Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa
Timed Online Auction, 13 - 28 February 2023
Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa
About the SessionIncluding Property of Collectors and The Harry Kantor Collection.
Harry Kantor (1934-2019), a Capetonian, moved to Harare in the late 1950s. He supported local art institutions such as the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and Gallery Delta, serving as Chairman of both institutions. He promoted Zimbabwe's artists globally and amassed over 300 works, including European and indigenous African painters, Victorian and Chinese pieces. His collection includes significant roots of early Zimbabwean painting. Five paintings from his collection are on display at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Arts' exhibition "When We See Us", featuring African figurative art.
Lots 51-62 can be viewed on our current Timed Online Auction, and lot 75 in our Curatorial Voices Auction, both taking place on the 28th of February.
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About this Item
signed, numbered 29/30, and inscribed with the title in pencil in the margin; inscribed 'Printers Proof' on the reverse
Notes
In addition to being a prolific painter and printmaker, Walter Battiss was a passionate student of Southern African rock art, publishing no fewer than seven books on the subject in the 1940s and 50s. The elongated figures typical of his art were directly inspired by his large collection of rock art photographs and tracings. In the 1960s, his work was characterised by a sgraffito technique (scratching images through layers of oil paint) and, in the early 1970s, Battiss invented an imaginary artistic construct, Fook Island, which he populated with material culture (a Fook alphabet, currency, postage stamps, passport, etc.). His numerous travels to the Middle East and to various Greek islands were constant sources of inspiration.
Provenance
Quagga Rare Books and Art, Cape Town.
Property of Collectors.
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