The Engen Collection: Mapping South African Art Through Corporate Patronage

‘The Engen Collection’, initially put together as the Mobil collection in the early 1980s, brings to market a selection of works from a broader archive of over two hundred artworks, offering insights into the networks, pedagogies and creative resistances that shaped South African abstract art in the early 1980s. It comprisespaintings, tapestries, works on paper and photographs representing a significant corporate investment in South African contemporary art during a period of intense cultural and political transformation. The collection engages with a moment when South African artists were developing visual languages that could operate across the cultural and artistic boundaries. These artists, including Bill Ainslie, Simon Stone, Gabriel Tsolo, Judith Mason, Andrew Verster, Pippa Skotnes and Gail Altschuler, documented individual artistic development alongside the collective creation of alternative artistic practice.

Highlights include large-scale tapestries by Andrew Verster — notably Tapestry of Landscape with Trees and Bushes, a hand-woven mohair tapestry on offer with its study, a collage on paper (R 300 000 – R500 000). A writer of short stories, articles and radio plays, Verster worked across varying media, including tapestries and etched glass, and is known for his bold use of colour. The sale also features Kevin Atkinson’s works, including the large-scale diptych Abstract Sunset (R 100 000 – R150 000). An artist and educator often described as ahead of his time, Atkinson worked experimentally across conceptual art, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. Another highlight is Nel Erasmus, who has always been fascinated by how abstract shapes and forms might depict movement. Erasmus’s early work, mainly depicting lamps, captured the movement of light emitted from a central source that fills the whole picture plane. Later, she was inspired by French artist Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917) and depicted horses in full gallop. Aquatic Action (estimate R 10 000 – R15 000) is a work on paper that highlights ideas through colour and a sense of flux.  Erasmus was a member of the Wits Group, together with Esmé Berman, Christo Coetzee, Larry Scully, Cecil Skotnes, and Gordon Vorster. She studied at the École de Beaux Arts in Paris in 1953 as well as at the Académie Ranson, under Gustave Singier in 1960. She was Director of the Johannesburg Art Gallery from 1964 until her retirement in 1977.

The sale traces the intellectual and artistic genealogy of artists working within and against the constraints of the 80s, many of whom were influenced by the South African artist, teacher and activist Bill Ainslie and the Johannesburg Art Foundation (JAF), an institution that maintained inclusivity. Founded in 1982, the JAF operated as an educational anomaly, rejecting prescribed curricula and external authority in favour of emancipatory and experimental pedagogy. Under Ainslie’s direction, the Foundation fostered abstract expressionism, an art movement whose rejection of traditional representational art prioritised non-objective imagery to evoke emotion. This language and method, seen in Ainslee’s Abstract Composition in Blue and Green (estimate R 80 000 – R120 000) and Jenny Stadler’s Drunk in Autumn Woods (estimate R 40 000 – R60 000), were employed by artists as a non-confrontational language through which to explore their ideas. The connections of the institution extended beyond the JAF itself, linking to the establishment of FUBA (Federated Union of Black Artists) and the Thupelo Workshops in Cape Town, institutions whose impact continues to shape contemporary South African art discourse.

The CEO, Mr George Roberts, said, “The Engen Collection represents a broad and vibrant range of South African artists and has been a treasured part of our company’s story for many years. As we look to the future, we believe it is time for these remarkable artworks to find new homes where they can continue to be appreciated, shared, and celebrated. We believe that by releasing this collection, the artworks will find new life amongst a wider community, while inspiring new audiences by continuing to tell the story of South Africa’s creative spirit.”

This Live Virtual sale marks the first time many of these works have been seen publicly in over four decades, having remained within the corporate collection since acquisition. The release of this time capsule of incredible artworks makes them accessible to collectors worldwide. The sale enables an examination of artistic relationships and their historical significance.

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