Notes

‘Whatever I am after is contained in an African shape ...’. So said Alexis Preller in a letter dated 1948.ⁱ Throughout his career he sought to devise forms that would embody the intrinsic qualities of Africa and to give life to the cultures he saw as unique and quite unlike those of Europe.

Since 1935 Preller had found the Ndebele settlements north of Pretoria fascinating and was the first professional artist to portray the people he referred to as ‘Mapogge’. His appreciation of their culture, their mural decoration, their dress and beadwork is clearly evident in Mapogga Women.

Preller provides an aerial viewpoint as if we, the spectators, are positioned atop a surrounding wall to view the ceremony unfolding below. Receding lines of the structures establish perspective and create the enclosing space of the lapa where the women gather after the completion of domestic chores. This gathering of women achieves ceremonial status through their positioning and their regalia.

ⁱ Esmé Berman and Karel Nel, A Visual Biography Alexis Preller, Africa, the Sun and Shadows, Johannesburg, 2009, page 139.

Compare with the Mapogga Women discussed in Esmé Berman and Karel Nel, A Visual Biography Alexis Preller: Collected Images, Johannesburg, 2009, pages 90-95.