“I think that our record-breaking year is attributable to the unique combination of the high number of good quality works plus the general optimism and growth in the art market in South Africa.” - Frank Kilbourn
The Bright Foundation matches donations Welgemeend receives and in the process have restored about 80% of the building. This project really cemented the relationship between our family and Strauss & Co on a different level.” Sadly Welz passed away in 2015, leaving a leadership vacuum behind. Kilbourn, with his business acumen and close ties with the firm, seemed a perfect fit: “I love art, I love people, which you need to do to be in the auction business, and I love business, so it was for me a nice opportunity to combine three of the loves of my life in one position”. At Strauss & Co, Kilbourn applies the same principles as he would in any other business. “In corporate finance, I had a few rules,” he says: “only employ people who are smarter than you, that are going to work as hard or harder than you, and then give them an opportunity to excel.” Strauss’s success over the past two years eloquently testifies to the wisdom of this approach. Nobody watching the auction world will have failed to notice Strauss & Co’s first Contemporary Art auction, held on 17 February
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this year in an abandoned cold storage facility at the Cape Town Cruise Terminal – a venue very much in contrast to the familiar Vineyard Hotel where the sales usually take place. The decision to host a standalone contemporary sale, says Kilbourn, was market-related: “With modern and classic works, Stephan used to say that masterpieces tend to reappear at auction every 25 years. With the explosion of contemporary art and the exposure that art has been getting in South Africa in the last couple of years, contemporary art collectors have a tendency to hold onto works for a shorter time enabling them to acquire new works currently being produced by artists or newly discovered artists. The buyers are younger, their tastes change more quickly, and some of them with highly developed personal tastes are selecting more complicated and demanding works. With contemporary works coming back onto the market after a shorter period, Strauss & Co had to extend into the contemporary space or risk being left behind. “In addition, in order for us to be a sustainable business, we need to be a brand that also appeals to younger people,”
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