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.
About the Kilbourn Collection
Frank and Lizelle Kilbourn are private art collectors. In addition to various business interests, Frank is the executive chairperson of auction house Strauss & Co and was formerly deputy chair of the Irma Stern Museum Committee. Lizelle is an attorney and writer and has a special interest in promoting art appreciation.
As philanthropists, they share a deep passion for and commitment to art. They started their collection of primarily South African art in 1988 and the collection has grown over time to include over 2,000 works from a very wide range of Southern African artists, spanning 120 years of visual art output in South Africa. In the process, an awareness developed that the privilege of owning a private art collection of this nature is counterbalanced by the responsibility of preserving and sharing the joy of it with other people. Part of Frank and Lizelle’s aim is to encourage other collectors to make more “private” art available for public viewing.
They regularly lend their works for exhibition, and every year in August and September, they host Welgemeend Art Month, where they share works in their collection and those of fellow collectors with the public in a themed exhibition curated by Frank. They are also co-founders of the Bright Foundation, a PBO involved in education, nature conservation, and promotion of the arts and culture, amongst other things.
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.
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
“In en Om Ons | In and Around Us” – August 2025
“(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
