A curated survey of South African art | June Spotlight Sale

12 Jun 2026

CAPE TOWN – Three important modernist portraits by Irma Stern, Gerard Sekoto and Maggie Laubser headline Strauss & Co’s live-virtual June Spotlight Sale of modern and contemporary art on Tuesday, 23 June 2026. Comprising 82 lots, the sale forms part of Strauss & Co’s expanding programme of specialist live auctions and presents a curated selection of paintings, works on paper and sculpture spanning the twentieth century to the present.  

“The June Spotlight Sale presents a carefully curated selection of modern and contemporary art across a range of media, genres and price points, from important paintings by Maggie Laubser, Gerard Sekoto and Irma Stern to exceptional still lifes by Vladimir Tretchikoff and a notable group of works on paper by William Kentridge,” says Elmarie van Straten, Head of Sale at Strauss & Co. “The sale is part of Strauss & Co’s broadening programme of specialist live auctions, designed to respond to specific areas of the growing secondary market. The selection celebrates the richness and diversity of South African art from the early twentieth century to the present day.” 

Leading the sale is Irma Stern’s Malay Woman (estimate R3 – 5 million / $181 282 – 302 137), a striking portrait of an unidentified sitter, possibly a paid model, depicted with folded arms and wearing a hijab. Painted in 1936, a pivotal year in Stern’s career, the work combines psychological intensity with a restrained palette that recalls aspects of Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period. Gerard Sekoto’s Pensive Young Woman (estimate R500 000 – 700 000 / $30 214 – 42 299), likely painted between 1939 and 1941, dates from a formative period in the artist’s development following his introduction to oil painting by Judith Gluckman. The textured surface treatment lends the portrait a quiet immediacy and emotional depth. Its subdued tonal range heralds the atmosphere of Sekoto’s career-defining township works before moving to Paris in 1947. 

Maggie Laubser’s Portrait of a Woman with Head Scarf; Landscape with House and Boats in Background (estimate R200,000 – 300,000 / $12 085 – 18 128) depicts a wide-eyed young woman set against a Cape landscape. The painting exemplifies Laubser’s assured handling of colour and her distinctive expressionist approach to form and mark-making. Interest in Vladimir Tretchikoff remains strong following Strauss & Co’s world record sale of the artist’s work in 2025. In May, his still life Chrysanthemums realised R2 973 750 in Johannesburg. The June sale includes two notable examples of his object painting: Cannas (estimate R200 000 – 300 000 / $12 085 – 18 128) and Daily Needs (estimate R400 000 – 600,000 / $24 171 – 36 256), an allegorical composition that theatrically assembles symbolic elements including wheat, feathers, fire and water. 

The sale also acknowledges William Kentridge’s achievements as a printmaker. Printed by master printer Jack Shirreff in 1993, General (Black and White) (estimate R500 000 – 700 000 / $30 214 – 42 299) belongs to the highly sought-after first edition of this important composition. Kentridge is currently presenting a solo museum exhibition at Kunsthalle Praha in Prague (until 7 September 2026). The sale includes Let Me Live Again (estimate R80 000 – 120 000 / $4 834 – 7 251), a printer’s proof from an edition created exclusively for Kunsthalle Praha’s inaugural exhibition in 2022. This is the only impression available in South Africa. A further Kentridge highlight is Untitled (Man Reading and Anthropomorphic Figures) (estimate R750,000–900,000 / US$45,321–54,385), a charcoal drawing from the collection of influential Johannesburg gallerist Linda Givon (1936–2020), founder of Goodman Gallery. Four works from Givon’s collection are offered in the sale. 

Kentridge won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Arts in 1987; other winners of this prestigious early-career award in the sale include Nandipha Mntambo (2011) and Blessing Ngobeni (2020). The contemporary consignment also includes painters Cathy Abraham, Alexandra Karakashian, Banele Khoza and, unusually, Strijdom van der Merwe, better known as a land artist but here represented by two mixed-media assemblages. Sculpture highlights include works by Deborah Bell, Patrick Bongoy, Guy du Toit, Dylan Lewis, Brett Murray, Anton Smit and Edoardo Villa. Collectors drawn to Brian Bradshaw’s energetic seascape Infanta Sea to Shore (estimate R25 000 – 35 000 / $1 511 – 2 115) may also be interested in Eastern Cape Echoes: Storms River to Port Saint Johns (closes 25 June 2026), Strauss & Co’s concurrent online-only auction celebrating the region’s rich artistic traditions and enduring cultural legacy. 

Strauss & Co’s live-virtual June Spotlight Sale (Tuesday, 23 June 2026) additionally features modernist paintings by Gregoire Boonzaier, Frieda Lock, Cecil Higgs, Ruth Prowse, J.H. Pierneef and J.E.A. Volschenk, offering collectors a broad survey of South African artistic production across generations.