Curatorial Voices: Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa
Live Virtual Auction, 28 February 2023
Curatorial Voices: Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa
About the SessionCuratorial Voices: Modern and Contemporary Art from Africa is a dynamic collaborative project conceived by Strauss & Co to address the need for diversified representation of artists from across the African continent in the secondary market. Curated by Strauss & Co Heads of Sale, Kirsty Colledge and Kate Fellens, with input by seven international art experts with embedded knowledge of Africa; Serge Tiroche, Valerie Kabov, Heba Elkayal, Danda Jaroljmek, Anne Kariuki, Dana Endundo Ferreira, Kimberley Cunningham. Curatorial Voices presents collectors with a broad selection of work by leading contemporary artists alongside select pieces by important historical artists.
About this Item
signed
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
Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery, Cape Town.
Private Collection.
Literature
Various Authors (1961) Our Art 2, Pretoria: The South African Association for the Advancement of Knowledge and Culture, illustrated in black and white on page 4.
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