Important South African and International Art

Live Auction, 7 November 2016

Evening Sale

Sold for

ZAR 522 928
Lot 243
  • Walter Battiss; Genesis - Adam


Lot Estimate
ZAR 150 000 - 200 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 522 928

About this Item

South African 1906-1982
Genesis - Adam

signed

oil on canvas
34 by 50cm excluding frame

Notes

Walter Battiss's Genesis - Adam is a splendid celebration of the genesis of man, with three Adam figures given life in a glorious, paradisiacal setting. The artist used the technique of scraffito to score the male form, doves and foliage from three swathes of orange and yellow-sunrise hues that are framed in magenta.

Battiss built up the painting by layering smooth-surfaced fields of colour before deftly, with a single outline, carving from the paint the three Adam figures. The first figure is tender and genderless, the central Adam figure is muscular, poised, virile and assured of his masculinity, while the third is modestly crouching in the implied landscape with two doves and shrubs.

Provenance

The Collection of the Late Mr Chris (Tos) Du Toit.

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