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We simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend one of Strauss & Co's pre-auction exhibitions at their Houghton showroom. Not only is it an opportunity to see some seriously impressive, museum-quality works before private collectors buy them, but the curation is also always beautifully considered.
Strauss & Co's November 2024 auction is broken up into four parts, reflected in the four distinct exhibitions in the space. The showstopper is Rough & Smooth: A Focus on Surface and Texture, which brings together an unusual collection of work, the likes of which we've not yet seen at Strauss & Co. It's highly tactile, as the name suggests, and you'll find yourself wanting to reach out and touch what's on display.
Nothing is accidental in the presentation of the works that comprise Rough & Smooth: William Kentridge, Karel Nel, and Edoardo Villa share the entrance wall in black, white, and shadows. Notably, there are several woven (or weaving-adjacent) pieces in this collection, not least of which is the monumental and utterly mesmerising tapestry by Mary Shabalala and Judith Memela – members of the Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre in its heyday – titled Life of Shaka. There are also works in mosaic, ceramic, wood, charcoal, and bronze.
The other three parts of Strauss & Co's November 2024 auction include The Everard Group, as well as the Day Sale and Evening Sale. Big names in these lots include Irma Stern, Esther Mahlangu, Walter Battiss, and David Goldblatt. We were thrilled to see new names among these stalwarts, too, including contemporary artists Georgina Gratrix and Athi-Patra Ruga. A truly multigenerational line-up.
We've picked 12 works that you have to linger over – and there are many more.
Dates to diarise
From Mon, Oct 28 – Mon, Nov 11. Strauss & Co's pre-auction exhibition can be viewed at its Houghton showroom. Weekdays from 09:00 – 16:00 and weekends from 10:00 – 16:00.Fri, Nov 8 from 15:00. Join senior art specialist and head curator Wilhelm van Rensburg for The Everard Talk. Strauss & Co specialists host two additional walkabouts on Sat, Nov 9 at 11:00 and Sun, Nov 10 at 11:00.
Mon, Nov 11, the timed online auction for the Day Sale (register to bid) closes at 14:00, while the timed online auction for The Everard Group (register to bid) closes at 19:00.
On Tue, Nov 12, the live virtual auction for Rough & Smooth: A Focus on Surface and Texture (register to bid) kicks off at 17:00, while the live virtual auction for the Evening Sale (register to bid) begins at 19:00.
12 stand-out works to look out for
We joined a walkabout with Strauss & Co art specialist and auctioneer Alastair Meredith to learn the stories behind these incredible artworks and collections. Keep an eye out for them when you visit the November 2024 pre-auction exhibition.THE EVERARD GROUP
Four generations of women from one family whose artistic production spans almost a century is illuminated in Strauss & Co's collection, The Everard Group. The women are Edith King, her sister Bertha Everard and her two daughters Ruth and Rosamund, Ruth’s daughter Leonora, and her daughters Alana and Nichola. Despite a major travelling exhibition honouring their contribution to South African art history in 2000, their legacy remains somewhat obscure.
Almost all members of this family of artists have pieces in the sale; a conversation passed down from mother to daughter and beyond. Of the first generation of the Everard Group, we loved Edith King's watercolour Buckie in the Garden I – the title a testament to a refreshing lack of self-seriousness, and the work itself wonderfully fresh. From the fourth generation of this impressive family, Nichola Alice Leigh's whimsical pastel piece Landscape with Trees is a delight.
BILL AINSLIE
Though he did so much to foster the arts and artists during his lifetime, the legend of Bill Ainslie is still on the rise when it comes to the South African canon. An important abstract painter, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, and a founder of the Johannesburg Art Foundation, a landmark art institution that fostered a network of creative talent in Joburg, Ainslie was influential on the career of a young William Kentridge and went on to inspire important artists, including the likes of Sam Nhlengethwa and David Koloane. "If you think of their early abstraction, it was already driven by Bill Ainslie's work," says Meredith.
Despite all this, Ainslie remains little-known and undervalued. His work in this lot is Amboseli No. 2 – a large and roiling piece created with acrylic and collage on canvas that forms part of the Rough & Smooth: A Focus on Surface and Texture collection. Tragically, his trajectory was cut short – Ainslie died in a car crash when returning from a trip to Zimbabwe, while Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi was in the car with him and survived the accident. We have been told that a major retrospective that will endeavour to illuminate Ainlie's art and enduring influence is imminent. It's something we are really looking forward to.
CLIVE VAN DEN BERG'S COLLECTION
RUAN HOFFMANN
MARY SHABALALA AND JUDITH MEMELA
BRETT MURRAY
GEORGE PEMBA
JACOB HENDRIK PIERNEEF
"It's very rare to get an oil painting by Pierneef that predates 1920. There aren't many of them around," Meredith tells us. Remarkably, in this lot, there are three early works by the artist. Two quintessentially South African scenes come to us in Piglenburg Huisie Met Bome and Farmstead – both painted in 1917. The jury is still out when it comes to where the latter was painted (guesses are welcome!). Pierneef's colour choices were avant-garde for landscape painting in South Africa at the time.
Lastly, Farm House with Tree is perhaps Pierneef at his most stylised. Painted with casein (a whey protein base for paint), this work is bold and beautifully preserved – retaining its colour more than 100 years later. In contrast, an ordinary watercolour would have faded beyond recognition by now. This image also shows the artist as an "unofficial architect". As Meredith says, "He loved building. He loved South African vernacular architecture. He loved these kinds of simple South African structures, which he painted all the time."
ALEXIS PRELLER
During this period, the Meyer family acquired many important paintings by Preller. In fact, quite a number of the notable paintings Strauss & Co has sold over the past 15 years have come through the Meyers. We love a good Preller as much as the next person, but this mosaic is unlike anything that's come up for sale before – rare in the truest sense. It was made in situ to adorn the entrance of the Meyers' modern home in Waterkloof in Pretoria and, as you can imagine, was quite a feat to remove and reinstall. "In 1957, Preller drove every day from his home in Hartebeespoort Dam to Waterkloof and made this amazing, one-of-a-kind mosaic. It's called The Family," says Meredith. It's rich in symbolic resonance with a great backstory to boot.
USHA SEEJARIM
EDOARDO VILLA
The Rough & Smooth showcase covers about 75 years of South African art making. One of the earliest works is also one of the pieces you'll see immediately upon entry into the space: Horizontal Form I by Italian-born South African sculptor Edoardo Villa. Villa is best known for enormous tubular sculptures, many of which are publicly installed and punctuate Joburg and Pretoria's urbanscapes. His early work was expressive, but still very figural, but from the mid-1950s, Villa began to work in a more overtly abstract style. Created in 1957, Horizontal Form I is inspired by the highveld in winter, when the sun takes on a particular quality and the grass is dry and sharp. While Villa was gaining major international recognition at the time, Villa never sold this piece – choosing instead to keep it in his home studio in Kew as part of his collection.
ANTON VAN WOUW
Though small, the detail in this work is remarkable. We see Leith with a monopod board resting on his hips; one sheet of paper is pinned to the board and weighted down by an eraser while he draws on another. "You'll even notice the charcoal he's working with is sharpened," says Meredith. "You'll see his trousers turned up, the laces crisscrossed. And if you look at photographs of Gordon Leith, you'll also realise it's a remarkable likeness of this 16-year-old young man."
Thanks to an inscription, we know this casting was done by the Nessini foundry in Rome – no local foundry was producing work of this quality at the time. In fact, it would be another 35 years before that was the case. It's a rare work – the only one of its kind Strauss & Co has handled – and what makes it particularly special is that this exact casting was Leith's personal copy.
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