19th Century, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art

Live Virtual Auction, 28 June 2022

In/Tangible: South African Abstract Art
About the Session

Strauss & Co's latest live virtual sale takes place on Tuesday 28 June 2022 and includes three sessions of fine art, including a session devoted entirely to Abstract Art created in South Africa. The 308 lots available to browse, bid and buy in these curated sessions include prints, works on paper, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and books.

This special focus session include prints, portfolios, works on paper, paintings, and sculptures, by local artists working in a broad array of Abstract styles (lots 201-299).

To conclude the sale, Strauss & Co is proud to support established artist Jill Trappler’s latest initiative, The Orange Art Project (OAP). OAP introduces children and youth in foster homes throughout the Western Cape to creativity, arts and crafts through a network of diverse professional artists to assist in educational and social development. Local artists and organisations such as Sam Nhlengethwa, LL Editions, Lwando Dlamini and Pat Mautloa have donated artwork to raise funds for this worthy cause (lots 302-308).


Sold for

ZAR 11 139
Lot 307
  • Sam Nhlengethwa; Where We Are? II
  • Sam Nhlengethwa; Where We Are? II
  • Sam Nhlengethwa; Where We Are? II


Lot Estimate
ZAR 8 000 - 12 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 11 139

About this Item

South African 1955-
Where We Are? II

signed, dated '17, numbered 10/20, inscribed with title in pencil in the margin and embossed with the Artist Press chop mark

lithograph on paper
image size: 34,5 by 49,5cm; sheet size: 47 by 60,5cm, unframed

Notes

The sale of the present lot is to support, The Orange Art Project (OAP). OAP is a project for social coherence, education, and creativity using visual arts and crafts. OAP introduces children and youth in foster homes throughout the Western Cape to creativity, arts, and crafts through a network of diverse professional artists to assist in educational and social development.

Sam Nhlengethwa was born in the mining community of Payneville, Springs, south-east of Johannesburg. After studying at the Rorke’s Drift Art Centre in the late 1970s, he attended the Johannesburg Art Foundation, which was established by Bill Ainslie. Nhlengethwa taught part-time at Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA) in Johannesburg and came to national prominence in 1993 with the exhibition Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow at both the Market Gallery in Johannesburg and the KZNSA Gallery in Durban. Nhlengethwa received the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1994 and his award show, Homage to Jazz, travelled the country over the following year.

The artist is best known for his figurative paintings and collage works exploring themes of social and art history, jazz, mining, and domestic life, as well as his iconic goat lithographs and the series of tributes to other artists printed at The Artists’ Press in White River. His current figurative style post-dates a series of large, bold abstract works following his participation in the Thupelo workshops, founded in 1985 by artists David Koloane, Bongi Dhlomo and Bill Ainslie. The annual, two-week workshop programme is associated with a flourishing of modernist abstraction among urban black artists.

Nhlengethwa’s work was included in the important exhibition Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1995, the 12th International Cairo Biennale in 2010, and (Re)constructions: Contemporary Art from South Africa in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. The artist was a founding member, with Pat Mautloa, Sandy Burnett and David Koloane, of the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Newtown in 1991.

View all Sam Nhlengethwa lots for sale in this auction



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