Notes

In 1968, at age 56, Alexis Preller travelled to Greece and Turkey. He visited numerous sites associated with classical western antiquity, notably the sacred island of Delos, birthplace of Apollo, and archaeological site of Troy on the Turkish Aegean coast. Preller’s extended trip ushered in a period of renewal for the artist, notably in technical approach and thematic content. Upon his return, Preller began work on a new cycle of mythical paintings occupied with the biblical figure of Adam. His central motif was the heroic male nude. Preller’s inspiration for these partially formed human figures were the kouroi, highly stylised early-Grecian sculptures depicting unclothed men known as Apollo figures.

This work is the first of two esteemed works sharing the same title. Preller biographer Esmé Berman describes The Creation of Adam I and II as “exceptional achievements” that introduced the “major theme” of Preller’s late career: “The quality of the work lies in the grandeur of its conception. It does not present a mimetic image of a man, yet it conveys an immensely powerful idea of manhood.”¹ Although principally a figurative painter, Preller’s heroic figurative studies were complemented by abstract painterly marks and bands of expressive colour. In this work the resplendent figure is buttressed by the vertical orientation of the tachiste brushwork and Preller’s bold use of yellow and gold.

Preller’s interest in the formal proportions and latent eroticism of Grecian sculpture predated his 1968 visit to Greece, as is evident in canvases from the 1940s. While essentially mythical, his adaptive reuse of classical iconography implicitly challenged the prevailing orthodoxy. In 1957, a sandstone nude by Moses Kottler was removed from the newly-erected Population Registration Building in Pretoria. Preller published a letter in support of the artist. A decade later, shortly before his trip to Greece, Preller, a gay man, flew to Cape Town to speak before a Parliamentary Select Committee and voice his opposition to new legislation aimed at further marginalising the gay community. His bold experiments as an artist and principled stance as a citizen were necessarily coeval.

^1. Berman, Esménd and Nel, Karel. (2009) Alexis Preller: Collected Images, Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing. Pages 225-227

Provenance

Acquired by the present owner at an exhibition of Alexis Preller's work at the Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg in 1969

Exhibited

The Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, Alexis Preller Retrospective, 24 October to 26 November 1972, catalogue number 142, illustrated (unpaginated)

Literature

Berman, Esmé and Nel, Karel. (2009)  Alexis Preller: Africa, the Sun and Shadows, Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing. Illustrated on page 283.