Strauss & co - Review 2019

Established in 2018, Strauss & Co’s boutique contemporary art sale was South Africa’s first sale principally dedicated to art in traditional and new media made after 1990. The aim of this sale is to broaden the range of artists and artistic media offered on the secondary market, as well as attract a new class of art collector with progressive tastes. Functionally, it is a disruptor. The second instalment of this fledgling sale, held at the V&A Waterfront, admirably achieved this when Athi-Patra Ruga’s vibrant colour photograph, The Knight of the Long Knives I , which depicts a balloon-clad figure astride a zebra, sold for R1.71 million. The remarkable sale price not only set a new world record for the East London-raised artist, but was also the first time a photograph was sold for more than R1 million at auction in South Africa. The 107-lot contemporary art sale grossed R12 million in sales. The packed saleroom, which coincided with the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, established 23 world records and six national records. “We were delighted to see so many new bidders and first-time buyers at the sale,” said Frank Kilbourn after the sale. “I think the broad and representative selection of art on offer by artists from South Africa, the continent, and beyond, all of them working in innovative ways, enticed exciting new collectors into the secondary market for contemporary art.” Contemporary Art: Globalist collectors are redefining collecting trends Robert Hodgins Landscape with Figures Sold R1 024 200 29