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Images courtesy of Strauss & Co
THE ROLE OF THE AUCTION HOUSE
A conversation with a Managing Executive and Senior Auctioneer of Strauss & Co, Bina GenoveseStrauss & Co is the leading auction house on the African continent. Founded in 2009, it has played a pivotal role in shaping and reflecting the art market, with a strong focus on South African art. Through its auctions, exhibitions, and expertise, Strauss & Co provides valuable insight into market trends while championing both historic and contemporary art from the continent. As one of the founding members, Bina Genovese offers her invaluable perspective on the auction house’s impact within South Africa’s art ecosystem.
How did your personal path into art begin?
We grew up surrounded by art and antiques, many bought at auction over the years. My mother is very creative and always wanted to expose us to museums and encourage cultural engagement.
After I completed my BA HONS at Wits University, which included two years of Art History, I was not sure where to head next until a friend of my mother’s, an avid art collector, gave me a selection of brochures from Christie’s Education, and in parituclar about the one-year masters course, Art and Decorative Arts, From The Renaissance To The Present Day. The rest of course is history!
I have since worked for Christie’s in Rome for ten years, Stephan Welz in association with Sotheby’s, and I am one of the founders of Strauss & Co, working closely with Frank Kilbourn, our chairperson and my counterpart based in Johannesburg, Susie Goodman. We have been going for fifteen years.
Can you outline Strauss & Co’s role within South Africa’s art ecosystem?
As an auction house, Strauss & Co represents the secondary market, dealing primarily with collectors.
The secondary market offers a transparent way for people to buy and sell art, much like the stock market, where buyers and sellers engage at different levels. We also serve as a fair endorsement of the primary market and a visual archive of the art ecosystem, particularly in Africa. Every artwork we handle is documented - catalogued, photographed, researched, written about, and contextualised. All prices are publicly available on our website, and we curate exhibitions that bring works together, playing a crucial role in building an educational archive.
Beyond sales, we are deeply committed to education, presenting non-selling exhibitions that explore specific themes. These exhibitions have contributed to important debates and historical narratives, such as Maggie Laubser alongside Gladys Mgudlandlu and A Reinvented Vocabulary in response to the Earthshot Prize.
“Unlike the primary market, which focuses on newness and innovation, the auction market has a broader scope. We sell artworks that span decades, even centuries - pieces passed down through generations or exchanged many times.”
This places a significant responsibility on us to contextualise and educate buyers, ensuring we act as custodians of art history.
How do you see the relationship between the primary market (galleries) and the seconday market (auctions)?
It’s a symbiotic relationship - we need each other - a healthy primary market needs a healthy secondary market and vice versa.
Each of us plays a significant part in the ecosystem and as both markets develop locally we are able to form good working relationships that keep us in dialogue with each other.
Although it is not our principal role, the auction market can endorse the value and pricing of the primary market. This is especially true in instances of scarcity and demand.
How does Strauss & Co shape the perception and market demand for modern and contemporary art from Africa?
By ensuring complete transparency in our results, we provide a clear understanding of the market - showing exactly how artworks trade, their values, and sale prices. Most importantly, this transparency in the secondary market allows demand to be accurately assessed. Our role extends beyond sales; we curate and contextualise them, shaping perceptions of modern and contemporary African art. The way we select, present, and discuss important works has a significant impact on both the market and artists’ careers.
We are deeply committed to highlighting modernists, including those overlooked by history, and our sales and exhibitions reflect this dedication. Since our inception, our artist database has grown exponentially and continues to expand.
A key part of our strategy is leading not only in developing markets but in creating new ones. Take ceramics - we invested in building knowledge and a collector base years ago. We’ve done the same for fibre art through our Woven Legacy sales and for photography with Ways of Seeing, our first dedicated photography sale last year, launched despite a challenging market. Pioneering these categories is central to our vision.
“Although based in South Africa, our goal is be a borderless auction house that connects buyers and sellers on multiple continents who share an interest in modern and contemporary art from the continent.”
What trends have you observed in South African art sales over the past five years?
A key trend we’ve identified is a renewed focus on modernists - broadly, 20th-century artists - preceding the contemporary names that have recently dominated headlines.
