WeeklySA_AdminARTWORKS: An exhibition at Standard Bank Art Lab brings together corporate and private collections to explore the stories behind treasured artworks — and the responsibility of preserving them…
By Jacob Mawela
Behind every art collection lies a story: a first purchase, a personal connection, an inheritance or a commitment to preserving cultural memory for future generations.
These relationships take centre stage in Held in Trust: Collective Gatherings of Treasures, Stories and Archives of South African Collectors, which opened at the Standard Bank Art Lab in Sandton today, following a VIP preview the previous evening.
Drawing on the Standard Bank Corporate Art Collection and selected private collections, the exhibition explores how artworks are acquired, cherished and passed on — and how collectors help shape the cultural record.
Guests at the preview included art consultants Makgati Molebatsi and Dr Fred Scott, academics Professor Karel Nel and Professor Thembinkosi Goniwe, philanthropist and art patron Jack Ginsberg, and artist Nandipha Mntambo.
Welcoming them were Standard Bank’s Art Curator and Gallery Manager, Dr Same Mdluli; Group Head of Brand Experience, Yolisa Kosa; and Head of Sponsorship and Visual Art, Bonga Sebesho.
Mdluli said the exhibition offered an opportunity to consider collecting as part of a wider arts ecosystem, while broadening understanding of the role of art. “Art can be a record of memory and through collecting, something that is carried forward for future generations,” she said in an accompanying media release.
Among the works drawn from the bank’s collection are JH Pierneef’s 1948 oil painting A Wet Day Elim, George Pemba’s 1979 The Funeral and Johannes Phokela’s 2006 Bean Feast.
Established in 1938, the Standard Bank Corporate Art Collection reflects South Africa’s changing artistic practices and social and cultural histories. Its inclusion places the institution’s collecting alongside the personal choices and experiences of individual collectors.
The exhibition features works by Alexis Preller, Maggie Laubser, Gregoire Boonzaier, Dumile Feni, Louis Maqhubela, Marianne Podlashuc, Deborah Bell, Esther Mahlangu, Zanele Muholi and Gregory Olympio.
Other artists represented include Edward Steichen, Pablo Picasso, Constance Stuart Larrabee, Hank Willis Thomas, Kudzanai Churai, Pamela Sunstrum and Dibandi Papy Malumbu.
The fourth exhibition at the Art Lab this year, Held in Trust invited each participating collector to select a work that held particular meaning for them.
Scott contributed Podlashuc’s oil painting Washday and Samson Mnisi’s 2006 acrylic painting Untitled No 23. Art consultant Karabo Morule contributed Sunstrum’s 2013 mixed-media work Tempest and Churai’s 2017 photograph We Live in Silence III.
The story behind Scott’s Washday illustrates how artworks acquire meaning across generations. He inherited the painting from his father, Professor Scott, who had acquired it directly from Podlashuc through his association with the Bloemfontein Group, to which she belonged.
Such histories place collectors in the role of custodians, preserving both the artworks and the memories and relationships attached to them.
Spanning sketches, paintings, photographs and sculptures, the exhibition also considers the networks that sustain collecting: artists, galleries, dealers, art fairs and institutions.
Its central proposition is that art history is shaped not only by those who create artworks, but also by the people and institutions that choose to preserve them.
Collecting is presented as a practice that can begin with a single acquisition and develop into a lasting commitment to artists and their work.
“Supporting contemporary African cultural expression means investing in the people, practices and relationships that allow culture to grow and endure,” Mdluli said.
By bringing privately held treasures into a public space, Held in Trust invites visitors to reflect on the responsibilities that accompany ownership — and what it means to safeguard cultural material for those who come after us.
The exhibition runs until March 31, 2027, at Standard Bank Art Lab, shops 33–44, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton. Admission is free. Opening hours are weekdays from 9am to 4pm, and Sundays and public holidays from 9am to 1pm.
