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Van Wouw Skill Shines in Early Italian cast

1 Jan 2013

This bronze was also cast at the same foundry in Rome under the sculptor’s close supervision. Another example of similar quality, cast at the Nisini Foundry in Rome, has been in the permanent collection of the Pretoria Art Museum since 1981. Connoisseurs recognise the dramatic differences between these bronzes cast by the best Italian craftsmen and those local and posthumous casts of inferior quality.

Van Wouw’s sculptural skill is apparent here in the accurate anatomical detail of the figure which was originally modelled in the nude. Its exquisite light brown patina and highly polished surface contrast with the surrounding roughly hewn rock face. Working with hand-held implements in the flickering light of a candle, the miner’s determined effort in the most difficult conditions is convincingly captured by the sculptor and reflected in his taut musculature, concentrated gaze and the arc of his hammer arm that all focus attention on the primary task – to hit the hand drill. Miner with a Hand Drill provides a strong social statement on mining and labour in South Africa at the turn of the century.

Text by Emma Bedford, Senior Painting’s Specialist

Lot 480
Anton van Wouw
Miner with a Hand Drill
1911
Bronze
60 cm high
R1 600 000 – 2 200 000

(i) A E Duffey Anton van Wouw: The Smaller Works. Protea Book House, Pretoria, 2008, page 89.