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, numbered 21/30 in pencil and embossed with the David Krut Workshop chopmark in the margin
Provenance
David Krut Workshop, Johannesburg.
Private Collection.
Notes
The present lot is a striking example of William Kentridge’s ongoing exploration of history, memory, and the human condition through his distinctive multi-disciplinary approach.
The present lot combines Kentridge’s penchant for layered, symbolic imagery with his unique use of materials and techniques. The horse, a recurring motif in Kentridge’s oeuvre, often represents both the animal and the allegorical, embodying themes of power, movement, and the intersection of nature with human constructs. In the present lot, the horse is depicted with a powerful sense of motion, seemingly frozen in a moment of transition between stillness and action. This duality – the tension between the static and the dynamic – is at the heart of the work’s visual impact.
The present lot is part of Kentridge’s larger Universal Archive series, which is an ongoing project investigating the construction and deconstruction of history. The ‘archive’ concept is one that resonates throughout Kentridge’s body of work, as he examines the ways in which history is recorded, filtered, and interpreted, often questioning the objectivity of the archive itself. By introducing the horse into this archive, Kentridge introduces an element of narrative and movement, allowing the animal to serve as both witness and participant in the unfolding of historical events.
In his work, Kentridge draws on a deep understanding of South African history and a critical engagement with global historical narratives. The horse, both as a literal animal and a symbolic figure, becomes a conduit for Kentridge’s meditation on how history is remembered, interpreted, and transmitted.
William Kentridge (2013) A Universal Archive: William Kentridge as Printmaker, London: Hayward Gallery Publishing.
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