Strauss & co - Review 2022

Globalising the Strauss & Co brand Strauss & Co is the dominant force in the secondary market for art on the African continent. Much of this success is based on its efficient trade in modern and contemporary art from Southern Africa. Strauss & Co accounted for 57% of the Southern African auction market from 2016 to 2021, according to London-based analytics firm ArtTactic, with Sotheby’s holding a market share of 21%, followed by Phillips with a 12% share and Bonhams with a 6% share of auction sales. In the last few years, however, trade in modern and contemporary African art has surged. Auction sales of young contemporary African artists such as Amoako Boafo (Ghana) and Cinga Samson (South Africa) grew by 121% in 2021 to a new all-time high for this segment of the market, according to ArtTactic. Auction houses in New York, London, Paris and Hong Hong handled the bulk of the secondary-market trade in these young African artists between 2016 and 2021. While Strauss & Co has a diversified client list based in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, there is still great opportunity for growth into these markets. Globalising Strauss & Co’s brand is a strategic objective of the company. To this end, Strauss & Co concluded sponsorship deals and entered into collaborative partnerships. Strauss & Co was the lead sponsor of the African Art in Venice Forum, a satellite event at the 2022 Venice Biennale. Speakers at the 2022 edition included renowned artists, museum curators and dealers from Africa, notably 2022 South African Pavilion artists Roger Ballen and Lebohang Kganye. Strauss & Co hosted a livestreamed viewing of the two-day forum in Johannesburg as well as a series of educational webinars. Global interest in the work of Johannesburg artist William Kentridge provided numerous marketing opportunities in 2022. In October, to coincide with a large-scale survey of Kentridge’s work at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Strauss & Co hosted a client reception in St James, London. Dr Alastair Meredith, who heads up the art department at Strauss & Co in Johannesburg, presented a fascinating overview of Kentridge’s career and performance at market. Ahead of its November live auction in Johannesburg, Wilhelm van Rensburg, a senior art specialist and head curator at Strauss & Co, facilitated an exclusive discussion with high-profile museum curators involved in Kentridge exhibitions in Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles and Milwaukee. His interlocutors included the RA’s chief curator Adrian Locke and curator Ed Schad from The Broad in Los Angeles. This promotional activity is an important adjunct to Strauss & Co’s sales activities. ArtTactic reported that Strauss & Co was the leading reseller of works by Kentridge in the period 2016 and 2022, handling 31% of the total volume in Kentridge sales globally. A 2022 Art Market Confidence Survey conducted by ArtTactic ranked Kentridge 11th in its short-term confidence reading of global contemporary artists at auction, placing him just behind blue-chip artists Sigmar Polke and Georg Baselitz. Experts surveyed believe Kentridge’s market will be of high importance in the long-term too. This confidence registered strongly in Strauss & Co auctions. InMay, all but one of the 13 Kentridge lots sold. TheHighveld Style Masked Ball , a 1988 drawing of a dancing couple commissioned for a charity event, sold after 13 bids for R3 641 600 ($212 915). A 1985 drawing titled Toying with an Intrinsicate [sic] Knot , sold for R1 707 000 ($100 686) and the 1993 etching Head (Orange) sold for R1 308 700 ($77 192). In September, a sought-after proof print of Kentridge’s iconic Dutch Iris sold for R2 048 400 ($120 823). And in November, another floral work, the 2012 ink drawing Peonies with Boo k, sold for R4 324 400 ($252 836). 53