Notes

Up in Arms stands as one of Robert Slingsby's final figurative paintings before embarking on an extended period of making the Richtersveld petroglyphs, the central theme of his artistic endeavours.

Upon his return to South Africa, Slingsby engaged in over 30 years of extensive, self-funded fieldwork aimed at documenting the Richtersveld petroglyphs, which are artworks engraved on rocks. His substantial and unique contributions in this field have been acknowledged by prominent South African academics, with figures like Professor David Lewis-Williams, a Professor of Cognitive Archaeology at WITS, benefiting from his knowledge.

Slingsby had grown acutely aware of the detrimental impact of open-cast diamond mining and farming activities on not only the indigenous Nama people, who are the descendants of the rock artists but also on the petroglyphs themselves, which were either buried beneath or destroyed by the blades of bulldozers ploughing the fields. Consequently, the subject matter of Africa's traditional art, the continent's indigenous inhabitants, and the influence of Anthropocene man on Africa became and remain the focal points of his artistic expression.

Upon closer examination of the painting, one can discern an figure up-side down with outstretched arms and a segmented head. In the background, references to mining and farming activities are incorporated.

With thanks to Janis Slingsby for the cataloguing of this lot.