A strong turnout of prospective buyers to the inaugural edition of Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, a successful new collaboration between Nairobi-based Danda Jaroljmek’s Circle Art Agency and South African auction house Strauss & Co, produced robust bidding for rare and important art from East Africa and beyond.

There was especially strong interest in rare-to-market paintings by acclaimed Tanzanian modernists Sam Ntiro and K.F. Msangi, culminating in new auction benchmarks for these and other artists from the East Africa region.

Held at Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi, the live-virtual auction opened with Kenyan painter Boniface Maina's 2012 composition Diary of the Concealed, which sold after heavy bidding for KES 645 700 / US$ 5 000. The vigorous interest set the tone for auction, which saw two paintings by K.F. Msangi, painted at opposite ends of the 1960s, achieve the highest individual prices. Msangi’s Baobab Under the Red Moon, a fervid post-impressionist landscape from 1968, was the evening’s top earner, selling for KES 3 522 000 / US$ 27 271 – more than double the pre-sale estimate.

“Encouragingly, over 70% of the sold lots sold were within or above the high estimate, demonstrating the competitive nature of the bidding,” says Dr Alastair Meredith, Director and Art Department Head, Strauss & Co, who shared duties at the rostrum with Susie Goodman, Director, Strauss & Co. “Overall, the live-virtual auction earned KES 29 666 980 / US$ 229 727 from 52 lots sold, with a sell-through rate just shy of 80% and bidders spanning 19 countries globally.

Over 45% of the bidders were new buyers to Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, which is exciting for the longevity of this sale. The bidders comprised both private and institutional collectors, which reflects positively on the strength of the region.”

“There was a really great atmosphere in the room, with about 120 prospective buyers in attendance and a large presence of online viewers, which suggested new interest and reach for us,” says Danda Jaroljmek, Director, Circle Art Agency, who established Art Auction East Africa in 2013 as a platform to cultivate a secondary market for modern and contemporary East African artists working. “Sales were up on previous years, with especially big results for rare works by K.F. Msangi and Sam Ntiro.

There were also some surprises, like Sudanese artist Miska Mohammed’s The Movement of Daisies from 2021, which sold for KES 1 150 520 / US$ 8 908. The bidders were chiefly collectors familiar with East African art, but there was definitely a sense of new eyes on the superb work on offer from this region of the African continent.”

“The inaugural edition of Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co is a realisation of Strauss & Co’s strategic commitment to be an auction house from the African continent presenting work to collectors on the continent and beyond,” says Susie Goodman, who travelled to Kenya with a team of Strauss & Co sales and logistics experts. “Our experience in hosting online sales has positioned us well in order to present auctions such as this in a new location. We are very much committed to having sales in this region and other regions across the African continent. For me personally, the collaboration with Danda Jaroljmek and her team at Circle Art Agency emphasised that our art ecosystem is stronger when we work together.”

In the lead up to the sale, Strauss & Co, working with Circle Art Agency, hosted a series of engagements with collectors and experts. They included a panel discussion with local art experts, talks and meetings with private collectors, as well as a public lecture by Dr Alastair Meredith at the Muthaiga Country Club and a young collectors event and boutique hotel Social House.

“One of our duties as an African auction house is to highlight the existing links between artists from our area of expertise, Southern Africa, and other parts of the continent,” says Dr Alastair Meredith. “South Africa has especially strong historical links to the East African region through modernist artists like Walter Battiss, Terence McCaw, Frans Oerder, Alexis Preller, JH Pierneef and Irma Stern, who all travelled up the east coast of Africa and were enormously inspired by the landscape of the region.

At the same time, it was very important for Strauss & Co to partner with Circle Art Agency to present this knowledge to audiences in Nairobi. The outreach programme enabled us to gain considerable insights about artists from Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia and beyond, lessons that will help bolster our future sales. It was a privilege to learn from Danda Jaroljmek and her team at Circle Art Agency about the amazing creative output from this region.”

Alongside the stop results achieved by Tanzanian modernists K.F. Msangi and Sam Ntiro, the auction delivered strong results by Kenyan contemporary artists. Painter Justus Kyalo’s umber 2021 composition More Light a Little fetched KES1 056 600 / US$8 181, and Beatrice Wanjiku’s mixed-media painting We Are Who We Are, from 2010, achieved KES 939 200 / US$ 7 272.

The top selling Ugandan artist were Geoffrey Mukasa – represented by a still life painted a year before his death in 2009, sold for KES 1 174 000 / US$ 9 090 – and Fabian Mpagi, whose modernist work from 1979, Abstract Figures, earned KES 950 940 / US$ 7 363.

Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co was presented on Strauss & Co’s digital network. The currency for the sale was Kenyan Shilling (KSh). All collections of works sold are in Nairobi, Kenya.

Established in 2009, Strauss & Co is the leading art auction house in Africa, specialising in modern and contemporary art, collectable design, fine wine and jewellery. With a focus on African and international art, Strauss & Co caters to art enthusiasts globally with its curated mix of marquee live auctions, single-artist sales, spotlight presentations and popular monthly online sales. 

A pioneer of borderless digital sales, Strauss & Co has a large global client list interested in artists, designers and wine producers from Africa and beyond. Private treaty services are also available. Strauss & Co is the leading reseller of work by blue-chip artists William Kentridge, J.H. Pierneef and Irma Stern. It has achieved the highest number of records for South African artists at auction. Notable records include the R31.9m / US$ 1.78m sale of Vladimir Tretchikoff’s 1955 portrait Lady from the Orient in 2025.