Important South African and International Art

Live Auction, 12 November 2018

Day Sale

Sold for

ZAR 28 450
Lot 121
  • Judith Mason; Patrick Cullinan, Selected Poems, 1961–1991 (Artist's Book)
  • Judith Mason; Patrick Cullinan, Selected Poems, 1961–1991 (Artist's Book)
  • Judith Mason; Patrick Cullinan, Selected Poems, 1961–1991 (Artist's Book)
  • Judith Mason; Patrick Cullinan, Selected Poems, 1961–1991 (Artist's Book)
  • Judith Mason; Patrick Cullinan, Selected Poems, 1961–1991 (Artist's Book)


Lot Estimate
ZAR 20 000 - 25 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 28 450

About this Item

South African 1938-2016
Patrick Cullinan, Selected Poems, 1961–1991 (Artist's Book)

Forty lithographs, four drawings and an oil painting on canvas entitled Before the Rain Really Comes Down: The Quiet, signed and numbered 'Artist's Proof 3/8', edited and with an introduction by Stephen Watson, hand printed by Mark Atwood, bound with a wood marquetry and leather cover and published by The Artists' Press, Johannesburg, 1992.

book: offset lithographs on paper; cover: inlaid wood in two colours
39 by 29,5 by 4cm

Notes

In Judith Mason artist’s books, A Dante Bestiary and the Selected Poems of Patrick Cullinan, paintings and drawings are a continuation of the writing in each case, just as the writing is a prolongation of painting and drawing, in turn. She does not indulge one form in place of the other, or elucidate the one form of expression by means of the other. These two, painting and drawing, or art, and writing, are disciplines of being that share the same means. The painting and drawing and the writing are autonomous, yet intertwined.

The Bestiary celebrates Dante Alighieri’s famous poem, The Divine Comedy, and Mason draws all the creatures to which Dante refers: the lion, the leopard, the wolf, the eagle, horses, sheep and goats, as well as such mythological creatures as minotaurs and phoenixes. In explaining her choice of ‘beast’, Mason invokes a quote by Claude Levy-Strauss, saying that animals are not only good to eat, they are good to think with as well.1
The artist’s book, Selected Poems by Patrick Cullinan, contains 40 lithographs, four drawings and one painting.

Walking with and Away from Dante, is a miniature replication of an original large-scale installation, consisting of two panels, two metres by six metres, depicting Dante’s Inferno on the one side and Purgatory on the other. In front of these two panels, mobile forms were placed, referencing the manifold creatures and mythological fires to which Dante refers in The Divine Comedy. The present lot is a box set of books of various forms, including detailed texts written by Mason, digital prints and finely crafted ‘actors’ and ‘stage sets’. The whole work is a combination of exquisite creativity, craftsmanship and attention to detail.

1 Judith Mason (1989). ‘An Essay on Encountering Dante’s Creatures’, in Judith Mason, A Dante Bestiary, New York: Ombondi Editions.

Literature

Standard Bank Gallery (2008). Judith Mason: A Prospect of Icons, Johannesburg: Standard Bank Gallery, illustrated in colour on page 120.

View all Judith Mason lots for sale in this auction


Other lots that might interest you
Judith Mason, Ettienne Koekemoer and Daniël Jansen van Vuuren; Walking With and Away from Dante, Artist's Books and Assemblage
Judith Mason, Ettienne Koekemoer and Daniël Jansen van Vuuren
Walking With and Away from Dante, Artist's Books and Assemblage
ZAR 120 000 - 150 000
Judith Mason; Scarecrow, triptych
Judith Mason
Scarecrow, triptych
ZAR 30 000 - 50 000
David Hockney; Paper Pools
David Hockney
Paper Pools
ZAR 180 000 - 240 000
Jack Heath; The Day of Dingane
Jack Heath
The Day of Dingane
ZAR 80 000 - 120 000
Ephraim Ngatane; Figural Composition
Ephraim Ngatane
Figural Composition
ZAR 160 000 - 200 000
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef; Willow Trees, Rooiplaat
Jacob Hendrik Pierneef
Willow Trees, Rooiplaat
ZAR 2 000 000 - 3 000 000