The Feast (preparatory sketch) ,1939
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Literature : cf. Berman, E. and Nel, K. (2009). Africa: The Sun and The Shadows. Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing, The Feast illustrated on p.49. cf. Berman, E. and Nel, K. (2009). Alexis Preller: Collected Images. Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing, a detail image of The Feast illustrated on p.37 & 75, comparable works illustrated p.34 & 70. cf. Bouman, A.C. (1948). Painters of South Africa. Cape Town: HAUM, The Feast illustrated on p.98.
Note : One of Preller’s most mature and original works certainly is “The Feast”. Its origin, or rather the origin of its conception, is of interest for a better understanding. The artist tells me that in his studio he had a very tall piece of wood, half round, and he wanted for a long time – a period in which he had been carving a good deal – to decorate this piece with figures, some carved, some inlaid with metals, bronze, brass and silver. He had to abandon this scheme, but never lost sight of it. The vision matured within him during five years, and finally it took the shape of a painting. As he had visualised the beam in space, or against a skyline, he now proceeded to paint this procession of figures in the same manner: a narrow strip of teeming life cut by space, and not by the edges of the frame. It is not a particular ceremonial feast really; it is the “procession”, in composition, of people whom he saw going about, laden with food, fruit and fowls, as if for a feast. The title is appropriate in that those human beings, with their loads of everyday produce, seem to live in a sort of paradise of abundance. Bouman, Dr. A.C. Painters of South Africa. Published: Cape Town, circa 1948. p.98,
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