Notes

A Box of Mangoes (circa 1938) is an early painting by Alexis Preller thought to have been painted in 1938 after his return to South Africa from London. Preller’s early work shows his interest in painting still lifes in which objects of special significance to him appear, and items of fruit such as mangoes or apples take on singular importance. Throughout his career Preller revisited earlier themes, subject matter, mythical and symbolic objects and prototypes, but what is significant and unusual here is that twenty years later Preller painted another version of the same painting, The Box of Mangoes (1958), from the same raised angle. He lays out the richly coloured mangoes on the cardboard box in almost the exact same position, but in the later version, the much-repeated device of fragments of spider conch shells are more clearly visible.

cf. A Box of Mangoes (1958), sold Strauss & Co, 12 November 2018, Lot 323.