The Boat ,1966
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Notas : Slight of figure himself, Peter Clarke formed a life-long friendship with the writer, James Matthews, best-known for the fact that he was an avid body builder. Says Matthews of this time: ‘A knock on the door announced [Peter’s] arrival on a Saturday afternoon, his dress one of reserve. His reserve soon melted, to be replaced by the warmth of his spirit after I had introduced him to my friends, all members of the YMCA bodybuilding club in Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap, close to where I lived at the time. I looked forward to the Saturday afternoon visits from Peter as he introduced me to the world of fine art.’ 1Clarke’s interest in depicting the male body was consolidated when he attended art classes at the Roeland Street Art Club. One of his teachers was Johannes Meintjes who sharpened his rendering of the male nude in strong, graphic lines, a stylistic feature amply in evidence in the present lot.In addition, Clarke encountered the teachings of John Coplans at the Club as well. Coplans, en route to the United States, was a British artist with a similar interest in male nudes which he depicted in bright watercolours and which Clarke must have seen. Coplans went on to great success as an artist in the US, acting as editor of Artforum, the foremost art magazine in the world, in the 1970s. In the early 80s he switched to photographing the male nude, a body of work for which he is best known today. Clarke positions his male nudes on the beach, sunbathing, walking and readying a canoe for paddling on the sea, a glowing orange-yellow rock formation standing guard in the background. Their youthful bodies are captured in all their glorious sensuality in Clarke’s translucent gouache technique.The male nude is only cursorily referred to in the catalogue accompanying Clarke’s retrospective exhibition in 2011. A short paragraph in the catalogue reads that ‘Nude figures are fairly rare in Clarke’s practice, although there are a number of bathing boys that recall the carefree days of his youth, such as a 1971 oil of boys on a beach and a related reduction relief print, The Boat (1972).’ 21 Hein Willemse (ed) (2000). Peter Clarke & James Matthews at 70: More Than Brothers, Cape Town: Kwela Books, page 102.2. Philippa Hobbs & Elizabeth Rankin (2011). Listening to Distant Thunder: The Art of Peter Clarke, Johannesburg: Standard Bank Gallery, pages 196–197.
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