Skip to content
Gerard Bhengu (1910-1990)
Gerard Bhengu (South African, 1910-1990), watercolor on paper, bust portrait depicting male figure, possibly tribal leader, wearing a fur hat, collar, and animal tooth necklace, signed LL, matted behind glass in naturally-finish frame, Hayley & Steele [Boston, MA] gallery sticker adhered verso, expected wear including some toning and waving to paper, ss: 14 h. x 10 1/2 w.
[ Books ] SAVORY, PHYLLIS [pseudonym, Phyllis Baillon] Gerard Bhengu Zulu Artist, With a Biographical Note and Description of the Plates Cape Town: Howard Timmins, 1965 signed on title page by the author and the artist col., sepia and b/w illustrations, foxing and offset 4to cloth, dustjacket, dustjacket stained and frittered and with protective plastic covering, endpapers foxed, plastic sleeve with newspaper cuttings sellotaped to front pastedown endpaper
[ Books ] SAVORY, PHYLLIS Gerard Bhengu: Zulu Artist, With Biographical Note and Description of the Plates Cape Town: Howard Timmins, 1965 limited edition: No. 74 of100 69 pp. half-title, col. frontispiece, title, contents, foreword, portrait, biographical note,text illustrations, 27 plates (4 col.) royal 4to, 35,5 x 27cm original quarter brown leather, dustjacket
Trevor Makhoba ( 1956-) NOMKHUBULWANE (MOTHER OF THE NATION) signed and dated '96 oil on canvas board
PROVENANCE
Purchased from the Bruce Campbell-Smith collection
40 by 29cm
'Trevor Makhoba's art is uniquely grounded in his experience of life and contemporary events in KwaZulu-Natal. He reflects on this experience, as Andy Mason has noted, with elements of the satirical 'that combine social realism with surreal'. Another recent observation on his work locates it within the traditions of black art in KwaZulu-Natal, as an extension of the work of Gerard Bhengu for example, as 'the persistence of a romantic realism' that reflects 'a popular language that is accessible and lucid'. At the same time his work is a good example of how black artists have left the 'struggle aesthetic' behind them and embraced current issues, dealing with the realities of a highly complex and diverse multicultural society.'
Excerpt taken from Proud, H., Revisions: Expanding the Narrative of South African Art, S. A. History Online and UNISA Press, Cape Town, 2006, p 310
