Tranquil Sea ,1967
Provenance : [Propriété non datée]
- Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner's father
- The DinksFãStan Private Collection
Notes : BeachcombingStrolling on the littered beachhis was the eye that would searchfor retrievable things,above the tidal reach,appealing to curiosity, childish ideas and taste.Collecting, flotsam on the way,thinking aloud, occasionally he’d say to us,“I’ll take this and this. . . and that. . .”He’d pick up driftwood to carveor knock together.Often he’d find a need for every piece,fishbone, feather, plant and weed.“It needn’t go to waste.”He’d pick up bits of metal and laterflatten folds and creasesthen cut and purposefullyput together different pieceswith carefully placed nailsand lengths of measured wire and wood.So inventive,able to improvise easilyhe received his buddies’ admiration.It was good to seethe ingenious way his mind functionedand the slender hands give shapeto things.Had later times been right,would that he had triedto reach the sky.- Peter Clarke1 In his poem, Beachcombing, the artist/poet talks about himself in the third person. He is observing himself on the beach, searching for things that have been washed up by the waves. It is easy to imagine the scene depicted in the present lot as one viewed upon Clarke's frequent beach walks. 1. B Commin (2014) Peter Clarke, South African Artist and Poet 1929 - 2014, online, https://bobcommin.blog/2023/07/09/peter-clarke-south-african-artist-and-poet-1929-2014/, accessed 25 January 2024. This lot has been selected by Curatorial Voice: Nkgopoleng Moloi.
