Every August, South Africa celebrates Women’s Month in tribute to the more than 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 9 August 1956 to protest extending segregationist ‘pass laws’ to women. As part of their commitment to mark this annual event, Strauss & Co has invited Amohelang Mohajane, curator of the NWU Gallery at North-West University, to curate a special session in their ‘Modern, Post-War, Contemporary Art and Wine’ sale. The online-only auction features nine sessions in total, and includes works by influential artists such as Esther Mahlangu, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi and William Kentridge, pieces by twelve female artists shortlisted for RMB’s 2021 Talent Unlocked, a variety of sculptures and ceramics, and even some of South Africa’s finest wines.
Amohelang Mohajane’s session highlights the achievements of women artists through the ages, with over thirty lots from a multi-generational cohort. Her contribution as a guest curator “highlights the central role of women in our art history and marks an important intervention in the sale as a whole”, says Susie Goodman, an executive director at Strauss & Co. One of Mohajane’s selections is Flowers in a Black Vase, Landscape Beyond by Alice Tennant, a native Parisian who moved to South Africa in 1922 and specialised in flower studies, portraits and illustrations.
Another exceptional piece chosen by Amohelang Mohajane is an untitled silkscreen print by Esther Mahlangu. One of South Africa’s most famous artists, Mahlangu creates vibrant, geometric murals and paintings referencing patterns found in the clothing and jewellery of the Ndebele people. She began painting at the age of ten under the guidance of her mother and grandmother, following a cultural tradition where women and girls paint the exteriors of their homes. Since coming to international attention at the Magiciens de la terre exhibition in 1989, Mahlangu has captivated the art world with her bright, complex paintings.
The acclaimed artist Cecily Sash is represented with several works in the sale, appearing in the session curated by Amohelang Mohajane as well as in the ‘Staff Picks’ session. She was a founding member of the famed Amadlozi Group, along with Cecil Skotnes, Guiseppe Cattaneo, Sydney Kumalo and Edoardo Villa, who sought to create work at the intersection of African and European artistic traditions. Her 2009 mixed media piece Abstract Composition exemplifies her exploration of materials and use of bold, decorative abstraction.
One star lot in the ‘Paintings’ session is Fantasy Figures by Beezy Bailey. He works in various media, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking and drawing, and brings together different elements of his practices within this piece. It depicts a naked figure suspended over a landscape, and the textured, expressive brushstrokes are heightened by carved incisions on the wooden panel.
William Kentridge is a South African artist who achieved international fame through his powerful hand-drawn animations, charcoal drawings and installations that confront the political and social intricacies of post-Apartheid South Africa. He is represented by several pieces in the sale, and his watercolour The Full Stop Swallows the Sentence will appear in the ‘Prints and Multiples’ session of the auction. The piece comes from a suite of fourteen works entitled Red Rubrics, which references the practice of printing words in red for emphasis that began with Medieval illuminated manuscripts.
Strauss & Co is also offering an impressive session dedicated to fine wine, with more than one hundred lots by acclaimed French and South African producers. One outstanding selection is a case of Profadder from the Sadie Family, a 100% Cinsault from the Riebeek Mountain. Eben Sadie is considered South Africa’s most revered winemaker, and he was voted Winemaker of the Year in 2017 by the International Master of Wine Institute. Only 450 cases of the Profadder were produced, and it forms part of Sadie’s Old Vine Series, which are South Africa’s most sought-after wines.
The ‘Modern, Post-War, Contemporary Art and Wine’ auction closes on 23 August. Bidding will take place exclusively online, and all lots are currently open.
