Notes

Preller’s relationship with his partner, Christi Truter, unravelled tragically during 1946 and 1947. While his creative energy surged throughout this traumatic period, he became convinced that a change – a clean break from his beloved studio-home, Ygdrasil, and all its associations – was absolutely necessary. In September 1948 then, as part of a farewell exhibition, he hung on Ygdrasil’s whitewashed walls 28 richly coloured works – including the pivotal version of The Kraal, as well as The Candles, Malay Sandals, and Girl with an Oriole – before giving up the space forever. In October, on the advice of Henk Pierneef, he sailed for the Seychelles, the idyllic East African archipelago. After a few days in Victoria, the main town on Mahé island, Preller found a beach shack studio, with a veranda overlooking the sea, at Beau Vallon. From there, with Gauguin’s Tahitian pictures clearly in mind, he painted his colourful island surroundings: the lazy palms on the beach, the daily routines of the fishermen, the exotic fruit and flowers in the markets, the darting fish and gorgeous shells beneath the glassy water, the devout women at their shrines with their carefree children, and the neat Creole cabins in the shade.

In Fisherman Mending Nets, Beau Vallon, Preller captured a sun-drenched, paradisaical lull. The beach scene, conceived like a stage setting, with thick tropical foliage as a backdrop, is folkloric in its simplicity and workaday charm. With his pirogue pulled up the beach, a fisherman, in a moment of quiet and timeless industry, goes about cleaning and re-knotting his nets, his eyes shaded under his round straw hat. His shirtless companion, with a piebald dog, crouches nearby, alongside simple poles and oars. The gunwales are painted shades of cinnamon red and scarlet, while sections of netting, spread out to dry, glisten like mother-of-pearl. While Preller’s island sojourn inspired a number of deeply symbolic paintings – Mangoes on the Beach being a thrilling example – Fisherman Mending Nets, Beau Vallon might well have been one of the artist’s rare plein air paintings, a more literal record of an honest and beautiful Seychellois moment.

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist and thence by descent.

Exhibited

Strauss & Co, London, Alexis Preller: Surreal Discovery, 5 to 10 March 2024.