19th century, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art, Decorative Arts, Jewellery and Wine

Live Virtual Auction, 10 - 11 May 2020

Important announcement regarding the terms and conditions of this auction.

This auction is being conducted during a National State of Disaster in South Africa and in accordance with the various Regulations passed by the Government in South Africa in response. Presently, South Africa’s National State of Disaster is at Level 4, which limits certain commercial activity. Read More →

 Terms and Conditions for Online Auctions (517.08 KB)

 Privacy Policy for Online Auctions (198.46 KB)

Paintings Evening Sale

Sold for

ZAR 853 500
Lot 602
  • Cecil Skotnes; Brandberg Wall
  • Cecil Skotnes; Brandberg Wall
  • Cecil Skotnes; Brandberg Wall
  • Cecil Skotnes; Brandberg Wall


Lot Estimate
ZAR 500 000 - 700 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 853 500

About this Item

South African 1926-2009
Brandberg Wall

signed and dated 91

acrylic on panel, in the artist's handmade frame
122 by 134cm, including artist's frame; 129 by 139 by 5cm including frame

Notes

“In conversations over a long career, Skotnes has responded freely to questions relating to the origins of his landscapes ­­– a trip, an art historical influence, a commission – but he seems always to have preferred to discuss his work in the formalist terms of international Modernism. Thus, typically, as I take it, in conversations with me about two major landscape series, the twelve panels of the KWV Calendar series (1981) and the twelve Brandberg Wall paintings (1988-92), Skotnes has tended to position himself with his back to the paintings and, passing the back of his hand repeatedly across the surface of the work, he has emphasized the primary importance of the picture plane. On one register, the gesture demonstrates the means by which horizontal forms are rendered in the vertical plane but, on another, it evokes the image of the guard strenuously denying entry into the space of the landscape in either fictive or figurative terms. The gesture seems to confirm the abstract nature of Skontes’ landscapes. These paintings, therefore, do not suggest the intention of representing either the physical or the metaphysical properties of geography. The pictorial language is evidently self-referential and its meaning should be sought not in any external reality but rather withing the framework of the artist’s experience.”1

 

1. Michael Godby in Frieda Harmsen (ed.) (1996) Cecil Skotnes, Cape Town: South African National Gallery, pages 99 and 100.

Provenance

Die Kunskamer, Cape Town.

Private Collection.

Literature

Frieda Harmsen (ed.) (1996) Cecil Skotnes, Cape Town: South African National Gallery, illustrated on page 98.

View all Cecil Skotnes lots for sale in this auction



Other lots that might interest you
Gregoire Boonzaier; The Samovar
Gregoire Boonzaier
The Samovar
ZAR 40 000 - 60 000
Walter Battiss; Still Life with Vessels and Fruit
Walter Battiss
Still Life with Vessels and Fruit
ZAR 60 000 - 80 000
Larry Scully; Circles in Squares
Larry Scully
Circles in Squares
ZAR 50 000 - 70 000
Douglas Portway; Abstract with Red Circles
Douglas Portway
Abstract with Red Circles
ZAR 80 000 - 120 000
Douglas Portway; Abstract
Douglas Portway
Abstract
ZAR 70 000 - 90 000
Simon Stone; Chain
Simon Stone
Chain
ZAR 80 000 - 120 000