Modern and Contemporary Art: Evening Sale

Live Virtual Auction, 1 April 2025

Modern and Contemporary Art: Evening Sale

Current Bid

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Lot 253
  • Gladys Mgudlandlu; Mules Grazing
  • Gladys Mgudlandlu; Mules Grazing
  • Gladys Mgudlandlu; Mules Grazing


Lot Estimate
ZAR 90 000 - 120 000
Current Bid
Starting at ZAR 80 000
Location
Cape Town
Shipping
Condition Report
May include additional detailed images
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About this Item

South African 1925-1979
Mules Grazing

signed and dated 1970; inscribed with the artist's name and the title on a South African National Gallery label adhered to the reverse; inscribed with the artist's name, the date, title and medium on a label adhered to the reverse

gouache on paper laid down on board
50,5 by 80cm excluding frame; 89 by 118 by 3cm including frame

Literature

Elza Miles (2002) Nomfanekiso Who Paints at Night: The Art of Gladys Mgudlandlu, Cape Town: Fernwood Press, illustrated on page 77.

Provenance

Stephan Welz & Co, Cape Town, 29 May 2012, lot 533.

Exhibited

South African National Gallery, Cape Town, Gladys Mgudlandlu: A Retrospective of the South African Expressionist, January 2003.

Notes

In the present lot, Mgudlandlu depicts two mules grazing against a backdrop of tall trees and a distant horizon. The work is characteristic of her interest in capturing scenes of everyday life in various contexts, often populated by animals. It is rendered in her signature expressionist style, which typically includes rolling landscapes, plant life and perhaps most notably, birds - subjects that seemed to be her favourite. Unlike many of her other works, which often portray arid, dry landscapes, this painting presents a verdant scene, with no sandy or barren hills in sight.

As with much of her body of work, Mgudlandlu did not explicitly create overtly political work, yet the conditions of her surroundings inevitably found their way into her artworks. Animals, particularly cattle, were recurring motifs in her practice. She frequently drew inspiration from images of herdsmen tending to animals in the Eastern Cape, where she spent the first 27 years of her life. These images were often based on childhood memories from that environment.

This work highlights her remarkable sensitivity to colour, which is often vibrant and emotive, at times not necessarily realistic but instead focused on conveying the feeling that the image communicates.

Created in 1970, the present lot was painted around the same time as her famous Fetching Wood (1967), which is part of the Fort Hare Collection, and Three Men in Blue (1970), which is held in the Johannesburg Art Gallery Collection.

View all Gladys Mgudlandlu lots for sale in this auction