Press Office
2010 Archive
- Dec 01. Chairman's Review 2010
- Dec 01. Voorsitters Oorsig
- Nov 12. A sparkling array
- Nov 01. Art market grabs investor's imagination and opens pockets at Strauss & Co Auction
- Oct 19. Millions for South African Paintings
- Oct 18. Strauss & Co set a new record for South African art
- Oct 11. New record for South African art
- Sep 23. Top South African Paintings at Strauss & Co's October Auction
- Aug 31. Pierneef attracts wide interest
- Aug 30. Ruth First and Lilian Ngoyi Celebrated in Artwork at Auction
- Aug 03. Jewellery Week at Strauss & Co
- Jul 23. Another Irma Stern Still Life Poised to Break Auction Records
- Jul 23. Valuation Day at The Marine, Hermanus
- Jun 26. Stanley Pinker's, The Wheel of Life, 1974, to be offered for sale in Cape Town on 11 October 2010
- Jun 25. Forthcoming Cape Town Auction
- May 30. Rhodes statue led Welz to success
- May 25. Four South African Still Lifes sell for R22 million
- May 18. Auction of Important South African, British and Continental Paintings and Sculpture
- May 10. Maud Sumner – "a sound investment"
- May 03. Important work by Deborah Bell on auction at Strauss & Co, Johannesburg, 24 May 2010
- May 02. Artists with a passion for Africa
- Mar 25. Irma Stern - Still Life with Dahlias and Fruit
- Mar 16. "Bad News" proves to be good news
- Feb 08. Anton Van Wouw - Bad News
- Feb 08. Jane Alexander - Racework
- Feb 01. Edith Dodo Estate Collection
Important work by Deborah Bell on auction at Strauss & Co, Johannesburg, 24 May 2010
May 3, 2010 [ Archived ]
Long-time friend and artistic collaborator with Robert Hodgins and William Kentridge on a number of print and film projects, Deborah Bell has developed her own distinctive style that explores the entanglements of histories and cultures by drawing on a diversity of imagery that includes African, Asian, Middle Eastern and European sources. Her approach is less academic than intuitive and imaginative
Journey of the Magus III forms part of a series of works entitled The Journey Home, which was exhibited at Bell’s first solo show at Art First, London in 2000. The fact that this work was selected for the cover of Bell’s monograph is an indication of its importance within the artist’s oeuvre. As editor and primary contributor to the book, Pippa Stein pointed out, “making art is her way of penetrating the material world as deeply as she can, in order to grasp the invisible path which is taking her on what she calls ‘the journey home’”.
Describing how the artist shifted in the 1990s from oil painting to mixed media with watercolour washes in order to find a new form through which to explore the relationship between the spiritual and the material, Stein explains that these works “show each horse and rider firmly on the path to spiritual enlightenment and renewal, accompanied by the ever-present shadows of history”.
Drawing on staffs and veranda posts, Bell adheres to the proportions of West African sculpture, where the head, associated with destiny and the locus of the spirit, measures one third of the body. Carried on the head is a ceramic vessel, which though a symbol of completeness, bears the marks of cracking, suggesting the weathering of time and conflict.
Caption:
Deborah Margaret Bell (South African 1957-)
JOURNEY OF THE MAGUS III 1999/2000
signed and dated 1999/2000
charcoal, gouache, watercolour, pastel and collage
160 by 120cm
R 70,000 - 100,000
Exhibited
The Journey Home: New Work, Art First, London, 2000
Unearthed, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, 2001
Literature
Pippa Stein, Deborah Bell, TAXI-010, David Krut Publishing, 2004.
Provenance
Art First, London
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Enquiries
Stephan Welz
Mary-Jane Darroll
011 728 8246
jhb@straussart.co.za
www.straussart.co.za
