Notes

This lot is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Dr. A J Werth, Director of the Pretoria Art Museum (1963-1991).

Alexis Preller’s Two Urn Heads is undated but motifs such as the very distinctive elongated heads, the deep pink shroud daubed with aquamarine petals surrounding both heads, as well as the blue and gold hues suggest that he painted this work very soon after his return in 1943 from Italy where he had been interned as a prisoner of war. With this work Preller poignantly captures the physical manifestation of the young woman accompanied by a spiritual manifestation that emerges organically from the waters of a pool.

Two Urn Heads would seem to be a precursor to Preller’s prisoner of war series, including Remembrance of Things Past of 1943, Prisoner of War of the same year and ultimately Fleurs du Mal of 1944.  Throughout his life Preller made several studies of the elongated or urn-shaped head, with its outline also resembling the Barotse pot, the first following a visit to the Congo in 1939. These early depictions were only the beginning of a remarkable series of entirely original conceptions, the germ of the distinctive iconography through which Preller would give form to his poetic vision.

Esmé Berman and Karel Nel. (2009) Alexis Preller: Africa, the Sun and Shadows, Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing, page 58 and 59.

Esmé Berman and Karel Nel. (2009) Alexis Preller: Africa, Collected Images, Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing, page 17 and 19.