Important South African & International Art, Decorative Arts & Jewellery

Live Auction, 14 March 2016

Session 4

Sold for

ZAR 1 023 120
Lot 508
  • Robert Hodgins; Three characters in search of a painter - and I know some smart-ass critic will say:


Lot Estimate
ZAR 600 000 - 800 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 1 023 120

About this Item

South African 1920-2010
Three characters in search of a painter - and I know some smart-ass critic will say: "Well, they didn't find him, did they?"

signed, dated 1998, inscribed with the medium and the title on the reverse

oil on canvas
91,5 by 121,5cm excluding frame

Notes

This extraordinary painting was clearly inspired by Robert Hodgins’ love of theatre and all things thespian. As Kendell Geers has pointed out:

It was through art museums, theatres, music, and literature that the young Robert Hodgins found his escape from the London of the Depression-era 1930s, an escape that no doubt still informs his conception of art and his understanding of its possibilities. … A vast library of cultural knowledge and points of reference is filtered through lived experience and deposited onto the white canvas, a battleground of countless possibilities but only one solution.[i]

The painting’s title is a playful reference to Six Characters in Search of an Author, Italian playwright, Luigi Pirandello's absurdist play, first performed in 1921, in which a theatre rehearsal is invaded by six unfinished characters who have lost their author and demand an end to their story.

With characteristic humour, Hodgins challenges distinctions between life and theatre, between reality and artifice. He also defies all preconceived ideas about art by allowing the process to dictate how the painting evolves. Anchored in a saturated red floor, against a limitless blue backdrop are three actors, bathed in the same yellow light reflecting off a proscenium arch draped in green and pink curtains. Sensational colour contrasts – scarlet, crimson, lemon and lime – reverberate across the surface creating an electric energy and setting the stage for some high drama to unfold.

[i] Kendell Geers. ‘Undiscovered at 82’ in Brenda Atkinson et al. (2002) Robert Hodgins, Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers. Page 65.

Literature

Brenda Atkinson et al. (2002) Robert Hodgins, Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers. Illustrated in colour on page 102.

View all Robert Hodgins lots for sale in this auction


Other lots that might interest you
James Thackwray; Washing Day
James Thackwray
Washing Day
ZAR 50 000 - 70 000
Frans Claerhout; Man with a Spade
Frans Claerhout
Man with a Spade
ZAR 30 000 - 50 000
Braam Kruger; Batman Awakens in Struisbaai
Braam Kruger
Batman Awakens in Struisbaai
ZAR 25 000 - 35 000
Alexander Rose-Innes; Out Shopping
Alexander Rose-Innes
Out Shopping
ZAR 70 000 - 90 000
Robert Hodgins; Bad Man with Great Threads
Robert Hodgins
Bad Man with Great Threads
ZAR 700 000 - 900 000
Robert Hodgins; Head
Robert Hodgins
Head
ZAR 250 000 - 350 000