Important South African & International Art, Decorative Arts & Jewellery

Live Auction, 10 October 2016

Important South African & International Art

Sold for

ZAR 545 664
Lot 554
  • Alexis Preller; Egrets


Lot Estimate
ZAR 150 000 - 200 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 545 664

About this Item

South African 1911-1975
Egrets

signed and dated '53

oil on canvas laid down on board
17 by 28,5cm excluding frame

Notes

Slender, needle-beaked egrets were an important motif for Alexis Preller, and after including one for the first time in his 1947 painting Basuto Allegory, the birds re-appeared in The Small White Bull, The Herd Boy, The Haycart, Sweet Bird of Youth, and even in the artist’s monumental Discovery mural for the former Transvaal Provincial Administration Building in Pretoria. Preller developed and maintained a deep interest in the African mystique, and he was well aware of the symbolic connection among certain African communities between the egret and their ancestral spirits. While the birds regularly took up a secondary position in his compositions, often punctuating the action, they were very much the focus of this painting. An ancestral presence is suggested as each elegant bird tilts its head expectantly heavenward.

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