11 – 19 October 2025
Strauss & Co is a silver sponsor of the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees
Strauss & Co is thrilled to bring you a celebration of artistic heritage during this year’s Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees. Our flagship exhibition, “Seeing Ourselves: South African Portraits Past and Present”, will open with an exclusive cocktail party, setting the stage for a remarkable journey through historical visual culture.
Join us for a series of events, including intimate curator walkabouts, a masterclass on South African modernists, panel discussions and film screenings that reveal hidden legacies. From Karel Nel’s artistic vision to discovering the origins of South African art jewellery, our program includes a curated experience not to be missed.
For enquiries please contact Strauss & Co | haneem@straussart.co.za | 076 242 5112
2025 Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees Benefit Auction
Online Auction 6 – 21 October
The 5th annual Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees Benefit Auction is presented in collaboration with Strauss & Co and curated by award-winning curators Heinrich Groenewald and Shona van der Merwe of Reservoir. The Online auction features works by emerging and established artists, offering visibility and affirmation of their practices, benefiting the artists and Woordfees. The sale is designed to encourage participation from new collectors, helping to expand both the market and access to local artists work.
Seeing Ourselves: South African Portraits Past and Present
Strauss & Co Exhibition | Oude Leeskamer from 11 – 19 October
The exhibition highlights works from our upcoming flagship art and jewellery auctions, and works on loan from prestigious private collections.
Origins & Legacy of Art Jewellery in South Africa
Online Auction 8 – 22 October
Strauss & Co, in collaboration with Stellenbosch University’s Creative Jewellery and Metal Design Division, presents Origins & Legacy of Art Jewellery in South Africa (8–22 October 2025), a two-part online auction celebrating the rich history and contemporary vitality of South African art jewellery. The sale forms part of the diverse programming of the 2025 Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees (11–19 October 2025) and will be accompanied by an exhibition at the historic Oude Leeskamer Gallery in Stellenbosch.
Upcoming Events
Oude Leeskamer exhibition open daily 09:00 – 17:00 // Stadsaal exhibition open daily 10:00 – 18:00
Monday, 13 October 2025
OUDE LEESKAMER
Venice, Paris, Stellenbosch – Travelling Sekoto Returns Home – with Lizelle Kilbourn 11:00 – 12:00
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
STADSAAL
Masterclass on Irma Stern: Leading Modernist Artist with Dr Alastair Meredith 11:00 – 13:00
Curators’ Walkabouts: Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees Online Benefit Auction 15:00 – 16:00
The Art of Collecting: Why You Should Collect Art, Wine and Jewellery 18:00 – 19:00
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
STADSAAL
South African Art Jewellery: Origins and Legacy 13:00 – 14:00
Curators’ Walkabouts: Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees Online Benefit Auction 15:00 – 16:00
Thursday, 16 October 2025
RUPERT MUSEUM
Karel Nel: Cose and Far 11:00 – 12:00
STADSAAL
Curators’ Walkabouts: Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees Online Benefit Auction 15:00 – 16:00
OUDE LEESKAMER
Ruminations – Karel Nel 14:00 – 15:00
Irma Stern: A Modern Artist Between Berlin and Cape Town 15:00 – 16:00
Sunset Walkabout with Frank Kilbourn 18:00 – 19:00
Viewing Times
STADSAAL
10 – 19 October 2025
Exhibition Open 10:00 – 18:00
OUDE LEESKAMER
11 – 19 October
Exhibition Open 9:00 – 17:00
About the 2025 Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees
You are invited to join the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees in celebrating 25 years of art, culture and expression. This year’s theme is “share”.
As has become the tradition, we’ll gather for another sunny festival in the Stellenbosch springtime from 11 to 19 October, and your sketches, cartoons and illustrations could be part of the festival theme and celebrations.
What does the word ‘share’ mean to you?
Share your creations with the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees team and they might form part of our marketing campaign and creative identity for the year. Last year we played, and now we’re ready to share. Contributions will be accepted up until the end of the festival, which can also be used for later Woordfees events such as the Woordtrofees Awards Ceremony.
The program for the 2025 Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees will be announced on 20 June at a special event and will also be shared on the festival’s website and communication and social media platforms. As in the past, the program will consist of 12 genres: Theatre, Toyota Music Festival, EasyEquities Writers’ Festival, Classical Music, Discourse, Children’s Festival, Comedy, Lifestyle, Visual Art, Film Festival, Dance, Words Open Worlds Festival (WOW).
About Oude Leeskamer
The Oude Leeskamer is a cultural and heritage centre situated in a historic building on the corner of Dorp and Drostdy Street in Stellenbosch. This space has served various purposes in the Stellenbosch community over the years.
Since its founding in 1815, the building has been a magistrate’s office, an annex to the Moederkerk and annex to the Theological Seminary. It has also served as a home to various local book clubs and the then Union Debating Society. More recently it has been a private residency, a guesthouse and home to an architectural firm. Significantly, it was in this very building that the idea of schools for the town originated, which eventually led to the founding of Stellenbosch University.
In 2017 the Oude Leeskamer became the property of the Jannie Mouton Foundation. The building was remarkably restored to now host five unique spaces, namely Jannie se Leeskamer, an art gallery, a writer’s flat, De Eetkamer Restaurant, and the Jannie Mouton Foundation offices.
T’s and C’s Apply. EasyEquities is an authorised FSP (FSP22588) and a licensed ODP (ODP44)
