Important Cinga Samson painting leads 2024 edition of Strauss & Co’s collaborative African art auction

31 Jan 2024

Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading art auction house, is proud to present Curatorial Voices: African Landscapes, Past and Present, a live virtual auction taking place on Monday, 19 February 2024 at Strauss & Co’s new saleroom in Cape Town. Led by highly collectable paintings by JH Pierneef and Cinga Samson, the second edition of this curated auction will showcase art by pioneering modernist and trailblazing contemporary artists from Benin, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe, with a thematic focus on landscape.

Samson’s 2017 painting Hliso Street V (estimate R2-3m / $105 000-157 000) is from the suite that initiated his current globally acclaimed style. JH Pierneef’s 1929 composition Church Street, Tulbagh (estimate R1.5-2.5m / $78 500-131 000) is a culturally important street scene deriving from the artist’s peak period.

Coinciding with the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (16-18 February 2024), an important event on the African art calendar, Curatorial Voices: African Landscape, Past and Present will present artworks by internationally recognised artists like Jake Aikman, Zander Blom, Kudzanai Chiurai, Ablade Glover, David Goldblatt, Moshekwa Langa, Bronwyn Katz, William Kentridge, Thameur Mejri, Sam Nhlengethwa, Thania Petersen, Thierry Oussou, Owusu-Ankomah, Usha Seejarim and Gerard Sekoto. Coinciding with Dr Esther Mahlangu’s career survey at Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, Strauss & Co will present two fantastic works by this iconic abstract painter.

“This comprehensive auction, a collaboration with experts from across the African continent, reveals a nuanced understanding of the diverse cultural, historical and environmental contexts that have shaped artistic representations of the landscape,” say Jean le Clus-Theron and Leigh Leyde, Joint Heads of Sale, Strauss & Co. “Through an examination of various themes, Curatorial Voices: African Landscapes, Past and Present seeks to engage viewers in a dialogue that transcends time and space, connecting past representations to contemporary perspectives.”

In preparing this sale Strauss & Co collaborated with African art experts who share in the company’s vision of a robust and interconnected secondary market on the African continent. The five invited curators are: Ugoma Ebilah, Independent Curator, Nigeria; Nkgopoleng Moloi, Independent Curator, South Africa; Azu Nwagbogu, Founder and Director of the African Artists’ Foundation, Nigeria; Azza Satti, Independent Curator, Kenya; and Camilla van Hoogstraten, Head of Sales, Latitudes Online, South Africa.

Providing essential context to collectors, Strauss & Co will again host an edition of the Art Business Conference at its Cape Town offices, on Wednesday, 14 February 2024. A leading global platform for the discussion of key issues in today’s art market, the 2024 edition of Art Business Conference is sponsored by iTOO Artinsure and will feature two panels of expert voices moderated by Riah Pryor, Journalist and Author, London. The panels will consider “The Art of Collection Management: Caring for your art, preventing theft and identifying fakes and forgeries” and “The African Art Landscape: Dissolving Boundaries.”

Strauss & Co has also cooperated with ArtTactic, a London-based art market research firm, on advancing the release of its 2023 research report on African modern and contemporary art sales. The report, now due in early February, will include first-hand insights into Africa’s growing art market by art experts in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. Dr Alastair Meredith, Head of Art Department, Strauss & Co, is one of the four experts asked to provide commentary.