Leading Icons of South African Modernism

5 May 2025

JOHANNESBURG – Timed to align with the international modern art sales calendar in May, Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading auction house, is pleased to present a curated selection of museum-quality works at its flagship live sale on Tuesday, 27 May 2025, in Johannesburg. Anchoring the sale are important paintings by three icons of 20th-century South African art – Gerard Sekoto, Irma Stern and Vladimir Tretchikoff – whose work continues to command critical and market acclaim.

“We are uniquely positioned to offer significant works by historically important artists such as Sekoto, Stern and Tretchikoff,” says Alastair Meredith, Head of Art Department, Strauss & Co. “These are names we have long championed. The exceptional works on offer not only reinforce our position in the market, but reflect a growing international appetite for South African modernism.”

Gerard Sekoto’s The Mother on the Road (estimate R2 – 3 million / $106 670 – 160 005), painted circa 1945–47, is a stunning work from the artist’s pivotal pre-exile period. Depicting a mother carrying a child, flanked by two youngsters, it was previously exhibited in Sekoto’s landmark 1989 retrospective at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. A self-portrait from the same period is currently on view in Paris Noir at the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

Vladimir Tretchikoff’s celebrated Lady of the Orient (estimate R5 – 7 million / $266 790 – 373 534), painted in 1955, exemplifies the artist’s mastery of mass appeal and Eastern mystique. A best-selling print in Britain in 1962, the painting remains a pop-cultural icon.

Irma Stern’s Still Life with Lemons (estimate R2 – 3 million / $106 670 – 160 005), dated 1954, showcases the artist’s late-career confidence and painterly vigour. Originally the toast of Weimar Berlin, Stern resumed exhibiting in Germany in the 1950s. She returns to Berlin once more in July 2025, with a major solo presentation at the Brücke Museum.

The sale further includes three early works by George Pemba, a contemporary of Sekoto, who continues to attract significant collector interest and looks poised to exceed the R1 million milestone. Strauss & Co’s ongoing support of black modernists is underscored by the current exhibition Working Life in South Africa: Gerard Sekoto & Lena Hugo (1 April – 30 May 2025), curated by Wilhelm van Rensburg, Chief Curator at Strauss & Co.

Other notable consignments include rare works by Dumile Feni, Robert Hodgins, Dorothy Kay, William Kentridge, JH Pierneef and Cecil Skotnes. Kentridge is represented by a bronze and an early drawing and from his Masked Ball series. In late June, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park will present his first major international sculpture survey.

Among the Pierneef offerings is the superb Piesanghoek, Soutpansberg (estimate R2.5 – 3.5 million / $133 260 – 186 700), with a distinguished provenance from the publisher JL van Schaik. It also appeared in a colour reproduction in JFW Grosskopf’s 1947 monograph.

A curated selection of works from the Johannesburg sale will be exhibited at RMB Latitudes Art Fair, in Shepstone Gardens, Johannesburg (23–25 May 2025), and at Strauss & Co’s Houghton salesroom, each instance accompanied by a programme of specialist-led walkabouts.

www.straussart.co.za

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Preview at Strauss & Co

Preview at Latitudes Art Fair