Notes

Conceived in 1902, with a certain nod to Auguste Rodin’s John the Baptist Preaching (1877), Bushman Hunter remains one of Van Wouw’s most beloved desk-scale bronzes. Beautiful, dynamic and compelling, and rendered in jaw-dropping detail, the work will always mark a highpoint of twentieth-century South African sculpture. Recent research by Gerard de Kamper, chief curator of collections at the University of Pretoria, has shed amazing new light on the casting history of the work: between 1905 and 1928, the syndicate of businessmen bankrolling Van Wouw’s output ordered 28 casts of Bushman Hunter from the Nisini foundry on the Via del Babuino in Rome. This was significantly more than the next most popular works – Kruger in Exile (13) and Skapu Player (13) – and gives some indication of the rarity of the bronze, particularly a century-and-a-quarter later. On the best Bushman Hunter castings from Nisini – and the present example is magnificent – one can sense the figure’s pumping pulse. Moreover, the sinews on his neck are pronounced, his collar bones catch the light, the skin stretches tightly across his chest, veins bulge down his forearms, and wrinkles spread around his knees and ankles. The model for the work was a Khoisan man called Korhaan. According to Gordon Leith, the renowned South African architect and one-time pupil of Van Wouw, Korhaan came from the Groot Marico area to model and work for Van Wouw in Pretoria.

Thanks to Gerard de Kamper for assistance with cataloguing this lot.

Literature

Alexander Duffey (2008) Anton van Wouw: The Smaller Works, Pretoria: Protea Book House, another cast illustrated on pages 36 to 38.

J Ernst (2006) Anton van Wouw: 'n Biografie deur J. Ernst, Vanderbijilpark: Corals Publishers, another cast illustrated on page 66.

Stephan Welz (1989) Art at Auction in South Africa, Johannesburg: A D Donker, another casting illustrated on page 68.

University of Pretoria (1981) Anton van Wouw 1862-1945 en die Van Wouwhuis, Pretoria: Butterworth & Co, another cast illustrated on page 27, plate A1.