Strauss & Co’s Perspectives on Africa is a Journey Through Modern and Contemporary Art

7 Feb 2025

CAPE TOWN — Strauss & Co is pleased to present ‘Perspectives on Africa: Modern and Contemporary Art’. The live auction, taking place on Monday, 17 February 2025, is accompanied by a curated selection of sales, including “Prelude to Podlashuc: A Glimpse into the Creative World of Alexander Podlashuc” — an artist-focused auction — “Woven Legacies: Tradition & Innovation,” which highlights a diverse range of materials, techniques, and processes from regions across Southern, Central and Western Africa, showcasing how utility, aesthetics and cultural identity converge and “Botterblom Collection: Tapestries from the Karoo” by Frances VH Mohair Studio.

‘Perspectives on Africa: Modern and Contemporary Art’, explores the complexity, beauty and fluidity of perspectives through the lens of African art and art made by artists with significant ties to the continent. The idea of a perspective presents itself as naturally open and porous — with the possibility for metamorphosis and reshaping. It is a dynamic process that blends seeing, feeling and understanding, often reflecting on how conditions can change and evolve as objects, people and ideas interact with the world and each other.

‘Perspectives on Africa: Modern and Contemporary Art’ coalesces the rich and varied connections between Africa and its artistic expressions, presenting works that span figuration, landscape, and abstraction, inviting collectors to engage with the powerful narratives that emerge from the continent’s evolving perspectives. These works reflect layered meanings, both as a method of representing depth and dimension and as a way of framing one’s understanding of the world.

The dialogue begins with modernist interpretations, where the complexities of colonial encounters, post-independence aspirations and indigenous practices are explored. These works capture a period of transformation and juncture — balancing the tensions between past and present, in an increasingly modernising world. Among the celebrated artists is Irma Stern, whose works evoke her enduring fascination with themes of harvest. In Pimento Pickers (estimate R4 000 000 – 6 000 000) she depicted field workers, highlighting the collective energy and shared purpose of their labour. Cecil Skotnes’s commanding abstract works illustrate his mastery of texture and form, evident in Abstract Head (estimate R150 000 – 200 000), Gerard Sekoto’s Street Games, Soweto (estimate R400 000 – 600 000) exemplifies his ability to document life with humility and humanity. Other incredible works include Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Post Office Flower Seller (estimate R1 200 000 – 1 600 000) showcasing the history of Cape Town’s flower trade through a powerful portrait and George Pemba’s The Dice Players (estimate R250 000 – 350 000) drawing inspiration from local scenes of daily life.

From these historical foundations, the sale transitions to contemporary reflections by contemporary artists, often explored through themes of identity, belonging, urbanisation and reencounters with tradition. Turiya Magadlela (Mnandisa II, Mandisa for Kusama Series, estimate R70 000 – 90 000), Brett Charles Seiler (Timber, estimate R200 000 – 300 000) and William Kentridge (Dissolve, estimate R900 000 – 1 200 000) respond to a world shaped by innovation and interconnectedness, offering visions through works that challenge us to reconsider what it means to be rooted in place.

Building on Strauss & Co’s commitment to building a strong local photography market, the sale includes an artist focus on the work of social documentarian Paul Alberts, whose images captured poignant narratives of everyday life, particularly in Cape Town. These works sit alongside David Goldblatt (Fifteen-year old Lawrence Matjee after his assault and detention by the Security Police, Khotso House, de Villiers Street, Joburg Series, estimate R150 000 – 280 000) and Zanele Muholi (Musa Ngubane and Mabongi Ndlovu, Hillbrow, Johannesburg 2007, Being Series estimate R300 000 – 500 000), whose visceral images explore themes of identity, social justice and the multifaceted realities of African life.

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