Strauss & Co’s February sale explores the story of contemporary art through a Cape Town collector’s legacy

5 Feb 2026

As is tradition, Strauss & Co, Africa’s premier auction house, opens its annual programme with curated auctions, free exhibitions and public talks aligned to the energy and focus of February in Cape Town. Central to this programme and coinciding with the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, the leading international art fair on the African continent, the live-virtual sale Portway to Cohen: A Collector’s Legacy and Other Properties (21 February 2026 at 6pm) presents a vibrant overview of South African contemporary art, its earlier forms and current expressions.    

 “Portway to Cohen: A Collector’s Legacy features a strong consignment of painting, sculpture, drawing and photography by artists spanning Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, as well as key art schools such as the University of the Witwatersrand and the Michaelis School of Fine Art,” says Elmarie van Straten, Senior Art Specialist at Strauss & Co. “The sale is largely made up of work assembled by a worldly collector, complemented by other properties. The featured collector entered the market with a discerning eye and a commitment to supporting South African artists at a crucial period in the local art industry’s development, before the important arrival of fairs and private museums.” 

 Portway to Cohen: A Collector’s Legacy takes its title from two influential Johannesburg artists. Douglas Portway was a pivotal figure in South African painterly abstraction, while Steven Cohen is known internationally as a performance artist and dancer. Cohen is currently the subject of a major survey exhibition, Steven Cohen: Long Life, on view at the South African National Gallery, Cape Town. 

 Portway’s untitled still life of 1989 (estimate R80 000 – 120 000), exhibited at the South African National Gallery in 2007, reiterates the diaphanous light and tranquil order that distinguish his abstract compositions. Cohen is represented by three works, including two unique screenprints, the medium through which he first gained national recognition in the 1980s. The print My Mother and Her Maid (estimate R18 000 – 24 000) incorporates a photograph of Nomsa Dhlamini, an important collaborator in Cohen’s practice honoured in his survey exhibition. 

 Portway to Cohen: A Collector’s Legacy brings together historically significant painters such as Breyten Breytenbach, Gladys Mgudlandlu, Stanley Pinker and Andrew Verster, offered alongside contemporary figures including Sanell Aggenbach, Norman Catherine, Alexandra Karakashian, Mustafa Maluka and Deborah Poynton. Painted in 1991, Pinker’s diptych His and Hers / Decline and Fall (estimate R1.6 – 2 million / $99 850 – 124 812) satirically examines the follies and contradictions of colonial and post-colonial white society in South Africa. The sale also presents other properties consigned by diverse sellers, including paintings by Ayanda Mabulu, Esther Mahlangu and Kylie Wentzel.

 The sculpture acquired by the featured collector underscores the propositional nature of this medium in South Africa. There are works in bronze, painted steel, engineered wood, clay, cowhide and cable ties by, among others, Kevin Brand, David Brown, Paul Edmunds, Noria Mabasa, Kyle Morland and Edoardo Villa. Nandipha Mntambo’s Nftombi Mfana (2007, estimate R180 000 – 240 000), exhibited at the Dak’Art Biennale in 2008, is from a period of heightened international attention on contemporary South African art. Serge Alain Nitegeka’s box-like sculpture, Fragile Cargo VIII from 2011 (estimate R300 000 – 500 000), typifies his use of abstraction and metaphor to engage the difficult subject of forced migration. 

Portway to Cohen: A Collector’s Legacy forms a centrepiece of Strauss & Co’s busy February programme and is complimented by Hair Matters: A Selection of Works from the Georgina Jaffee Collection, a single-owner sale exploring hair as material, metaphor and site of meaning in contemporary art (21 February 2026 at 4pm).

The online-only sale Woven Legacies: Fibre & Form features art and artefacts from Southern, Central and Western Africa, and is guest curated by textile collector Michael Heuermann (closes 11 February 2026). Strauss & Co is hosting three public talks at the 2026 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, to be presented consecutively on Friday, 20 February 2026, from 3 to 7pm. 

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February auctions:

Following on this suite of early February online sales are two special themed auctions to look out for:

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Upcoming Exhibitions: