Stanley Faraday Pinker (South African, 1924-2012) Nutuurmensch, 48.2 x 43.5 cm (19 x 17 in)
Provenance : Provenance Gifted by the artist, 2002; A private collection. Exhibited Cape Town, South African National Gallery, Stanley Pinker, (July, 1983), no. 13. Often conflating imagery of officials with wild animals, Naturmensch undoubtedly presents us a political observation that has define Pinker's oeuvre. In many ways menacing, the death imagery of Naturmensch from the crow, to hyena, to skull shrouds the work in a intimidating guise. The coolness of the palette also points towards the concept of death that seems to loom, though striking, ominously over the work. The eyes of the hyena also showcase another layer of the artist's talent. Translated, the title of the work relates to a person considered unsophisticated by western colonial standards, or in other words 'a man of nature'. Within the context of his wider body of work, it could be concluded that the title, in incorporation with the content of the painting, refers to the attitudes of the colonisers towards the people of South Africa during the apartheid. While this may likely be a conscious link by the artist, he himself claimed that the political content was not always the primary component of his image making, stating that the commentary was also a vessel for humour to be incorporated thematically in his work. He states this in an interview with Michael Stevenson: 'The issues are there but are usually covered up with humour of a very cynical nature.' ( Michael Stevenson, Stanley Pinker, (Cape Town: Michael Stevenson, 2004), p. 20). Indeed, Pinker maintained that a political observation was an integral part to his creative process, resisting in defining himself as a purely abstract artist in order to maintain a level of narrative direction, not to leave his work up to pure emotive interpretation. He stated in the same interview with Stevenson, 'I could never be an abstract artist - the content and information that surrounded us in South Africa are too important for me.' (Michael Stevenson, Stanley Pinker, (Cape Town: Michael Stevenson, 2004), p.18.) As a selected work for the artist's solo exhibition in 1983 held by the South African National Gallery, it can be concluded that Naturmensch should be considered as a work of cultural significance. Furthermore, we get a sense of the work's importance given that it was on loan from the artist's personal collection at the time, given the gallery label on the reverse of the work. The exclusivity of the present work must therefore not be overlooked and therefore it's gravitas in the artist's oeuvre must be emphasised. Bibliography Michael Stevenson, Stanley Pinker, (Cape Town: Michael Stevenson, 2004)
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