Notes

In the mid-1980s, following a year in the United States, Norman Catherine began making painted sculptures using flattened tin. Some, like Boss (1986), a precursor to this lot, featured suit-wearing archetypes of power seated on wire chairs; others portrayed musicians and characters associated with folk art traditions. Polka dots were commonplace and here enliven the dark suit worn by this cigar-chugging chairman. In a 1990 interview Catherine spoke of how his studio process had shifted from creating precise finishes to the more rough-and-ready aesthetic evidenced in this lot: ‘I am no longer concerned with that clinical, crisp, flat, clean look, it’s now cruder, more handmade and playful too … I am now using a lot of tins, wood and wire, things from our throw-away society, so my work has become very textured, more three dimensional.’¹

Sean O’Toole

1. Jennifer Sorrell. (1990) ‘Catherine,’ in ADA,No. 8, January-June. Page 34.

Provenance

Purchased from the artist in 2006 by the current owner.

Literature

Sue Williamson. (1989) Resistance Art in South Africa, Cape Town & Johannesburg: David Philip. Illustrated in colour on page 128.

Hazel Friedman. (2000) Norman Catherine, Johannesburg: Goodman Gallery Editions. Illustrated in colour on page 66.