Established in 2014 by art collector Frank Kilbourn and auctioneer Stephan Welz, Strauss & Co’s founding director who passed away in 2015, the initiative aims to shore up support for Welgemeend, a historic home on the slopes of Table Valley built in the 18th century and subsequently enlarged by the Hofmeyr family.
Welgemeend was declared a national monument in 1944. It is owned and managed by Jan van Riebeeck Hoërskool, in collaboration with the Friends of Welgemeend. August Art Month is an important source of revenue for the maintenance and preservation of this landmark Cape property.
Welgemeend Art Month 2025 – “In en Om Ons / In and Around Us”
6 August – 5 September 2025
Drawing on the extensive Kilbourn Collection of modern and contemporary South African art, the exhibition In en Om Ons/ In and Around Us explores what it means to be an artist working after the advent of photography. The exhibition – a cornerstone of Welgemeend Art Month, now in its 12th year – will feature select paintings and photographs from the Kilbourn Collection that explore ideas of subjectivity, consciousness, home, play and work.
The artist selection ranges from important modernists Enslin du Plessis, David Goldblatt, Wolf Kibel, Francois Krige, Jürgen Schadeberg and Maude Sumner to contemporary painters Hugh Byrne, Norman Catherine, Richard Mudariki, Deborah Poynton and Asha Zero, as well as photographers Lien Botha, Lunga Ntila and Jo Ractliffe. The exhibition will explore how photographers and painters share ways of seeing and recording the world, but just as often diverge in these portrayals.
In en Om Ons/ In and Around Us will also include a concise selection of contemporary sculpture from the Kilbourn Collection. The selection emphasises shared interests in form, time and abstraction. Featured artists include Juliet Armstrong, Dominique Edwards, Robert Hodgins, Warren Maroon, Hylton Nel and Rina Stutzer, among many.
Frank and Lizelle Kilbourn will this year collaborate with writer and curator Sean O’Toole in developing the focus and theme for the 2025 exhibition at Welgemeend Art Month.
PLEDGE FUND | Building the Future: Welgemeend Restoration Fund
Timed Online Auction, 25 July – 25 August 2025
Welgemeend is one of a few remaining original homesteads in Cape Town’s city bowl district, built in circa 1693. The Friends of Welgemeend in collaboration with the Kilbourn Family and Strauss & Co have been raising funds for the ongoing preservation and restoration of the heritage building, the Boerneef Art Collection and the surrounding gardens. The main fundraising event takes place during the Welgemeend August Art Month. This year the Art Month committee has identified a wishlist of projects necessary for the continued maintenance detailed below. The fundraiser takes the form of a pledge. Donors will be invited to attend a contributor’s event at the end of August Art Month, hosted by the Friends of Welgemeend.
The prioritisation of all funds received, will be at the discretion of the Friends of Welgemeend. Buyers premium will not be charged on pledges received.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Strauss & Co at Welgemeend
| Date | Event |
| Friday, 8 August | Strauss & Co Valuation Day (pre-book specialist) |
| Saturday, 9 August | Walkabout with art collector, Frank Kilbourn and art journalist, Sean O’Toole |
| Tuesday, 12 August | Strauss & Co Talk with Senior Art Specialist Wilhelm van Rensburg, Walter Battiss and his Fook(ing) Island: Some thoughts on the phenomenon |
| Saturday, 16 August | Strauss & Co Family Day; and Walkabout with art collector, Frank Kilbourn |
| Tuesday, 19 August | Strauss & Co Talk with art collector Lizelle Kilbourn and Senior Art Specialist Kirsty Colledge – What happens at Basel. . . . Doesn’t stay at Basel |
| Thursday, 21 August | Strauss & Co Walkabout with Art Specialist |
| Saturday, 23 August | Strauss & Co Walkabout with collector, Frank Kilbourn |
| Tuesday, 26 August | Strauss & Co Talk with art journalist Amanda Botha – South African contemporary work – Huberte Rupert as pioneer |
| Thursday, 28 August | Strauss & Co Valuation Day (pre-book specialist) |
The Friends of Welgemeend was established in 2007 as a voluntary association. An extract from the Friends’ Constitution summarises its main purpose:
- To support and participate in the advancement, promotion and preservation of the historic homestead of Welgemeend (birthplace of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr in 1845) and that of the artworks, books and documents known as the Boerneef Collection (donated by the author I.W. van der Merwe, whose nom-de-plume this was) and other artworks, books and documents housed there and in the adjacent buildings of the Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck.
- To foster a wider public interest, firstly in both the Homestead and the Art Collection, and secondly a wider appreciation both of the visual arts and of early Cape architecture and other related fields of interest.
Welgemeend Art Month through the years
“(Un)known | (On)bekend” – August 2024
Cape Moments | Kaapse Oomblikke – August 2023
Paying Homage to Die Kunskamer, the gallery that changed the course of South African Art
