Curatorial Voices: African Landscapes, Past and Present is the second instalment of its annual live-virtual auction showcasing collectable art from the African continent. Scheduled to coincide with the 2024 edition of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (16-18 February 2024), this themed auction will be held on Monday 19 February in Strauss & Co’s newly renovated exhibition room at Brickfield Canvas, Woodstock, Cape Town.
Two compelling works by acclaimed painters J.H. Pierneef and Cinga Samson, both identified by street addresses, will lead a strong consignment of works by Owusu Ankomah, Zander Blom, William Kentridge, Tusevo Landu, Thameur Mejri, Thierry Oussou, Durant Sihlali, Cecil Skotnes and Alfred Thoba, among others.
Consignments for this exciting Africa-focused auction during close on Friday, 8 December 2023.
“Curatorial Voices: African Landscapes, Past and Present will showcase collectable art by pioneering modernist and trailblazing contemporary artists occupied with portraying of the land,” says Jean le Clus-Theron, joint Head of Sale, Strauss & Co.
“Our headline offerings by J.H. Pierneef and Cinga Samson showcase how the landscape theme is dynamically open to interpretation. These works not only explore the continent’s physical representation but also delve into cultural and socio-political themes rooted in African history.”
JH Pierneef’s Church Street, Tulbach
Painted in 1929, when the artist was at the height of his public acclaim, JH Pierneef’s Church Street, Tulbach (estimate R1.5 – 2.5 million) shows a gravel roadway flanked by whitewashed buildings, framed in the distance by the Witzenberg Mountains. Many of the buildings in Pierneef’s tour de force of architectural observation were destroyed in a 1969 earthquake that ravaged the historical colony settlement of Tulbagh. Fortunately, the building on the right, previously named de Wet Huis and now Monbijou still stands.
Cinga Sampson’s Hliso Street V
Dated 2017, Cinga Sampson’s Hliso Street V (estimate R2 – 3 million) depicts a costumed figure centrally posed in a verdant landscape emotionally linked to the artist’s youth. Part of a small series of portraits paying homage to the artist’s deceased mother, this breakthrough painting concretised Sampson’s enigmatic, magical-realist approach to describing place and history. It was first exhibited at the 2017 edition of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair.
Curatorial Voices: African Landscapes, Past and Present is a necessarily ambitious initiative with an objective to unite across continents. Our vision for this annual project is to present a compelling auction around a robust theme that is attractive to collectors, as well as provide an educational platform that is the source of lively debates from an African perspective. The vision is to strengthen our local art ecosystem, emphasizing the extraordinary power and beauty of African art.
