Notes

Ezrom Legae viewed sculpture as a symbolic medium that could be simple yet structured, to create both form and visual ambiguity. In the present lot the figure stands tall on the animal, deliberately anonymous by a flattened face and elongated neck, which reflects the influence of British sculptor Lynn Chadwick. There is emphasis on the extended abdomen and heavy thighs weigh the figure down. Even the animal remains somewhat anonymous with no distinctive head or tail. Legae’s oeuvre is loaded with political, philosophical and metaphysical content. He frequently uses animal imagery in his work as a metaphor for the oppression, sacrifice, violence, and pain caused by the harsh socio-political context of the apartheid era in South Africa. Despite these political symbols, the work is able to express itself in multiple ways through its aesthetic ambiguity, a factor that may have contributed to the popularity of the sell-out exhibitions during the artist’s lifetime. In an interview with Barbara Buntman the artist states, ‘There should be some mystery about it. You know, you have got to search. It must be there. It must be very DARK; you must hunt for this little light’.¹

1. Barbara Buntman (1987) Ezrom Legae 1976–1986, unpublished Honours paper, University of the Witwatersrand, interview with the artist, 30 September 1986.

Provenance

Graham’s Fine Art Auctioneers, Johannesburg, 19 May 2010, lot 119.