Ancent Soi
Untitled (Wildebeest)
About the SessionNAIROBI – Following their successful collaboration in 2025, Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading auction house, and Danda Jaroljmek, Director of Art Auction East Africa, will present Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, a 67-lot sale bringing together modern and contemporary art from East Africa and the wider continent. The live-virtual sale will be held at Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi on Wednesday, 28 October, 2026, 7pm EAT. The catalogue spans a diversity of East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda, alongside works by artists from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria. Works on paper, photography and sculpture complements the strong painting consignment. “The selection invites collectors to discover East Africa’s diverse modernist histories, particularly those beyond the Anglophone world,” says Susie Goodman. “In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in East African modernists, with artists associated with the Khartoum School shown in museums and fairs globally. Our work as an auction house rooted in Africa is ensuring this rediscovery is not temporary. We are delighted to partner with Danda Jaroljmek in cultivating a sustainable secondary market for East African modernists active during the era of decolonisation and independence.” A preview exhibition will be held at Circle Art Gallery, Victoria Square, Riara Road, Nairobi, during the two weeks preceding the auction on Wednesday, 28 October 2026.
LOT 4
Ancent Soi
Untitled (Wildebeest)
About this Item
signed and dated
Provenance
The Artist's Estate.
Notes
Born in Machakos to a farming family, Ancent Soi became one of Kenya’s most celebrated artists. With stunning attention to detail, colour and texture, Soi’s joyful paintings of animals, plants and people record traditional ceremonies, childhood memories and narratives of rural life.
While working at a city market in Nairobi, selling woodcarvings and paintings, Soi began to paint. His works drew attention and he later became a full-time artist, gaining widespread popularity within the city.
In 1971, he won a prestigious, continent-wide competition to design the Olympic poster for the Munich Olympics. Soi exhibited regularly with Gallery Watatu in the 1980s and was one of a number of artists who came to exemplify Kenyan Art during that period, locally and abroad. Soi’s works have been exhibited in the USA, Japan, Germany and the UK as well as in Kenya.
Biography courtesy of Circle Art Gallery.
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