Notes

In Pippa Skotnes' monograph on her father's work titled At the Cutting Edge: Cecil Skotnes as Printmaker she talks about the origins of Cat: "The image I remember most clearly from my early childhood...was a large cat, roughly cut in wood and printed by hand...It was apparently a portrait of a friend's one-eyed cat which hunted for its dinner and gave its name to my own, more gentle pet, Kotchka."¹

^1. Frieda Harmsen (ed) (1996) Cecil Skotnes, exhibition catalogue, Cape Town: South African National Gallery, page 84.

Known as an artist, mentor, and teacher, Cecil Skotnes believed in nurturing talent and encouraging creativity. Born in East London, the son of Norwegian missionaries, Skotnes studied Fine Arts at Wits University after WWII. In 1952, he was employed to run the Polly Street recreation centre, which became the only art school available to black students in South Africa; training Sydney Kumalo and Ephraim Ngatane, among others. Encouraged by friend and mentor Egon Guenther, Skotnes turned his hand to woodcarving and produced many ground-breaking coloured carved panels and woodcut prints, often with images of neglected South African histories. He carried out significant public commissions, sometimes in collaboration with other artists such as Sydney Kumalo. Skotnes is remembered for his artistic innovation and major contribution to the diversity of South African art.

Provenance

Strauss & Co, Online, 11 June 2018, lot 15.

Property of Collectors.

Literature

Frieda Harmsen (ed) (1996) Cecil Skotnes, exhibition catalogue, Cape Town: South African National Gallery, another example of the edition is illustrated in black and white on page 84.

Elza Miles (2004) Polly Street: The Story of an Art Centre, The Ampersand Foundation, another example of the edition is illustrated on page 106, figure 125.