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Strauss & Co's June Spotlight Sale on 23 June 2026 features 82 lots of modern and contemporary art, including works by Maggie Laubser, Gerard Sekoto, Irma Stern, Vladimir Tretchikoff, and William Kentridge. Highlights include Irma Stern's 1936 portrait with psychological intensity (estimate R3-5 million), Gerard Sekoto's textured portrait from 1939-1941 (estimate R500,000-700,000), and Maggie Laubser's expressive landscape painting (estimate R200,000-300,000). The sale is part of Strauss & Co's expanding specialist live auction program.
of modern and contemporary art on Tuesday, 23 June 2026. Comprising 82 lots, the sale forms part of Strauss & Co ’s expanding programme of specialist live auctions and presents a curated selection of paintings, works on paper and sculpture spanning the twentieth century to the present.
“The June Spotlight Sale presents a carefully curated selection of modern and contemporary art across a range of media, genres and price points, from important paintings by Maggie Laubser, Gerard Sekoto and Irma Stern to exceptional still lifes by Vladimir Tretchikoff and a notable group of works on paper by William Kentridge,” says Elmarie van Straten, Head of Sale at Strauss & Co. “The sale is part of Strauss & Co’s broadening programme of specialist live auctions, designed to respond to specific areas of the growing secondary market. The selection celebrates the richness and diversity of South African art from the early twentieth century to the present day.
”, a striking portrait of an unidentified sitter, possibly a paid model, depicted with folded arms and wearing a hijab. Painted in 1936, a pivotal year in Stern’s career, the work combines psychological intensity with a restrained palette that recalls aspects of Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period.
Gerard Sekoto’s, likely painted between 1939 and 1941, dates from a formative period in the artist’s development following his introduction to oil painting by Judith Gluckman. The textured surface treatment lends the portrait a quiet immediacy and emotional depth.
Its subdued tonal range heralds the atmosphere of Sekoto’s career-defining township works before moving to Paris in 1947. estimate R200,000 – 300,000 / $12 085 – 18 128) depicts a wide-eyed young woman set against a Cape landscape. The painting exemplifies Laubser’s assured handling of colour and her distinctive expressionist approach to form and mark-making. Interest in Vladimir Tretchikoff remains strong following Strauss & Co’s world record sale of the artist’s work in 2025.
In May, his still life, an allegorical composition that theatrically assembles symbolic elements including wheat, feathers, fire and water. Maggie Laubser’s Portrait of a Woman with Head Scarf; Landscape with House and Boats in Background . belongs to the highly sought-after first edition of this important composition.
Kentridge is currently presenting a solo museum exhibition at Kunsthalle Praha in Prague . The sale includes, a printer’s proof from an edition created exclusively for Kunsthalle Praha’s inaugural exhibition in 2022. This is the only impression available in South Africa. A further Kentridge highlight is, a charcoal drawing from the collection of influential Johannesburg gallerist Linda Givon , founder of Goodman Gallery.
Four works from Givon’s collection are offered in the sale. William Kentridge’s achievements as a printmaker. Printed by master printer Jack Shirreff in 1993, General . Kentridge won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Arts in 1987; other winners of this prestigious early-career award in the sale include Nandipha Mntambo and Blessing Ngobeni .
The contemporary consignment also includes painters Cathy Abraham, Alexandra Karakashian, Banele Khoza and, unusually, Strijdom van der Merwe, better known as a land artist but here represented by two mixed-media assemblages. Sculpture highlights include works by Deborah Bell, Patrick Bongoy, Guy du Toit, Dylan Lewis, Brett Murray, Anton Smit and Edoardo Villa. Collectors drawn to Brian Bradshaw’s energetic seascape, Strauss & Co’s concurrent online-only auction celebrating the region’s rich artistic traditions and enduring cultural legacy.
Strauss & Co’s live-virtual June Spotlight Sale additionally features modernist paintings by Gregoire Boonzaier, Frieda Lock, Cecil Higgs, Ruth Prowse, J.H. Pierneef and J.E. A. Volschenk, offering collectors a broad survey of South African artistic production across generations. Join us for a walkabout of the upcoming auctions: June interiors: Furniture, silver, ceramics & glass and South African design: Past & Present.
Justin van Breda and Jill van Dugteren will discuss Justin’s interesting career journey and his recent collaboration with Strauss & Co to curate the previews of our upcoming auctions: June Interiors: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Glass, and South African Design: Past & Present. Strauss & Co invites children, from 3 years old and up, to a Sunday morning of art-making with Jo Voysey, art educator and artist.
This fun workshop offers young participants the chance to explore their creativity and imagination in a vibrant artistic environment. A discussion on form and figure with senior art specialists Elmarie van Straten & Leigh Leyde, moderated by Jo Voysey – 11am Join us for a preview of the upcoming auctions: Modern and contemporary art, and Eastern Cape Echoes: Storms River to Port Saint Johns.
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