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Alexis Preller (1911-1975)


Moses Kottler SOUTH AFRICAN 1892-1977 Maquette for Man and Woman bronze, dark brown patination height: 51cm
LITERATURE Ute Ben Yosef, The Graven Image: The Life and Work of Moses Kottler, Johannesburg, 1989, pp 29, 30, 47 and 101, illustrated, p 101
Kottler's cement fondue relief of Man and Woman for which this is a maquette, commissioned for the Population Registration Building in Pretoria, was completed in 1957. A photograph of the work published in Die Transvaler in May 1957 started a public outcry ultimately leading to the Minister of Labour having to instruct that the work be removed. It was given to the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley where it is still to be seen. For various reasons, including poor photography that exaggerated the perceived sexuality of the bodies, the sculpture achieved instant notoriety and has become one of the most widely written about works of art in the history of South Africa. In her monograph on the sculptor, Ute Ben Yosef explains that Moses Kottler's ill-fated relief of Man and Woman: ... had to be removed for reasons of 'indecency'... The relief, designed for the western gable, was to symbolize the work performed in the building. It depicts a youthful couple, symbolizing the young South Africa, standing side by side, gazing upwards towards the South African ?ag. The man clasps the woman's hand above the breast and with his other hand holds her wrist. ... They stand ?rmly on muscular legs set astride to symbolize the strength of the young nation.i Alexis Preller was one of the artists who came to Kottler's defence, describing the sculpture as embodying an ideal of man capable of holding onto the in?nite fearlessly and with hope.
i Ute Ben Yosef, The Graven Image: The Life and Works of Moses Kottler, Perskor, Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1989, p 47
ii Pretoria News, 1.8.1957

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While the infl uence of Cubism may clearly be seen in this piece, with it's linear and faceted structures, this too had its antecedents in the geometrically articulated surfaces of African sculpture6. These African infl uences have served as a catalyst to Villa's work, as has the informing hybrid austerity of Modernism. The combination of the archaic, archetypal characteristics of African art with the liberation of Modernity and the technology of the new industrial world has played itself out throughout Villa's creative career.7 The figure is reduced to a symbol of the male form. The effect of the squat, firmly planted legs and the extended torso creates a feeling of both solidity and ascension. The ovals that bisect the body, both vertically and laterally, protruding from or dissecting the figure, are incomplete - forcing the eye to travel through the negative space surrounding the sculpture and to re-enter the positive form repeatedly - creating a dynamism of movement. The tension created between flat and curved planes, extrusion and recess, edge and volume, shadow and light is such that there is an architectonic force created between the interplay of solid form and surrounding space. Convex ovals replace the arms and when seen from either the frontal, side or the rear view, take on the suggestion of wings or shields. The stylised detailing of the genitalia, navel and abbreviated facial features punctuate the piece in much the same way as one observes in small, figurative African sculpture. The interplay between the various surfaces and light, solid form and space, combine to create a piece that speaks on a primal level that stands not just as a powerful visual and tactile statement but also elicits a heightened emotional response. C.W.H. 1 Villa quoted from an interview with Allan Crump - catalogue for the exhibition Sculpture by Eduardo Villa 1985 to 1987 - Johannesburg Art Gallery June 9 to July 12 1987 2 Berman, E. and Nel, K. Alexis Preller - Africa, the Sun and Shadows - A Visual Biography, Shelf Publishing, Saxonwold, Johannesburg, 2009, p. 184 3 Villa at 90: His Life, Work and Infl uence; edited and compiled by Karel Nel, Elizabeth Burroughs and Amalie von Maltitz, Jonathan Ball Publishing, Johannesburg and Cape Town, 2005, p. 40 4 Villa at 90, p. 130 5 Villa at 90, p. 30 6 Villa at 90, p. 122 7 Villa at 90, p. 144 142 • CONDITION REPORTS FOR WORKS ON PAPER SEE PAGES 235-237 • 772 Ezrom Kgobokanyo Sebata Legae (SOUTH AFRICAN 1938-1999) YOUNG MAN stamped L and numbered II/X bronze with brown patina height: 64cm (excluding base) LITERATURE E.J. de Jager, Contemporary African Art in South Africa, Struik, Cape Town, 1973, illustrated as pl 100 ILLUSTRATED

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Karel Anthony NEL South African 1955- Convergence, House of the Initiate signed and dated 1992, inscribed with the title pastel on bonded fibre 236 by 175cm Karel Nel is a respected collector of African, Asian and Oceanic art with a particular interest in the sacred and in the social values of art. According to Nel: Over many years, my interest has focused on sacred art and how the values of societies are encoded, consciously or unconsciously, in the art of various cultures. Sacred or hallowed values inform the construction of consensus realities, belief systems that underpin social action and economy. These inform different systems of value that enable trade and transactions in various places, ranging from stock exchanges and art auction houses to remote fishing villages of the world. It is these complex transactions and their varied manifestations and shifts across time, that continue to prompt and inspire both my inextricably linked art-making and collecting.i His search for spiritual imensions in art echoes that of Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Constantin Brancusi, artists whom he admires. Like Alexis Preller, whose recent monograph he co-authored, Nel is interested in traditional cultures and in where the convergences and commonalities between the traditional and the contemporary may be found. With obvious references in this work to indigenous cultures, such as that of the Venda and Lovedu, we may assume that he is exploring initiation and rites of passage as practiced amongst local groups. However, Nel's interest lies primarily in gaining metaphysical insight. For Nel, says Rory Doepel, the task of life is self-transformation and growth: works of art can facilitate such a process for both the creator and spectator, through the power of symbols of transformation.ii Nel sees the house as a universal symbol associated with a nurturing environment and a space for the meeting of ideas. Like Henri Matisse, whom he also admires, Nel creates interiors filled with objects collected on e ploratory journeys. Here the artist's studio bedroom includes his bed covered in a dramatically striped Arabic cloth over his bed - the bed is at once a physical object and the locus of dreaming. The white bonded fibre fabric on which he transfers brilliant colour and dynamic marks radiates lightness as if illuminating ideas. Karel Nel studied Fine Art at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, St Martin's School of Art in London and the University of California, Berkeley on a Fulbright Placement from 1989 to 1991. He now lives and works in Johannesburg and is Associate Professor at the School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand. He has considerable expertise in southern African art and advises and consults with museums in South Africa, New York, London and Paris. He has also been part of curatorial teams for major international exhibitions on early Zulu, Tsonga and Shangaan art, and has contributed to numerous publications on this material. His substantial collection of both African and Oce nic traditional currencies is on loan to the Nedbank Headquarters in Sandton. i Michael Smith, Karel Nel: Artbio, http://www.artthrob.co.za/07apr/artbio.html ii Rory Doepel, Karel Nel: Transforming Symbols, no place, no date.

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