Strauss & Co presents major South African modernists alongside a pan-African contemporary collection

Comprising three sales of modern and contemporary art, including two live-virtual auctions at Strauss & Co’s Houghton showroom, the company’s flagship Johannesburg auction week (17–18 November 2026) brings together important works from major private and corporate collections.

The premier Evening Sale, on Tuesday, 17 November at 7pm, features works by leading South African modernists Wolf Kibel, Erik Laubscher, Maggie Laubser, J.H. Pierneef, Alexis Preller and Irma Stern, drawn from the Wilbur Smith Collection, Valterra Platinum Collection, Sanlam Art Collection and the collection of Advocate Ruth Kuper SC.

On Wednesday, 18 November at 2pm, Selected Pan-African Works from the Cotton Tree Collection presents a pan-African selection of modern and contemporary art that ranges across artistic practices, national contexts and generations. The catalogue features Léonce Raphaël Agbodjélou, Willie Bester, Soly Cissé, Andile Dyalvane, Aboubakar Fofana, Wycliffe Mundopa, Serge Alain Nitegeka and Dominique Zinkpè.

The cover lot for the Evening Sale is Irma Stern’s Still Life with Strelitzias, a Songe Mask and a Songe Nkisi Figure, an important work from 1946 (estimate R5.5 – 7.5 million / $330 271 – 450 370). The painting has been consigned from the collection of the renowned novelist Wilbur Smith.

“We are delighted to bring this major work linked to Irma Stern’s Congo travels in the 1940s to auction,” says Dr Alastair Meredith, Director and Global Head of Art at Strauss & Co. “Michael Godby, Emeritus Professor of Art History at the University of Cape Town and a leading global authority on Stern, will discuss the painting at our Houghton gallery on Saturday, 14 November at 11am. It is a privilege to host Professor Godby, who has written and curated extensively on Stern and specifically selected this work as the cover of his book Object Lessons: Still Life Paintings by Irma Stern, 1908–1965 .”

In 2022, Professor Godby presented an exhibition of the artist’s nudes at the Sanlam Art Gallery near Cape Town, which included her 1947 composition Nude (estimate R2 – 3 million / US$120 099 – 180 148). This painting forms part of a group of nine works from the prestigious Sanlam Art Collection up for sale. Comprising mainly nudes, the selection includes Wolf Kibel’s Male Nude (Self-Portrait) (estimate R150 000 – 200 000 / $9 007 – 12 010), two nudes each by Maggie Laubser and Alexis Preller, and Penny Siopis’s 1987 interior scene Salon (estimate R250 000 – 350 000 / $15 012 – 21 017).

Landscape is a strong theme in the Valterra Platinum Collection. Highlights include Erik Laubscher’s Summer Keurfontein, painted in 1995–96 (estimate R400 000 – 600 000 / $24 020 – 36 030), Judith Mason’s large oil on board Paper Darts (estimate R150 000 – 200 000 / $9 007 – 12 010) and Keith Alexander’s 1983 composition Kolmanskop (estimate R400 000 – 600 000 / $24 020 – 36 030).

Advocate Ruth Kuper SC (1934–2026), one of South Africa’s first women advocates, was a discerning collector of modernist artists. Gerard Sekoto’s post-impressionist tour de force Yard in Sophiatown (estimate R2 – 3 million / $119 933 – 179 899) leads a selection that includes Irma Stern’s Still Life with Pink Cloth (estimate R1.2 – 1.5 million / $72 059 – 90 074) and four watercolour and pencil studies linked to J.H. Pierneef’s career-defining Johannesburg Station panels. Offered as a single lot, the studies depict Louis Trichardt, Mont-aux-Sources, Premier Mine and Waterval Boven (estimate R400 000 – 600 000 / $24 020 – 36 030).

Pierneef is represented by nine works in the Evening Sale, including the late bushveld scene On the Pongola River, Shingwedzi, painted in 1955 (estimate R1.5 – 2 million / US$90 074 – 120 099). Alexis Preller is represented by six works, among them Mapogga Temple, a mythological painting from 1952 (estimate R3 – 5 million / $180 148 – 300 247). Dating from one of the artist’s most important periods, the work follows his transformative paintings of the late 1940s, represented in the sale by Sandals on the Beach (1948; estimate R1.5 – 2 million / $90 074 – 120 099).

The contemporary consignment spans a period of significant change in South African art, with paintings, sculpture and works on paper dating from the 1980s to the present. Highlights include John Meyer’s large-scale celestial landscape Odysseus (estimate R3.5 – 4.5 million / $210 173 – 270 222), an artist’s proof of William Kentridge’s important 1989 etching Casspirs Full of Love (estimate R400 000 – 600 000 / $24 020 – 36 030) and Gerhard Marx’s bronze Scion (Child), made in 2013 (estimate R350 000 – 500,000 / $21 017 – 30 025).

Kentridge is also represented by four bronzes, three of which derive from his Three Russian Figures series portraying a man with globe, flag and megaphone (estimate each R300 000 – 500 000 / $18 015 – 30 025). Other sculptural highlights include works by Conrad Botes, Sydney Kumalo, Fanie Eloff and Anton van Wouw, as well as a maquette by Edoardo Villa for Column of African Life Centre (estimate R350 000 – 450 000 / $21 017 – 27 022).

The Cotton Tree Collection extends the programme’s geographic reach, bringing together artists from across the continent whose work has attracted sustained institutional attention. Malian artist and textile designer Aboubakar Fofana, who participated in documenta 14 in 2017, is represented by the dyed-fabric diptych Erosion (estimate R30 000 – 40 000 / $1 801 – 2 402). Serge Alain Nitegeka, whose work appeared in the South African Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, is represented by two painted panels titled Fragile Cargo (estimate R150 000 – 200 000 / $9 007 – 12 010).

The collection also includes a strong group of photographic portraits by Beninese photographer Léonce Raphaël Agbodjélou and French photographer Jean-Claude Moschetti, adding further breadth to a selection that ranges across artistic practices, national contexts and generations.

Detailed catalogue notes for selected works are available online, with historical photographs accompanying some entries. Works from all three sales are on view at Strauss & Co’s gallery at 89 Central Street, Houghton. A walkabout of the preview exhibition will take place on Sunday, 15 November 2026. DM

Upcoming events

Strauss & Co, 89 Central Street, Houghton

Saturday, 14 November 2026 at 11am

An invitation to explore the art of Irma Stern with Emeritus Professor Michael Godby

The return of Irma Stern's 'Still Life with Strelitzias' to public view provides an opportunity to consider not only a very remarkable painting but also the artist's changing view of 'Africa' over a long career. Of particular interest is Stern's occasional use of Still Life - often regarded as a simply decorative genre - to communicate a range of complex and challenging themes.

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Sunday, 15 November | 11am
A curated walkabout offering fresh perspectives on selected works in the collection.

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Read Strauss & Co’s latest Guide to African Art here.