Perspectives on Africa
Live Virtual Auction, 17 February 2025
Perspectives on Africa
About the SessionStrauss & Co is pleased to present Perspectives on Africa, a sale that explores the complexity, beauty, and fluidity of perspectives through African art and works by artists with strong ties to the continent. The sale 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 powerful narratives emerging from Africa's evolving perspectives. The works reflect layered meanings, both as a method of representing depth and dimension as a way of framing our understanding of the world. Work by Contemporary artists reflects on the historical foundations of Modernist artists, exploring themes such as identity, belonging, urbanisation, and re-encounters with tradition, while the sale transitions to Modernist interpretations of Africa, exploring the complexity of colonial encounters, post-independence aspirations, and indigenous practices. Building on Strauss & Co’s commitment to developing 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 and Zanele Muholi, whose visceral images explore themes of identity, social justice and the multifaceted realities of African life.
About this Item
signed and dated 1937
Provenance
Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town, 2003.
Private Collection.
Notes
In the present lot, Gregoire Boonzaier presents a masterful exploration of form, light, and texture, elevating the traditional genre of still life to a deeply contemplative and sensorial experience. This work encapsulates Boonzaier’s commitment to a painterly approach that balances compositional clarity with emotional depth, demonstrating his skill as a key figure in South African modernist art.
At the centre of the composition, tall, luscious St Joseph’s lilies rise with graceful verticality, their trumpet-shaped blooms rendered in meticulous detail. The purity of the lilies’ white petals, subtly tinged with delicate tones of cream and green, contrasts dramatically with the dark background. This chiaroscuro effect, reminiscent of Dutch Golden Age still life painters, imbues the work with a timeless, meditative quality. The lilies, symbols of purity, renewal, and transcendence, take on an almost spiritual presence within the composition.
The lilies are housed in a stunning blue-and-white Chinese vase, its intricate, ornamental patterns carefully depicted. This vase, likely inspired by traditional Ming or Qing dynasty ceramics, introduces an element of cultural hybridity, reflecting Boonzaier’s engagement with the global art historical canon. The cool, decorative elegance of the vase is juxtaposed against the warmth of the peach-coloured surface on which it rests. This surface, with its soft tonal shifts and subtle textural nuances, creates a grounding effect, anchoring the composition while enhancing the luminous delicacy of the flowers.
The dark ground behind the still life serves not merely as a backdrop but also as an active compositional force, pushing the central elements forward into the viewer’s space. Boonzaier’s handling of light is uniquely his own – gentle, reverent, and precise, illuminating the blooms without diminishing their softness.
Created in 1937, this painting reflects the influence of the burgeoning modernist movement in South Africa, of which Boonzaier was a pioneering figure. At the time, Boonzaier and his contemporaries were reshaping traditional art forms by combining European artistic traditions with distinctly local sensibilities. While the present lot reveals echoes of European still life conventions, it also reflects Boonzaier’s focus on crafting intimate, tactile works that resonate with quiet emotion and harmony.
Martin Bekker (1990) Gregoire Boonzaier, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau.
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