Notes

Cecil Skotnes’s unusually shaped Figure Head II and Reclining Figure, like the work Figure Head that was sold on Strauss & Co’s June 2017 auction, were owned by the renowned collector Vittorino Meneghelli. Similar to Figure Head these works were shown on the 1971 exhibition entitled Icons, produced specifically for the Totem Meneghelli Gallery in downtown Johannesburg. In Figure Head the engraved head and body are also conflated into a single iconic image, but in the instance of Figure Head II the head is the dominating focus and the body is absent. The graphic, half circular eyes cropped by a white mask that accentuates the protruding nose create a dominant gestalt that is visually buttressed by a series of organic, amorphic forms which amalgamate to create an abstract head, an imposing presence or ‘figure head’. In most of Skotnes’s work his anthropomorphic forms are set off against a dark whittled background, creating a mysterious yet physically tactile context. The Icons exhibition was characterised by a series of cut-out figures and heads. In these unusually shaped works the figures were cut free from the background creating a series of striking shapes that were placed on stands or hung off the wall at 90 degrees enabling viewers to see both sides of the panel. This unusual departure in Skotnes’s oeuvre had much to do with the influence of Meneghelli who, as a gallerist, often challenged and shifted his artist friends’ consolidated or fixed working practises, goading them to explore and experiment beyond their defined boundaries.

Provenance

The Estate of Vittorino Meneghelli, Johannesburg.

Exhibited

Totem-Meneghelli Gallery, Johannesburg, Icons, 1971.