High-value works by Warhol, Stern and Kentridge anchor Strauss & Co’s exciting winter auction 

12 Jun 2025

“The cover lot for our winter sale is Andy Warhol’s Vesuvius (estimate R1.2–1.5 million / $67 650–84 560), a striking screenprint depicting the famed Italian volcano near Naples,” says Elmarie van Straten, Head of Sale at Strauss & Co. “Created in 1985, this late work reflects Warhol’s deepening engagement with themes of mortality and legacy. Combining beauty, violence and repetition, the piece stands as a powerful meditation on the anxieties of modern life. Although by no means a regular in our auctions, Strauss & Co have an excellent track record handling his work, with 87% of lots offered finding new homes.”

A highlight from the South African selection is Irma Stern’s Still Life with Grapefruit (estimate R2–3 million / $112 750-169 125), painted in 1954 during a period of remarkable creative energy. Then aged 60, Stern was widely regarded as “an indefatigable ambassador of South African art,” and undertook extensive travels to the Belgian Congo, France, Germany, Israel, Italy and Turkey. As with much of her still life work, this composition reflects on the quiet harmony between the cultivated and the organic, the human and the natural.

The post-war period saw the rise of numerous South African modernists, among them Alexis Preller and Vladimir Tretchikoff. The sale features Preller’s Christ Head (estimate R2–4 million / $112 750–225 445), a fragmented devotional image, as well as two botanicals by Tretchikoff. Strauss & Co established the current world record for Tretchikoff following the May 2025 sale of Lady from the Orient for R31 million / $1.735 million.

Other notable modernists represented in the sale include Gregoire Boonzaier, Pranas Domsaitis, Alfred Krenz, Maggie Laubser, Hugo Naudé, Frans Oerder and JEA Volschenk. A sense of the catalogue’s range is evident in works such as Clement Sénèque’s Dry Dock, Durban (1927, estimate R80 000–120 000 / $4 509–6 760), Erik Laubscher’s Kouebokkeveld (1973, estimate R200 000–300 000 / 11 270–16 910), Gerard Sekoto’s gouache on paper The Conversation in the Street (estimate R150 000–200 000 / $8 450–11 270), and Sydney Kumalo’s drawing Reclining Figure (estimate R30 000–50 000 / $1 690–2 819).

South Africa’s re-entry into global art scene in 1994 catalysed the international recognition of artists such as David Goldblatt and William Kentridge. This auction includes four of Goldblatt’s photographs, among them his famous 1985 portrait of 15-year-old Lawrence Matjee (estimate R50 000–70 000 / $2 819–3 945), taken after his detention by security police. Kentridge is represented by two major works: the politically charged 1988 print Art in a State of Siege (100 Years of Easy Living) (estimate R300 000–400 000 / $16 910–22 555), and Untitled (Man with Globe), a 2010 bronze (estimate R350 000–550 000 / $19 735–31 015).
The sculpture section includes pieces by Deborah Bell, Willie Bester, Wilma Cruise, Brett Murray, Angus Taylor and Edoardo Villa, showcasing the vitality of South African three-dimensional practice.

Young South African artists command global attention. Athi-Patra Ruga, who appears in Irma Stern’s first Berlin museum show next month, has two works in the sale: a photo from 2012 and the provocative 2009 tapestry Konflikt Free Blk Diamond, Teeth are the Only Bone that Show (estimate R150 000–200 000 / $ 8 455–11 270). Other contemporary highlights include Zander Blom’s abstract canvas Untitled [1.495] (estimate R200 000–250 000 / $11 270–14 095) alongside pieces by Patrick Bongoy, Alex Emsley, Anton Karstel, Mongezi Ncaphayi, Cameron Platter, Brett Seiler and Pierre Vermeulen. The sale also debuts painter Philip Barlow.

A preview exhibition of the full auction catalogue is currently on view at Brickfield Canvas, 35 Brickfield Road, Woodstock, Cape Town, until 24 June 2025. A cocktail reception will be held on Thursday, 19 June, from 6–8pm. The live-virtual auction begins at 7pm on Tuesday, 24 June 2025.

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