Bushveld Landscape, Approaching Storm, Sabi Sands (1952), estimated to fetch R5–7 million / $302 298 – 423 216. The arboreal subjects of Pierneef’s various linocuts, etchings, caseins, and oils in the Evening Sale, including Bushveld Landscape with Autumn Leaves (estimate R1–1.5 million / $60,460–90,689) find a contemporary interpreter in the recent work of William Kentridge. The catalogue includes two large examples of Kentridge’s technically accomplished works on paper: The Old Gods Have Retired, dated 2022 (estimate R1.2–1.5 million / $72,552–90,689), and You Who Never Arrived, dated 2021 (estimate R850,000–950,000 / $51,391–57,437).
/file/attachments/2994/523-21-jul-2026-lot-221-1_247215.jpg "The Old Gods Have Retired, dated 2022 (estimate R1.2–1.5 million / $72,552–90,689).")
The public offering of these lots by Pierneef and Kentridge concludes a diverse programme of consecutive live-virtual auctions on Tuesday, 21 July 2026. The day begins with the sale of works from the Willem Boshoff Collection (at 2pm), followed by a focus on South African ceramics (at 5pm), and concludes with the premier Evening Sale (at 7pm). This live programme is complemented by a single-owner collection of drawings and paintings by Gregoire Boonzaier, presented as an online-only sale that concludes on Wednesday, 22 July 2026.
“The wide-ranging selection of works by Henk Pierneef in the Evening Sale is justifiably led by his majestic oil on canvas Bushveld Landscape, Approaching Storm, Sabi Sands,” says Dr. Alastair Meredith, Director and Head of Sale, Strauss & Co. “Produced in 1952, during a visit to friends on their game farm in the then recently incorporated Sabi Sands Game Reserve, the work has hung in a single-family collection for decades.”
/file/attachments/2994/523-21-jul-2026-lot-232-1_344913.jpg "You Who Never Arrived, dated 2021 (estimate R850,000–950,000 / $51,391–57,437).")
Dr. Alastair Meredith adds: “According to family lore, Pierneef was moved during this stay by the spectacle of an approaching storm over the plains, and painted the scene as a parting gift. Pierneef’s best late paintings, most of them from the early 1950s, are defined by their large scale, confident simplification, decorative power, hushed tone, and solemn colour combinations. Bushveld Landscape, Approaching Storm, Sabi Sands possesses all these attributes.”
The work will be presented to the public in a preview exhibition opening on Monday, 6 July 2026 at Strauss & Co’s Houghton showroom. Dr. Alastair Meredith and Wilhelm van Rensburg (Senior Art Specialist and Head Curator) will lead walkabouts of the exhibition on Saturday–Sunday, 18–19 July 2026.
/file/attachments/2994/574-21-jul-2026-lot-10-1_543469.jpg "Willem Boshoff, Highveld (estimate R50,000-70,000 / $3,067-4,294).")
The Willem Boshoff art collection
Virtual-live auction
Tuesday, 21 July 2026, 2pm
Born in 1951 and widely admired for his singular practice spanning wood and stone sculpture, assemblages, installations, and text works, Willem Boshoff is one of the most important artists working on the African continent today. This 40-lot sale comprises works from Boshoff’s personal collection, including pieces by Candice Breitz, Christo Coetzee, Jackson Hlungwani, John Muafangejo, Marianne Podlashuc, and Simon Stone.
Additionally, there is a small selection of works on paper and mixed-media sculptures by Boshoff himself, spanning his career. They include a pencil figure study dated 1972 (estimate R20,000–30,000 / $1,209–1,815) and Snatch (estimate R200,000–300,000 / $12,091–18,150), an aluminium and wire work from 2011.
/file/attachments/2994/524-21-jul-2026-lot-122-1_690589.jpg "Bosch’s monumental tile Koi (estimate R800,000–1,000,000 / $48,368–60,460).")
