African artists showcased at auction

The 2024 Venice Biennale, which opened last week, is a watershed event for modernist artists from Africa, and especially South Africa.

Presented under the theme “Foreigners Everywhere”, the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale features work by more than 50 modern and contemporary African artists in chief curator Adriano Pedrosa’s main exhibition – among them eight modernist South African artists who are also appearing in the catalogue for a Strauss & Co live auction.

“Adriano Pedrosa’s exhibition is a momentous occasion for modern African artists and an inflection point for change,” said Frank Kilbourn, Strauss & Co chair.

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Modern African artists

Speaking at the fourth edition of the African Art in Venice Forum, Kilbourn pointed to the historical lack of visibility of modernist artists from Africa in major museums and exhibitions outside Africa.

“Why are certain artists better known than others? Why are there so few African artists represented in major museums and exhibitions internationally? What does it take to make it on the world scene? These are vexing questions,” said Kilbourn.

“Contemporary African art has found a place globally: it has the energy, momentum, quality and strong socio-political support. The same does not apply to modern African art made in the 20th century.”

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The 2024 edition of the Venice Biennale hopes to correct this historical oversight. In a statement introducing his exhibition’s strong focus on historical work from 1905 to 1990, Brazilian curator Pedrosa said: “The modernisms in the global south remain largely unknown.

“Knowledge about these is limited to the specialists in each individual country or region, at best, yet connecting and exhibiting these works together will be revealing.

“It is in this sense these histories assume a truly contemporary relevance – we urgently need to learn more about and from them.”

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Pedrosa’s ambitious exhibition, which includes both modern and contemporary art, marks an important step in the recovery and exposure of South African modernists internationally.

The historical section includes works by Dumile Feni, Maggie Laubser, Simon Lekgetho, Esther Mahlangu, Ernest Mancoba, George Pemba, Gerard Sekoto, Lucas Sithole, Irma Stern and Edoardo Villa.

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Strauss & Co’s auction includes works by Feni, Laubser, Mahlangu, Pemba, Sekoto, Sithole, Stern and Villa.

Stern has two high-value works on auction. Painted in 1930, a key period in Stern’s transformative use of colour, Cape Girl With Fruit (estimate R10-R12 million) depicts a seated woman in a bucolic Cape woodland setting.

Stern’s luscious late-career flower study, Still Life With Amaryllis (R5-R7 million), is dated 1956.

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It derives from a key decade in Stern’s international career, when she represented South Africa at four editions of the Venice Biennale (1950, ’52, ’54 and ’58).

The sale also includes pioneer black modernists like Ernest Mancoba, George Pemba (represented by Family, 1990, estimate R300 000 to R500 000) and Sekoto (whose five works in the auction, include Mother And Child, 1971, estimate R400 000 to R600 000), who never exhibited at the Venice Biennale during their lifetime.