ONLINE DISCUSSION SERIES #1: AN INTRODUCTION TO TIPS ON COLLECTING ART

Featuring Kirsty Colledge, Senior Art Specialist and Head of Department at Strauss & Co. in conversation with Olivia Barrell and Mia Louw from the CUR8.ART team.

Mia Louw: We decided to dedicate our first CUR8.ART discussion series to aspiring collectors and offer some tips and insights into collecting. We are very pleased to have Kirsty Colledge, Senior Art Specialist and Head of Department at Strauss & Co. here with us today so thank you for joining us. Today we are going to be discussing recent shifts in collecting art, the growth of online sales and we will be getting some of Kirsty’s insights into the upcoming Strauss & Co. auction taking place this weekend.

Olivia Barrell: I think what has become quite apparent in the past few years in the art world is a definite shift in collecting, that is to say, the way collector’s are buying art. There has been a huge movement towards buying and bidding online for one. Kirsty, how long have you been a specialist at Strauss & Co, and how have you seen a shift towards online bidding during your time at Strauss?

Kirsty Colledge: Thank you very much for having me. I have been with Strauss & Co since the beginning of 2011, so just over nine years. We introduced online-only auctions in South Africa at Strauss & Co in 2013 to cater to our emerging and seasoned collectors looking to buy and sell some more affordable works of art, decorative arts, jewellery and furniture too. We have recently introduced a new category to online and live sales, which is Fine Wine which has just enjoyed great success on our last online auction with a 95% sell-through rate.

Olivia Barrell: Is there is a difference between the Strauss live and online sales usually?

Kirsty Colledge: Essentially, the difference is that for the live sale we produce a printed catalogue and the works are exhibited for public viewing the days prior to the auction. There are also usually a number of fabulous events leading up the live auction including an opening cocktail party, and some fascinating talks and walkabouts lead by our specialist. Due to the overheads involved in a production like this and the limited capacity the value per lot is usually quite a bit higher than on the online auctions. 

With our online sales the works are viewable and open for bidding on our website for a set period of time, either one or two weeks, usually closing on a Monday night at 8 pm. Bidders can view the works online, we provide professional high res images of multiple views of the lots including and excluding the frame, back of the work, a signature detail and any other relevant detail. One can also hover your mouse over the work to zoom in and have a closer look. We also provide a condition report on all the lots. 

Olivia Barrell: The last Strauss online sale was very successful, perhaps we can talk about some of the results?

Kirsty Colledge: Yes our last auction or ‘Lockdown auction’ which took place from the 6-14 April and was our most successful online auction yet. Robust bidding for the 695 lots in Strauss & Co’s second online auction for 2020 saw a total R6.2 million from 515 lots sold. Over 74 % lot sell-through rate and the most number of lots sold in a single auction at Strauss & Co ever.

Growing confidence among collectors saw 565 buyers register to bid. Of the 215 buyers, the majority were new (58%) and most were aged between 40 and 59 years.

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Olivia Barrell: Has Strauss seen the increase of a younger aspiring collector audience – which seems to be a global trend – and is it perhaps linked to the increase in online sales? 

Kirsty Colledge: Yes we are certainly seeing a move in this direction. From our first online auction in November 2013 to our last one this April we have seen an 800% increase in the number of buyers aged 20-29. Although the number of buyers aged 20-29 is only 1/7 of the number of buyers aged 50-59 the largest category it is certainly increasing at a rapid rate. By comparison the number of buyers aged 50-59 has had an 68% increase in the number of bidders over the last 7 years. We are encouraged however to see on older population embracing technology and our online platform (we had 36 bidders between the ages of 70-90 years participating on our last auction) but certainly hope to see this growth continue and have more younger collectors bidding at auction.

Olivia Barrell: I think the art world can sometimes appear to be an intimidating place for younger collectors who are new on the scene, what advice would you give new aspiring collectors?

