Strauss & co - 2017 Review

Education and outreach key to cultivating new collectors Collecting is a privilege; it is also a passion that can be shared. In July, Strauss & Co participated in the Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, where it collaborated with businessman and collector Anton Taljaard in showcasing his Pierneef collection. The exhibition was curated by Strauss & Co’s Wilhelm van Rensburg, a noted authority on Pierneef, and included linocuts acquired by Taljaard when he was still a student. Printmaker Penny Skotnes pulled prints from original Pierneef blocks for demonstration purposes. The showcase proved hugely popular with fairgoers, and suggests ways for Strauss & Co to showcase past artists on contemporary platforms. In August, Strauss & Co once again collaborated with the Friends of Welgemeend at Jan van Riebeeck Hoërskool, Cape Town. The month-long art programme at the historical Cape manor house of Welgemeend included an exhibition titled “Abstraction: South African art from the 1950s to the 70s”. The exhibition featured work from two important private collections, the Frank and Lizelle Kilbourn Collection and Pieter Colyn Collection. The success of the exhibition saw its run extended into September, enabling visitors to the newly launched Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa to gain an insight into earlier South African art. Strauss & Co is a corporate patron of Zeitz MOCAA. “As global market leader in the secondary market for South African art, we have a responsibility to support the development and visibility of our artists,” said Frank Kilbourn, Strauss & Co’s executive chairman, in May. He was referring to the company’s decision to become a co-sponsor of the South African Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, but his statement has wider application. Strauss & Co’s sponsorship was enabled by its membership of the Friends of the South African Pavilion, a network of supporting patrons. Founded in 1895, the Venice Biennale is the world’s most prestigious contemporary art event and an important platform to leverage national aspiration on a global stage. Established in 2011, the South African Pavilion this year showcased video work by Candice Breitz and Mohau Modisakeng. Their presentations were warmly received by international media. Strauss & Co co-hosted the South African Pavilion party on 10 May 2017 at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta. “Strauss & Co is constantly examining ways to deepen its involvement in South African art and to extend the scope of its auctions to include more pan-African works of art,” elaborated Kilbourn. “Being a co-sponsor of the South African Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale affirms Strauss & Co’s firm commitment to this plan, as well as our dedication to our country and its artists.” He added: “Our involvement with the South African Pavilion forms part of a year-round programme of events to promote the remarkable talents of our artists, past and present.” A clear founding vision guides us forward In 2009, Strauss & Co launched with a 165-lot sale in Johannesburg that generated R38 million in sales. The star lot was Irma Stern’s still life, Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot (1949), which sold for R7 241 000, double the pre-sale high estimates. Stern also posted the second highest result, establishing a trend that has seen her outperform (by a country mile) all other artists at auction locally. Two more sales in 2009 pushed the company’s turnover over R100 million and established Strauss & Co as South Africa’s leading art auction house. Pre-eminence is earned rather than bought. Every year since 2009, Strauss & Co has worked hard to maintain its market position, not out of vanity but a real belief in the spirit in which the company was founded. That spirit was crystallised in an end- of-year statement published in 2009: “The company’s vision of encouraging connoisseurship and passion at the top end of the local art market, with emphasis very strongly on quality, service and excellence is proving to be a winning formula.” But for increasing values of art and the welcome broadening tastes among collectors, little has substantively changed at Strauss & Co in the decade since it was launched in 2009. Quality, service and excellence remain the central pillars of the company’s business model. 58