo exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield, a museum in West Yorkshire. ‘Rough and Smooth’ further includes Georgina Gratrix’s important 2013 painting titled ’80s Mom’ (estimate R250 000 – 350 000 / $14 125 – 18 780), which prominently featured in the artist’s early-career survey at Norval Foundation in 2021. The sculpture consignment includes Alexis Preller’s mosaic mural from a private residence in Pretoria (estimate R6 – 8 million/ $339 110 – 452 150) and Edoardo Villa’s Horizontal Form I, 1957 (estimate R400 000 – 600 000 / $22 605 – 33 910), which graced the artist’s Johannesburg home for many decades. Artist-potter Hylton Nel, whose Dior collaboration in June introduced his whimsical ceramics to a global audience, has five pieces in the sale, including the figural pair Green Dog with Black Spots (estimate R80 000 – 120 000 / $4 520 – 6 780).
The photographic consignment in the Evening Sale includes three portraits by Zanele Muholi, who is currently showing at Tate Modern, London. They include two self-portraits from their acclaimed series ‘Somnyama Ngonyama’ and an important early work from 2007 titled ‘Kgompi and Charles Januarie’ (estimate R200 000 – 300 000 / $11 300 – 16 950). David Goldblatt, a mentor to Muholi, is represented by two works, most notably a 1860 piece titled ‘Girl in Her New Tutu on the Stoep’ (estimate R280 000 – 320 000 / $15 825 – 18 085) from his seminal essay In Boksburg. The sale is accompanied by a dedicated e-catalogue with extensive notes about this formidable group of artists first recognised with a museum show at the Pretoria Art Museum in 1967.
