Important South African and International Art, Furniture, Decorative Arts and Jewellery

Strauss & Co’s summer auction on 9 November at the Wanderers Club will include among its highlights an Italian casting of Anton van Wouw’s famous Dagga Smoker. The sculpture was donated by the artist as a raffle prize to raise funds for the Dutch Relief Fund during World War 2. Tickets cost one shilling (10 cents). At the time the sculpture was valued at 60 pounds. It is expected to fetch in excess of R350 000 on auction this November.

High-quality artworks representing a number of top South African and international artists at their best are among the pieces on auction at Strauss & Co’s Summer auction on 9 November at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg

Caro Wiese is a lover of beautiful things. This understated collector, who recently joined the board of Strauss & Co, the largest fine art auction house in South Africa, talks of her enduring love for art and literature.

A rare bronze sculpture of a miner by Anton van Wouw more than doubled its previous record set in 2013, selling for R4.8 million at Strauss and Co’s summer sale held at The Wanderers in Johannesburg last night. A striking number of the top lots at the auction house’s evening session achieved record prices, including important works by Anton van Wouw, Alexis Preller, Norman Catherine and Cecily Sash.

Important South African and International Art, Drawings, Watercolours, Paintings, Prints and Sculpture

Last month, in a packed lecture held at the offices of fine art auctioneers Strauss & Co, Stephan Welz, the longest practising fine art expert and auctioneer in South Africa, held the room rapt as he concentrated his attention on the phenomenal, and largely unsung, contribution made to local arts and culture by Jewish philanthropists.

A month before he passed away on 25 December 2015, distinguished art expert and auctioneer Stephan Welz presided over yet another successful sale at Strauss & Co when, on 9 November, he knocked down painter Alexis Preller’s oil and gesso work The Creation of Adam I (1968) for R8.5 million in Johannesburg. The extraordinary sale result established a new South African record for this enigmatic painter.

Specialists from South Africa’s premier auction house, Strauss & Co, will be visiting Pretoria on Tuesday 2 February 2016 to provide obligation-free valuations to anyone who is considering selling an artwork, or would merely like to discover its value.

Strauss & Co’s upcoming auction on Monday 14 March at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town offers many exceptional works by major South African artists from JH Pierneef, Hugo Naudé, Walter Battiss, Gerard Sekoto, Gregoire Boonzaier and Erik Laubscher to Robert Hodgins, William Kentridge, Sue Williamson, Athi-Patra Ruga and Ian Grose. Amongst these, Birds and Boats (R700 000 – 900 000) by Maggie Laubser is one of the most charming paintings by this much-loved artist to appear at auction in recent years, according to Senior Art Specialist Emma Bedford.