Kirsty Colledge: My advice is to embrace the art world, a wonderful and exciting place. Sign up to the mailing lists of all the galleries and auction houses to receive notification of upcoming exhibitions and events. Attend exhibition openings which are usually really fun and festive, meet the artists, gallerists, art specialists and fellow art enthusiasts. Attend lectures and talks, and walkabouts with the artist’s, there are usually free and open to everyone to enjoy. Read about the artists and their work and listen to talks, podcasts etc online. And then also try and get a better sense of the market and values. For instance, you can request to see the pricelists at galleries and to see what works are selling for in the primary market and then look at the estimates and results of works selling in the secondary market at auction. Our website for instance is a wealth of information with a decade of auction results searchable by artist or auction freely available to view. This is an incredible resource and can be very empowering when looking to buy work for your own collection.

Mia Louw: Strauss & Co hosts three annual live sales in Cape Town including a Contemporary Art focused auction in February and two in Johannesburg. The second of your flagship auctions in Cape Town is actually taking place this weekend, with social distancing, how will the bidding take place?

Kirsty Colledge: Yes we will start with our wine session which starts on Sunday at 11 am and four more sessions on Monday. This will be conducted as a live virtual online auction.  For this auction, we have partnered with Invaluable the world’s leading online auction platform which hosts hundreds of auctions worldwide. Bidders will be able to follow the auctioneers via live video streaming and place bids in real-time. Bidders will also have to option to place an absentee bid on Invaluable or directly with Strauss & Co.

Olivia Barrell: Can you tell us a little bit about the highlights of the sale and some of your personal favourites from the sale, perhaps also suggesting more affordable works for aspiring collectors?

Kirsty Colledge: Some of the key highlights include: Two superb works by Irma Stern. Our cover lot Zanzibar Arab painted in 1939 on her first visit to Zanzibar depicts a bearded Islamic man representative of the former island state’s Bohra Muslims. First exhibited in Cape Town in 1940, this portrait from the artist’s coveted Zanzibar period, was previously owned by architect and collector Ivan M. Katzen. The second painted in 1947, Still Life with Lillies,  depicts a vibrant arrangement of orange tiger lilies and is a brilliant elaboration of Stern’s expressive style of painting. 

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Other highlights include exceptional works by Walter Battiss spanning his long and fruitful career, trophy works by JH Pierneef such as Bushveld Game Reserve and Preller’s large and impression oil and gesso work Space Angel. And an absolute jewel by Preller featured on the back cover of the catalogue entitled The Kraal, a mythical study of a traditional Ndebele settlement painted in 1951, a similar example of which is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery.
Some personal favourites and more affordable and contemporary works are Georgina Gratrix’s portrait Crazy for You and Guard dog, Jake Aikman’s The Island (Closer), and Lake Shoreline. Kate Gottgens Baggy Creeps, Sanell Aggenbach’s Momento, Michael Taylor’s No Easy Way Out and a fabulous self-portrait in profile by Robert Hodgins called Angry Old Man.

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Olivia Barrell: Another point I would like to discuss as we have mentioned it quite a lot on our Art News platform, is that of collecting art not only because you love art but collecting art as a potential investment. Kirsty, maybe you would like to comment a bit on this for some of our collectors listening in? Another key way to add value to your art collection would be to record all literature and references relating to a particular artwork.

Kirsty Colledge: Yes, art can certainly be seen as a potential investment and in some cases, can yield significant returns. It does not, however, function in the same way as many traditional investments, Art does not generate dividends or interest, and sometimes there are further costs, including storage and insurance etc. It is worth noting that a crucial part of the investment return for art is the part that cannot be measured, and that is the enjoyment one gets from collecting and owning art.

When buying art with investment in mind, it is vital to do your homework and find out as much as possible about the artist and the market trends. Look at an artist’s track record, looks at the galleries that represent them, exhibitions they have participated locally and internationally, the literature around them, any awards they have received and if they have sold at auction what sort of prices they are achieving in the secondary market and if these prices are increasing. I also recommend buying art with a long term view, and not to try and flip it too quickly. For that reason again it important to buy what you like to you can enjoy the time living with it as it potentially increases in value.