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Three new retro sculptures have joined the “Coco” and “Toy Story” sculptures in Downtown Disney District. The
The South African auction house Strauss & Co staged a pop-up selling exhibition in London last month dedicated to the work of the mid-20th-century South African artist Alexis Preller (1911-75). Held at Cromwell Place, Alexis Preller: Surreal Discovery (5-10 March) coincided with the artist’s retrospective at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town (until 25 November), Christie’s Art of the Surreal sale in London (7 March) and the centennial year marking the founding of Surrealism. The show also presages more to come from the auction house in the UK capital.
Despite the artist’s formative connection to London, his works had never been on show there until the opening of Strauss & Co’s exhibition. Born and raised in Pretoria, Preller worked as a clerk before convincing his family to allow him to train as an artist. He moved to London to study at the Westminster School of Art in 1934. After returning to Pretoria, Preller held his first exhibition in 1935, and two years later he continued his formal art education at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Preller also travelled widely in Europe and Africa, immersing himself in the art and culture of Egypt, ancient Greece, the Etruscans, the early Renaissance period and especially southern and central Africa—all influences visible in his work.
While Strauss & Co’s press statement describes Preller as a “missing Modernist”, the house also sees him fitting a more specific art-historical mould. “Surrealism has been expanded to include more and more art and artists from a global context,” says Alastair Meredith, the auction house’s head of art department and senior specialist, referring in particular to the acclaimed exhibition Surrealism Beyond Borders, which opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2021 before travelling to London’s Tate Modern in 2022. “We think Preller is definitely an artist that falls under the Surrealist banner. He didn’t identify himself as a Surrealist, but if you look at some of his works—with floating heads, strange spikes and eerie shadows—they definitely have Surrealist overtones,” Meredith adds.
The Strauss & Co show included 20 works, 11 of which were for sale at prices ranging from £38,000 to £165,000. The remaining pieces were on loan from private collections in London. One important painting, Fetish Enthralled (1945), was being publicly displayed for the first time in almost 80 years; it was bought by a diplomat from an exhibition in Pretoria in 1946 and has remained in the same family collection ever since. By the second day of the London pop-up, private collections in Turin and Pretoria had acquired two works, including The Lobster (1957).
Although Strauss & Co’s website describes the Cromwell Place show as its “first official London private sale and loan exhibition”, the auction house has held other types of events in the city of late. Last year it opened a small show of sculptures by Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae at The Africa Centre; in 2022 it participated in lectures and events surrounding William Kentridge’s solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. “We intend to try and have at least one or two selling exhibitions here in London every year, but I don’t think we have any plans for any auctions in London yet,” Meredith says.
However, he adds, the Preller show “is the start of something bigger” for Strauss & Co in the capital, where he notes the firm has many clients. Kate Fellens, the auction house’s senior business development specialist, recently relocated to London and “pledges to continue [Strauss & Co’s] work in better showcasing artists often neglected outside Africa”, according to the company’s website.
The timing is right, as the market for African art appears resilient. Meredith says Strauss & Co saw a 2% increase in annual turnover, to R363.7m ($19.7m), in 2023. In February, the art market research firm ArtTactic published findings on Modern and contemporary African art showing the category had registered its second-highest sales total ever in 2023 (behind only 2022). “Despite global economic and geopolitical challenges, the African art market only fell by 8.4% in 2023, compared to the general art market which saw a decrease of around 18%,” the report states.
“There has been some broader economic pressure placed on the art market, and we can definitely see the impact of that in South Africa,” says Meredith, adding that the country’s forthcoming general election in May has increased the hesitancy and uncertainty in the local art market. “But whenever we have handled top-quality, museum-grade work, the buyers continue to be there, both private collectors as well as institutions.”
Artlogic, the integrated business platform geared specifically to the art industry, recently released a new webinar that took a granular look at the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2024 to examine pertinent insights for galleries and dealers. Partnering with author and economist Dr. Clare McAndrew, with additional input from market experts Josh Baer and Maureen Bray, “Navigating Art Market Trends in 2024 for Dealers” pinpointed patterns and translated raw data that together illustrate a pathway for success.
What became apparent from the conversation was both the necessity of an omnichannel approach—one in which all channels are integrated to serve the consumer—and the observation that much of the art market already functions that way. The diverse facets of the art market, from art fairs and exhibitions to social media and digital marketing, coalesce to make an omnichannel experience for all parties involved. What McAndrew, Baer, and Bray noted is the power that taking a focused and purposeful rather than passive approach to omnichannel market engagement offers the potential for greater success and growth.
Courtesy of Artlogic.
Despite the pivot to online platforms as a result of the pandemic, in-person experiences are still a crucial element for business, with fairs and gallery walk-ins remaining some of the top choices for new buyers. Further, artworks at higher price points still see most sales offline, with “over 95 percent of transactions in online-only auctions were for prices of less than $50,000,” according to the UBS Art Basel Report. Paralleling this is the increase of online sales, which, according to the report “are up by seven percent, accounting for a total of $11.8 billion (18 percent of the market)—bringing the digital component of the art market in line with other industries, underlining how this segment of the art business is maturing.”
Together, the importance of a robust omnichannel approach is evident, allowing galleries and dealers to meet collectors where they are and curate a seamless buyer journey. Leveraging both digital and in-person methods cohesively, however, can be tricky. Here, integrated platforms like Artlogic can be seen as invaluable, where users can oversee and strategize essentially all facets of art sales and marketing—and create numerous interfaces through which collectors can engage with and purchase artworks.
With tools such as Artlogic Private View links, through which tailored selections of artworks can be shared with clients, email and digital marketing campaign builders, and the Artlogic app, together cover the bases of an omnichannel approach. And features such as Artlogic Pay, which allows sales to be streamlined efficiently and heightens client trust.
Parsing through the market data, what’s clear is the future of art sales is omnichannel, and overcoming barriers in both infrastructure and online through platforms like Artlogic is an opportunity for greater success.
Watch “Navigating Art Market Trends in 2024 for Dealers” webinar by Artlogic here.
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