Notes

Thanks to Fernand Haenggi and Warren Siebrits for assistance with cataloguing this lot.

The moving and iconic Wounded Buffalo is a highmark of South African modernism. It depicts a near lifesize beast, bowed, but not beaten, representing the indomitable spirit of the oppressed and exploited black mine workers whose labour built the foundations of the country’s economy. The work was commissioned by Union Corporation Ltd, Johannesburg, based on the maquette (LS7005) the artist included in his exhibition at Gallery 101 in Johannesburg in October 1970. The art writer for The Star newspaper, HEW (Teddy) Winder considered it to be ‘the biggest and most important commission so far to come the way of this competent artist’. He described how the artist depicted ‘the stricken animal down on its knees, but still with fight in its rather pathetic eyes. It is a most magnificent conception and a moving piece of work’.¹ Sithole completed the full-size plaster in the studio of sculptor Hennie Potgieter, in Schoemansville, and it was then cast in bronze by Hendrik Joubert. The finished work was installed outside the mineworkers’ recreation hall at Bracken Mines Ltd in Evander and unveiled on 24 October 1971. Union Corporation, first founded in 1897 as A Goertz & Co, was acquired by General Mining in 1980, and the resulting gold mining corporation became known as Gencor. When Bracken Mines closed down, the Wounded Buffalo was sold to a private collector.

1. HEW Winder (1970) ‘An Outstanding Item in Lucas Sithole’s Exhibition of Sculpture at Gallery 101’, Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg, 17 October.

The proverb ‘a wounded animal is a dangerous animal’ cannot be reduced to a simplistic reading of the philosophical question of whether the saying emanates from an ancient African proverb or a western scientific hypothesis. In the reference to the African proverb it evokes a certain sense of desperation and suspense, a life and death situation – that the animal is about to unleash its rage – if only it could rise. From wildlife safaris to laboratory experiments, nature has often pushed back, and indeed unleashed its rage if provoked. Lucas Sithole’s Wounded Buffalo (1971) reflects the accepted reading or understanding of this proverb that has been proven, on numerous occasions. This work is thus not just a representation by one of South Africa’s most significant black modernist artists in command of the medium of sculpture, it is also on par with the work of western modernist artists of the time such as Henri Moore and Constantin Brâncu?i – particularly in terms of a deep understanding of materiality and medium. In Wounded Buffalo Sithole deviates from his usual approach. There is a crudeness to its texture and rendering, different from his sometimes almost obsessively polished finish, that evokes Sithole’s concern with the social and economic circumstances of the working class, his people, black people. This work embodies Sithole’s sophisticated understanding of both context and the contextual use of materiality in being in tune with the issues of the time, be it labour or urbanisation. Dr Same Mdluli

Provenance

Union Corporation Ltd (Bracken Mines), Evander.

Private Collector, Boksburg.

Literature

HEW Winder (1970) 'An Outstanding Item in Lucas Sithole's Exhibition of Sculpture at Gallery 101', Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg, 17 October. Illustrated in black and white.

The Star, Johannesburg, 13 October 1971. Illustrated in black and white.

Union Corporation Ltd, Johannesburg, Annual Report, 31 December 1971. Illustrated in colour.

SA Digest, Pretoria, 21 February 1975. Illustrated on page 8.

SA Panorama, Pretoria, August 1975. Illustrated on page 37.

Esmé Berman (1983) Art and Artists of South Africa, Cape Town: AA Balkema. Illustrated in black and white with the artist on page 409.

Frieda Harmsen (1985) Looking at South African Art, Pretoria: Van Schaik. Illustrated on page 103.

Sue Williamson (1989) Resistance Art in South Africa, Cape Town: David Philip. Referenced by Ilona Anderson on page 110.

Elizabeth Rankin (1994) Images of Metal: Post-War Sculptures and Assemblages in South Africa, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. Referenced on page 31.

Fernand Haenggi (2015) Lucas Sithole 1931-1994, Basel: The Haenggi Foundation. Illustrated in colour on page 33.