Strauss & Co partners with Art Auction East Africa to bolster secondary market for East African art

15 Oct 2025

NAIROBI – Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading auction house, and Danda Jaroljmek, Director of Art Auction East Africa, are pleased to announce details of Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, a new two-part auction of rare and important art from East Africa and beyond. The main event is a 65-lot live-virtual sale of modern and contemporary art, to be held at Circle Art Gallery, Victoria Square, Riara Road, Nairobi, on Wednesday, 5 November 2025. Running alongside it is a timed-online sale of works on paper, which concludes the same day.

The auction is led by rare works from across East Africa including a work by the distinguished Tanzanian painter, diplomat and academic Sam Ntiro, Working in the Fields, a 1970s oil painting depicting a lush rural landscape (estimate KSh 900 000 – 1 300 000 / US$ 6 967 – 10 064). 

Collectors of celebrated Ugandan painter Geoffrey Mukasa will have an opportunity to bid on three scarce works, including the mixed-media pieces Boy Kneeling (1998/2005) and Still Life (2007/08), each estimated at KSh 1.2 – 1.5 million / US$ 9 290 – 11 610. 

“The quality of the works by Msangi, Mukasa and Ntiro, viewed together with top-notch works by Cyrus Kabiru, Justus Kyalo and Beatrice Wanjiku, underscore the breadth of artistic practices across East Africa over the past six decades,” says Danda Jaroljmek, Director, Circle Art Gallery, who established Art Auction East Africa in 2013 as a platform to cultivate a secondary market for East African artists working during the era of decolonisation and independence.

Broader regional highlights from the catalogue include works by Egyptian painter Souad Abdelrassouland Zimbabwean artist Misheck Masamvu. A collaborative work by Kenyan sculptor Gakunju Kaigwaand Zimbabwean sculptor Tapfuma Gutsa underscores the transnational dialogue in African art. Both Masamvu and Gutsa represented Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale in 2011.

Susie Goodman, Managing Executive of Strauss & Co, comments: “This bold initiative is a strategic partnership between two leading regional actors with deep networks and a shared commitment to the African art market. It recognises the importance of collaboration in fostering a thriving pan-African art ecosystem. We are especially excited to deepen our engagement with artists, collectors and institutions in East Africa. Strauss & Co has global client base, and we are excited at the prospect of taking our clients on this exciting journey.”

The currency for the sale is Kenyan Shilling (KSh). All viewing and collections take place in Nairobi.

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