Artists

From Albert Adams to Portia Zvavahera, Strauss & Co maintains a detailed database of every artist sold at auction since 2009. Whether it is painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, ceramics or new media, this searchable database lists by artist every lot offered and provides aggregated data useful to collectors. Famous South African artists like William Kentridge, JH Pierneef, Alexis Preller and Irma Stern are introduced with helpful biographies along with the best contemporary artists.



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May Hillhouse

South African 1908-1989 


Mary Ellen Hillhouse, better known as May, was born in the Winelands in the Cape Province. She studied painting under Prof. John Oxley at the Natal Technical College between 1921 and 1926 and under Martin Bloch in London between 1938 and 1938. Martin Bloch’s colour-science research had a lasting influence on her approach to painting. May Hillhouse earned her living as a commercial artist and book illustrator, she was an art critic for The Cape Times and lectured in design at Michaelis School of Fine Art. Hillhouse was a member of The New Group, which was established in 1937 and was one of the most influential groups of artists in South African art history. In 1979 she was awarded the Cape Art Medal for Services to Art by the South African Association of Art, and in 1989 she received the Medal of Honour for Painting from the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.

May Hillhouse is best known for her easel paintings in oil, but she worked in numerous other media including watercolour and gouache, and as a graphic artist producing monoprints. Her early paintings were figurative and more illustrative, but as she experimented with colour and her brushstrokes became freer and more rhythmic and spontaneous, so her compositions became more abstract. Her mature works are an integration of abstract and figurative elements.

May Hillhouse exhibited extensively in group exhibitions from 1927 onwards, including numerous São Paulo Biennales, the 1964 Venice Biennale and The Republic Festival exhibitions in Pretoria and Cape Town in 1971 and 1974. Her work is represented in most major public art collections throughout South Africa.


67 lots offered      49.25% sold      ZAR 1 178 035
 

  Including Premium and VAT Results include Buyer's Premium and VAT
May Hillhouse; The Corner Café
11 Oct 2010
Sold for ZAR 42 332
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
May Hillhouse; Fruit Market
11 Oct 2010
Sold for ZAR 10 539
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
May Hillhouse; A House in Provence
15 Mar 2010
Starting at ZAR 70 000
 
May Hillhouse; The Strangers
15 Mar 2010
Sold for ZAR 111 400
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
May Hillhouse; Still Life with a Teapot and Flowers on a Checked Tablecloth
8 Oct 2009
Sold for ZAR 189 380
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
May Hillhouse; Still Life with Daffodils and a Blue Jug
9 Mar 2009
Sold for ZAR 83 550
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
May Hillhouse; Cottages Arniston
9 Mar 2009
Sold for ZAR 35 648
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT