See Sculpted Narratives: Contemporary South African Ceramics at Strauss & Co's Houghton showroom until Sat, Jul 20. The live auction of 92 ceramic pieces takes place at the historic Pierneef's Kraal in Lynnwood Manor, Pretoria, on Sun, Jul 21 from 10:00. Register to bid here.
Ceramic art is having a moment. Clay was wonderfully represented at this year's RMB Latitudes art fair while artists working in the medium crop up more often in group shows or as part of gallery stables. In the news recently, Hylton Nel's quirky clay animals tramped down the runway for Dior's Summer 2025 Men's Show in Paris, and soon after Nel made a record-breaking sale as his piece, Two Cats, was auctioned off for R369,680 at Strauss & Co in Cape Town.
All this bodes well for an increasing appreciation of pottery as a medium that's not only astonishingly useful, with a wide range of applications, but one with unique storytelling potential. Strauss & Co's pre-auction exhibition for Sculpted Narratives, which is only their second sale dedicated to works in clay, brings this into colourful focus.
According to Strauss & Co senior art specialist and head curator Wilhelm van Rensburg, seismic global shifts like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the advance of the World Wide Web in 1989 were part of the groundswell of what's now considered contemporary art. This shift from modern to contemporary art is largely characterised by a move from aesthetic or form-related considerations to the issues addressed in the work being central.
"When I talk about contemporary artists, the issues are different. It's identity, it's race, it's gender," says Van Rensburg. While in its more functional forms, ceramics would've been somewhat insulated from this change in trajectory. Yet, as a medium that lends itself so well to sculptural expressions, ceramics' move toward the contemporary was inevitable.
Yes, there are plates and bowls and platters and teapots in this auction, and delightfully so. But even these are sculpturally-minded and are not out of place alongside the more overtly figurative works in Sculpted Narratives. "[This exhibition] focuses on the sculptural nature of ceramic art and marks a shift in emphasis from the well-known and loved Anglo-Oriental ceramic styles practised in South Africa in especially the 1960s and '70s," says Van Rensburg.
Van Rensburg spotlights three publications that chart artists working in clay in this way. Contemporary Ceramics in South Africa by Wilma Cruise was a forerunner in 1991, championing almost 100 artists who were working actively at the time (and many of whom still have thriving practices today). On what brought about ceramics' own shift towards the thematic and storied in South Africa, Cruise credits David Middlebrook – an American artist who travelled and taught around the country from 1982 to 1983, encouraging the ceramic departments he visited to explore more sculptural ceramics rather than utilitarian ones. The avant-garde teaching of Suzette Munnik at Technikon Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in the late 1980s also played a role.
Phaedon's Vitamin C: Clay and Ceramic in Contemporary Art, published in 2017, is a global survey of 100 of the most important clay and ceramic artists of our times, and this too came into Van Rensburg's thinking when curating the exhibition. Most recently, the beautiful tome Clay Formes: Contemporary Clay from South Africa released in 2023, offers a glimpse into the studios of 30 prominent local ceramic artists. Ian Garrett, Andile Dyalvane, and Katherine Glenday are amongst the featured artists whose distinguished work is represented in Sculpted Narratives at Strauss & Co.
When it comes to ceramics in South Africa, the Nala family from KwaZulu-Natal are luminaries. So-called legacy vessels including three pit-fired and burnished earthenware pieces by matriarch Nesta Nala and ceremonial pots by her daughters Jabulile Nala and Zanele Nala are a special feature of this sale. Both incised and raised decorations are used in these vessels, some featuring figurative motifs rarely seen in Zulu ceramics.
Nor can one venture far into the world of local ceramics without the famous Ardmore Ceramic Art Centre entering the conversation, known for its strong sculptural iconography. The studio was founded by Fée Halsted (a ceramic and sculpture major from the University of Brazil) on a farm in Champagne Valley in the Midlands, where she met Bonnie Ntshalintshali, the daughter of her domestic worker. Ntshalintshali became Halsted's first student and is now one of Ardmore's famous artists; in 1990 under Fée's mentorship, she won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award. Earlier this month Ardmore broke new ground at Fairlawns Boutique Hotel with a dedicated Ardmore room that has a show-stopping hand-painted mural by two Ardmore artists.
Less common in the arts, the value of crafts like ceramics, weaving, or beadwork often suffer from a lack of attribution. Not so with Ardmore, where naming has been an important part of the studio's legacy. Ntshalintshali's 1992 teapot with a jackal and flower motif is featured in Sculpted Narratives alongside two zoomorphic figures by Josephine Ghesa, another first-generation Ardmore artist.
Circling back to Hylton Nel, the Calitzdorp-based artist's idiosyncratic work features in this auction with pieces like Cat with Blue Spots, but not as prominently as that of his late-protégé, Nico Masemola. As the story goes, Masemola happened upon Nel's studio when he was a 13-year-old and was immediately drawn to his collection of Staffordshire animal figures, tribal art, and Chinese ceramics. It wasn't long before he fell in love with the pottery process and started studying under Nel, becoming a respected artist in his own right. Masemola's Piebald Dog and pair of Green Rabbits are two works to look out for in Sculpted Narratives.
Astrid Dahl is an artist pushing the boundaries of making with clay; two of her impossibly delicate, otherworldly and larger-than-life works form part of this auction. While Dahl's work appears to float, Eugene Hön's Fallen Dog (which inspired the collection at the outset) carries considerable weight – a reference to police dogs trained for political crowd control under the apartheid government. As we see in Hön's collapsed figure, such brutal tactics contributed to the regime's eventual demise.
From the whimsical to the austere, the stories that can be told through clay are numerous – and Sculpted Narratives covers considerable ground. A unique exhibition where work by legends like the late Esias Bosch (often referred to as the doyen of South African ceramics) rubs shoulders with up-and-coming practitioners exploring the medium today. We think it's a must-see.
Strauss & Co hosts its first-ever live auction in Pretoria for Sculpted Narratives and its latest Modern and Contemporary Art sale on Sun, Jul 21 at 10:00 and 12:00 respectively. The venue is the former home of South African landscape painter J.H. Pierneef, known today as Pierneef's Kraal. There are two walkabouts on Sat, Jul 20 where you can tour the historic grounds – details below.
Dates and times
Wed, Jul 10 – Sat, Jul 20 – Preview Sculpted Narratives: Contemporary South African Ceramics at Strauss & Co's Houghton showroom.Tue, Jul 16 from 18:00 – 20:00 – Attend a talk around the ceramics on show at Strauss & Co's Houghton showroom presented by senior art specialist and head curator Wilhelm van Rensburg. RSVP with danel@straussart.co.za to attend.
Mon, Jul 15 – Sat, Jul 20 – Preview the Pretoria Sale: Modern and Contemporary Art at Strauss at Co's Houghton showroom.
From Fri, Jul 19 – Sun, Jul 21 – Selected highlights from the Modern and Contemporary Art sale move to Pierneef's Kraal Guest House in Lynnwood Manor, Pretoria.
Sat, Jul 20 at 11:00 and 15:00 – Attend one of two walkabouts of the exhibition, including a tour of the historic venue at Pierneef's Kraal. RSVP for the 11:00 slot here, or the 15:00 slot here.
Sun, Jul 21 – Live auctions take place at Pierneef's Kraal, with the ceramics sale kicking off from 10:00 followed by the sale of modern and contemporary art from 12:00. Register to bid for Sculpted Narratives here, and keep an eye out for the Modern and Contemporary Art sale here.
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