Notes

Artist, scholar, educator, author – Walter Battiss was the proverbial Renaissance man who excelled in many spheres of life and succeeded in opening the eyes of many to the beauty surrounding them – beauty they may have missed were it not for his vision and insights. Battiss’s role as a teacher at Pretoria Boys High has assumed legendary proportions and many former pupils, whether or not they have gone on to careers in the arts or have become art collectors, remember him with great fondness as an inspirational force in their lives.

In 1938 he was a co-founder of the New Group with Gregoire Boonzaier, Freida Lock, Terence McCaw and others. By 1939 he had published his first book on rock art, The Amazing Bushmen, a subject that had fascinated him since he first saw rock engravings as a child. In 1940 he married the artist Grace Andersen and was awarded his BA Fine Arts by the University of South Africa.

This painting produced in 1941 is an excellent example of Battiss’s early work showing his skill as a portraitist. His naturalistic treatment, that focuses on adhering to the physical appearances of observed reality and avoids idealisation, is the perfect vehicle for capturing not only accurate detail but the character of the sitter. Her strong features and expressive hands are drawn with great sensitivity. Clothed in dark blue that accentuates her substantial presence, she fixes her steadfast gaze on some distant horizon. With great empathy, Battiss has produced a compassionate portrait that emphasises fortitude, resilience and selflessness.

In an illustrious career that spanned many decades, Battiss exhibited in several international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale in 1950, 1952 and 1954; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London in 1948 and 1956; the Sâo Paulo Biennale in 1957, 1961, 1963 and 1965 and the Royal Society of Arts, London in 1959. His work is represented in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Albertina Graphhische Sammlung, Vienna; Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique and the Cincinatti Art Museum, amongst others as well as in many local public and private collections.

Literature

Murray Schoonraad, Walter Battiss,  C. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, 1976, page 27, illustrated.