Marc-Anthony Hewson of LIM curated the Strauss & Co gallery this September featuring a selection of furniture and design objects from their trio of Mid-Century Modern Auctions.
Image: Supplied.
Art has a way of speaking to you even when you think you don’t understand it.
That was one of the first thoughts that came to mind while walking through Strauss & Co’s latest exhibition, where modern and contemporary art came together with a focus on Mid-Century Modern furniture, jewellery, silver and ceramics.
The first thing that stood out was how each “pocket” of the gallery, as the art directors described them, seemed to have its own personality.
One could feel completely different from the next, which speaks how we choose to furnish our own homes and what they reveal about us.
We choose colours, furniture and objects according to our tastes, our memories and, quite often, our personalities. This exhibition had plenty of personality.
Walking through the gallery felt like being transported into another time. The Mid-Century Modern pieces brought with them the kind of glamour associated with old Hollywood interiors, polished wood and the era of Elvis Presley’s lavish lounges.
The furniture was a highlight.
Standout pieces included Connection’s high backed Dixi swivel chairs, Studio 65’s red lipped Bocca sofa for Gufram, and a selection of sculptural mid century design objects that brought a playful, theatrical energy to the gallery.
There was something wonderfully nostalgic about seeing these pieces together. They remind you how interiors once had more personality, when colour, pattern and unusual shapes could take over a room.
Works by South African artists including Irma Stern, Maggie Laubser and Adriaan Boshoff feature among the modern and contemporary artworks presented at Strauss & Co’s Mid-Century Modern exhibition.
Image: Supplied
It felt worlds away from the monochromatic interiors that have become so familiar today.
The glass pieces, jewellery, silver and ceramics carried that same sense of individuality, while the modern and contemporary artworks introduced another conversation between periods, materials and styles.
And while wandering through the gallery, and being confronted with a room full of art, I soon found myself doing something other than figuring out what each piece was trying to tell me.
The lips-shaped couch adds a playful touch to Strauss & Co’s Mid-Century Modern selection, reflecting the era’s bold approach to colour, shape and design.
Image: Photographer/Bernelee Vollmer
I was reading.
The descriptions beside the works became almost as interesting as the works themselves. Oil on canvas board. Gouache on paper. Charcoal on paper. Acrylic on canvas. Carved, incised and painted wood panel. Chromogenic print on a Dibond mount.
Paying attention to how the material could change the way a work looked and felt, and noticing how charcoal can create those soft, smoky marks, while oil can be layered to give colour and texture greater depth. Carved and painted wood, meanwhile, become part of the work.
A photographic work by South African artist Musa N. Nxumalo, whose practice explores youth culture, identity and self-expression through a blend of documentary and fine-art photography.
Image: Photographer: Bernelee Vollmer
One of the exhibition’s “pockets” showcasing a mix of modern and contemporary art alongside Mid-Century Modern furniture and decorative pieces at Strauss & Co.
Image: Photographer: Bernelee Vollmer
It brought me back to one of my own rules: you eat with your eyes first. I have always believed that the visual experience matters, whether it is a plate of food, a beautifully put-together room or a piece of art. Before you understand what something means, your eyes have already formed an impression.
The closer I looked, the more I realised there was another story sitting behind that first impression.
Part of the conversation around the exhibition was about the journey an artwork takes once it leaves the artist. Strauss & Co operates largely within the secondary market, where works that have already been bought by collectors can be sold again.
The primary market is where collectors buy directly from artists or galleries, while the secondary market provides another stage in a work’s life.
That market can also offer a clearer record of what is happening around an artist. Previous sales and auction records, along with the traction an artist has gained in the primary market, help provide a more transparent picture of demand.
The value of a work is not simply about whether someone likes it. Its condition, history and provenance can matter, as can the importance of the artist or designer, the rarity of a piece and, in the case of editions, the number produced.
Madonna and Child and by Cecil Skotnes.
Image: Photographer: Bernelee Vollmer
South African artists and designers feature alongside international names, reflecting the country’s own evolving modern design and art traditions
Image: Photgrapher: Bernelee Vollmer
These details can contribute to making a work more valuable to the next collector who encounters it.
Yet standing in the gallery, I found myself thinking less about what a work could sell for and more about why someone had wanted to own it in the first place.
That is where the stories of private collectors become interesting. The works moving through the secondary market can carry histories of their own – the people who bought them, the homes they occupied and the reasons they were chosen in the first place.
Strauss & Co works with collectors locally and internationally, with the South African market remaining an important part of that conversation.
The programme also places a strong focus on women artists in South African modern and contemporary art, with works by Maggie Laubser, Irma Stern, Penny Siopis, Kate Gottgens, Georgina Gratrix, Gladys Mgudlandlu, Esther Mahlangu, Cecily Sash and Maude Sumner.
senior art specialist and head of the Cape Town Art Department at Strauss & Co, Elmarie van Straten, said: “We are privileged to be presenting striking works from the 1930s by both Maggie Laubser and Irma Stern in the Evening Sale.
“This was a transformative period for both artists, when the shock and derision they encountered in the 1920s gave way to broadening appreciation and institutional support.”
That history made me think again about looking closely. A work can reveal more through its details, material, provenance or the story attached to it.
A painting can pull you in because of its colour before you know its history. A chair can make you imagine the home it once occupied. A piece of jewellery can remind you of an era you never experienced. A ceramic or glass object can make you wonder why someone decided it was worth keeping.
It was not only a collection of things to admire. It was a reminder that taste has a history, objects have lives and art can keep revealing itself long after the first glance.
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