Strauss & co - Review 2020

Strauss & Co has long emphasised community in its marketing and corporate social responsibility initiatives. In a year of genuine community need, the company donated R761 820 to 17 organisations. Recipients included the Solidarity Fund, Vulnerable Artist Fund, Artist Proof Studio and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. The company also hosted six charity auctions, among them a sale featuring work by 17 painters from eight African countries shortlisted for the 2020 Emerging Painting Invitational Prize, an award organised by the Emerging African Art Galleries Association and sponsored by Strauss & Co. Strauss & Co contributed financially to the first instalment of the StellenboschTriennale, an ambitious new pan-African exhibition launched in February 2020. The exhibition coincided with the Toyota SU Woordfees in which Strauss & Co also participated. The company hosted an exhibition of works from its May sale at Morkel House, a historic home in Ryneveld Street. Frank Kilbourn also conducted a public talk with Woordfees festival artist Gerhard Marx. The pandemic curtailed many of Strauss & Co’s usual hospitality and educational initiatives. Strauss & Co did however participate in the RMB Turbine Art Fair, presenting a virtual exhibition exploring the uncanny relationship between painters Gladys Mgudlandlu and Maggie Laubser. Organised by senior art specialist, curator and educator, Wilhelm van Rensburg and originally conceived as a physical project, Visionary Artists, Parallel Lives was supported by a printed catalogue. Social responsibility and connecting differently Van Rensburg – along with his art department colleagues Arisha Maharaj, Ian Hunter, Alastair Meredith, Ann Palmer, Kirsty Colledge, Jean Le Clus-Theron and Richard Ndimande, Marion Dixon, Gera De Villiers and Matthew Partridge – was a regular speaker in Strauss & Co’s popular Zoom Talkabouts. Initially focussed on promoting works and themes from the marquee sales held in May, July and November, the format was expanded to include a weekly series of interviews with curators and directors from South Africa’s many art museums. Museum Moments, as the series is known, helped draw attention to the valuable work of these state-run and private institutions. Digital broadcast is a powerful tool for connecting audiences. In October Strauss & Co, along with Joburg Ballet, presented Stillness inMotion – Art Meets Dance . Inspired by artworks offered on the NORTH/SOUTH Auction, dancers from Joburg Ballet presented their interpretations of the works of Gerard Sekoto and Mongezi Ncaphayi. The performance is archived in Strauss & Co’s YouTube channel, which provides a growing resource of interviews with Strauss & Co specialists and guest talks. Strauss & Co reaffirmed its commitment to the Cassirer Welz Award, an annual award presented to an artist under the age of 35 working in painting, drawing or sculpture. Named after South African auctioneers Reinhold Cassirer and Stephan Welz and coordinated by the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, the 2020 Cassirer Welz Award went to Johannesburg artist Levy Pooe. Strauss & Co’s Susie Goodman and Wilhelm van Rensburg represented the company on the jury. 51