Perspectives on Africa
Live Virtual Auction, 17 February 2025
Perspectives on Africa
About the SessionStrauss & Co is pleased to present Perspectives on Africa, a sale that explores the complexity, beauty, and fluidity of perspectives through African art and works by artists with strong ties to the continent. The sale coalesces the rich and varied connections between Africa and its artistic expressions, presenting works that span figuration, landscape, and abstraction, inviting collectors to engage with powerful narratives emerging from Africa's evolving perspectives. The works reflect layered meanings, both as a method of representing depth and dimension as a way of framing our understanding of the world. Work by Contemporary artists reflects on the historical foundations of Modernist artists, exploring themes such as identity, belonging, urbanisation, and re-encounters with tradition, while the sale transitions to Modernist interpretations of Africa, exploring the complexity of colonial encounters, post-independence aspirations, and indigenous practices. Building on Strauss & Co’s commitment to developing a strong local photography market, the sale includes an artist focus on the work of social documentarian Paul Alberts, whose images captured poignant narratives of everyday life, particularly in Cape Town. These works sit alongside David Goldblatt and Zanele Muholi, whose visceral images explore themes of identity, social justice and the multifaceted realities of African life.
About this Item
signed; signed, inscribed with the title thrice on the reverse
Provenance
Everard Read, Cape Town.
Private Collection.
Notes
In the present lot, Meyer’s hallmark ability to capture the poignancy of human interaction is laid bare in a composition imbued with quiet
intensity. This work presents a moment that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant, situated within the subdued warmth of a public interior, perhaps a bar. The narrative implied by the figures and their actions invites the viewer to step into a story without clear boundaries, yet teeming with emotional nuance.
At the heart of the painting, two male figures engage in a silent exchange. The older man, positioned slightly above the younger man, clutches an envelope in his hands. His attire – a collared shirt layered with a cardigan and coat – speaks to a formality and perhaps a generational propriety. His expression is sombre, his body language guarded, as though bracing himself against the weight of what is to come. In contrast, the younger man, clad in a simple t-shirt, holds a piece of paper. His posture and demeanour suggest a tentative vulnerability, his downcast gaze hinting at an emotional impact already absorbed. The disparity in their dress and positioning within the composition underscores their contrasting roles in the unfolding narrative: one as the bearer of news, the other as its recipient.
Meyer’s treatment of light in the present lot is a masterclass in atmosphere. The warm tones permeating the scene – deep ochres, muted browns, and soft amber highlights – evoke the intimate glow of incandescent lighting, contrasting with the emotional chill that seems to envelop the figures.
The setting, while deliberately ambiguous, carries the marks of a public yet personal space. The suggestion of a bar, hinted at by vague shapes and textures in the background, serves as a stage where private revelations unfold in an inherently social environment. This juxtaposition heightens the tension: the intimacy of their exchange contrasts with the potential visibility of their surroundings, amplifying the vulnerability of the moment.
At its core, the present lot is a meditation on communication and the weight of what is left unsaid. The sombre expressions and subdued gestures of the figures suggest a moment of reckoning, where words have been exchanged, but their full impact is only beginning to settle. The painting resonates with themes of generational disparity, emotional resilience, and the universal experience of grappling with life’s difficult truths. By focusing on a fleeting yet charged interaction, Meyer transforms an ordinary scene into an extraordinary exploration
of human connection.
Tracey Hawthorne (2013) John Meyer: A Retrospective 1972 – 2012, Cape Town: Minx Publications.
Brett Hilton-Barber (2003) John Meyer, Cape Town: Prime Origins Publishers.
Literature
Brett Hilton-Barber (2003) John Meyer, Cape Town: Prime Origins, illustrated in colour on page 144 to 145.
Other lots that might interest you