Unearthed: contemporary South African ceramics
Virtual-live auction
Tuesday, 21 July 2026, 5pm
Since 2020, Strauss & Co has been committed to programming dedicated focuses on South African ceramics and clay arts. Unearthed: Contemporary South African Ceramics gathers a wide-ranging collection of the influential makers active since the 1960s, among them Esais Bosch, Hyme Rabinowitz, and Andrew Walford, pioneers of the studio movement. There are two pieces by Josephine Ghesa, one of Ardmore Ceramic Studio’s first artists, as well as works by Hylton Nel and his various protégés, notably Nico Masemola.
The works of Andile Dyalvane, Madoda Fani, Chuma Maweni, and Mpho Mokgatlhe are commanding examples of how Nguni ceramic traditions have been reinterpreted by contemporary ceramists. Other contemporary clay artists in the sale include Astrid Dahl, Ruan Hoffmann, Eugene Hön, Martine Jackson, Ben Orkin, and Clive Sithole. Due to its large size, Bosch’s monumental tile Koi (estimate R800,000–1,000,000 / $48,368–60,460) will only be on view at Strauss & Co’s Cape Town showroom.
Evening sale: modern and contemporary art
Virtual-live auction
Tuesday, 21 July 2026, 7pm
Anchored by a strong selection of iconic works by J.H. Pierneef, the Evening Sale features 57 lots representative of South African artistic production from the 1910s until the present. Auction bellwethers Keith Alexander, Guy du Toit, Robert Hodgins, William Kentridge, Erik Laubscher, Maggie Laubser, Esther Mahlangu, John Koenakeefe Mohl, Cinga Samson, Cecily Sash, Irma Stern, Edoardo Villa, and Pieter Wenning feature.
Pieter Wenning’s gorgeous Still Life with Vases and Plate (estimate R280,000–320,000 / $16,929–19,347) speaks to impressionist styles that dominated South African art in the early 20th century, before the expressionist revolution introduced by Maggie Laubser and Irma Stern.
Painted in 1930, Laubser’s Portrait of a Woman in a Red Headscarf (estimate R450,000–550,000 / $27,207–33,253) leads a solid survey of works by this German-trained expressionist, among them Composition Birds and Boats (estimate R350,000–500,000 / $21,161–30,230). Two later works represent Stern: a charcoal drawing from 1942 and a gouache from 1951.
Strauss & Co is pleased to present a work by much-admired Cape Town painter Cinga Samson, made in collaboration with his younger brother Sikhona Thutha, Ubuhle Be Ndalo (estimate R250,000–350,000 / $15,115–21,161). Other contemporary artists include Olaf Bisschoff, Guy du Toit, Diane Victor, and Lulama Wolf. There is also a rare edition of Willem Boshoff’s Kyk Afrikaans portfolio from 2003 (estimate R60,000–80,000 / $3,627–4,837).
/file/attachments/2994/520-22-jul-2026-lot-314-1_243137.jpg "Farm Backyard, Wellington C.P., dated 1962 (estimate R300,000–500,000 / $18,138–30,023)")
Cape charm: Gregoire Boonzaier works from a single-owner collection
Online-only auction
Closes Wednesday, 22 July 2026
An early exponent of Cape Impressionism and founder of the New Group, Gregoire Boonzaier is known for his prodigious output of drawings, prints, watercolours, pastels, and oil paintings. Deriving from a single-family collection, the 32 lots in Cape Charm include still lifes, botanical studies, rural and urban Cape scenes, and self-portraits, a genre Boonzaier pursued throughout his life. The catalogue includes five examples of his self-portraits, the earliest dated 1932 and the most recent from 1996.
High-value works in this sale include Farm Backyard, Wellington C.P., dated 1962 (estimate R300,000–500,000 / $18,138–30,023) and District Six, Kaapstad, dated 1970 (estimate R150,000–200,000 / $9,069–12,091). Die Rand van die Bos (The Edge of the Forest), dated 1985 (estimate R100,000–150,000 / $6,046–9,069), appears on the cover of Gregoire Boonzaier: Impressions of Trees (1990) and is offered with a copy of this book. Overall, lots in Cape Charm carry attractive estimates, making Boonzaier available to all collectors. DM