Another major shift is the expansion of our market. No longer inward-looking, there is growing global interest in modern and contemporary art from Africa from private collectors, museums, institutions, art fairs, and leading primary galleries. This is reflected in major institutional exhibitions, such as the Irma Stern show opening in June at Die Brücke Museum in Berlin, William Kentridge’s recent exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, and the upcoming Gerard Sekoto exhibition in Paris.
“A particularly exciting trend is the strong market performance of female artists. South Africa has a long tradition of pioneering women in art, dating back to the early 20th century. This legacy continues, with artists such as Mary Sibande, Mia Chaplin, and Georgina Gratrix achieving remarkable success internationally.”
Irma Stern, Praying Arab, 1945
Can you shed some light on what factors determine an artwork’s value at auction?
It’s always a difficult question - an artist’s price point is shaped by many factors. Academic and institutional endorsement, publications, inclusion in key exhibitions, and the period in which a work was created all play a role.
But we must be realistic - marketing also matters. Some artists rise quickly, while others fade into obscurity. Luck, too, is always a factor.
What challenges do emerging artists face in both Cape Town and more widely in South Africa?
The greatest challenge young and emerging artists face is gaining exposure and securing gallery representation. They need a gallery that believes in their work, actively promotes it, facilitates exhibitions, and places their pieces in significant collections and shows.
“There is also far less insitutional support, be it from the state or non-profits, as is the case in larger markets in Europe and North America. Artists have to develop an entrepeneurial spirit, as well as grit, early on if they hope to flourish.”
How can artists position themselves for long-term success in the secondary market?
Artists need to be realistic about pricing and stay informed about the secondary market. When their work appears at auction, it’s in their best interest that it sells. Whether through their gallery or personal efforts, exposure is crucial, as the process is highly transparent. Galleries, too, should take an active interest in their artists’ presence on the secondary market.
However, artists should not seek validation from auction results. High prices can be a godsend, but cannot be engineered. Long-term success comes from creativity and innovation in the studio, not market fluctuations.
Artists should endeavour to embrace and understand the importance of the secondary market in sustaining their reputation and value later on.
William Kentridge, Peonies with Book, 2012
What role do collectors and institutions play in supporting artists beyond the primary market?
Institutions play a huge role in endorsing artists by including them in shows, as part of their curatorial programmes, exhibitions, residencies, a solo show is a huge coup for an artist.
Collectors are an important source of validation, especially when they collect with enthusiasm, integrity and ambition.
What are some ways to strengthen and sustain the art ecosystem for future generations?
Records, provenance, archives, and publications are vital, as Southern African art often lacks sufficient literature. We must encourage historians to document artists’ careers and develop catalogue raisonnés.
Strauss & Co actively supports this effort through publications such as The Sculptures of Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae: A Catalogue Raisonné by Gavin Watkins and Charles Skinner, as well as exhibitions that deepen appreciation and understanding.
For collectors, we promote travel, engagement, and conversation. While collecting is personal, it is also inherently social - collectors are pollinators, and art is the glue that connects them!
What would you like to see more of in Cape Town’s art scene?
I’d love to see more international visitors, curators, and collectors coming to Cape Town - engaging with local artists, acquiring works for major museums, and recognising the city’s growing significance on the global art stage. To see more leading international artists and galleries staging exhibitions here, further enriching our creative landscape, would be fantastic.
I hope to see more private institutions emerge to showcase the incredible works currently hidden in private collections, making them accessible to the public and students. Increased funding for public museums would also allow for more ambitious exhibitions.
Public art, especially sculpture, should play a greater role in the city’s landscape. While a few pieces are scattered along the Sea Point promenade, there’s room for more bold and engaging installations that inspire dialogue.
Cape Town’s galleries already represent internationally celebrated artists such as Zanele Muholi and Igshaan Adams. I have no doubt more local artists will rise to this level, encouraging young and emerging talent to push forward.
With Koyo Kouoh’s appointment as curator of the 62nd Venice Biennale, Cape Town’s status as an important art capital of the world will no doubt be further exemplified.
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