Dr Matthys Johannes Strydom Family Collection, Evening Sale
Live Virtual Auction, 22 November 2022
Dr Matthys Johannes Strydom Family Collection Live Auction
About the SessionMatthys Strydom was a true connoisseur of South African art. As director of the well-known Strydom Gallery in George for more than 30 years, he was responsible for the selection of a wide variety of prime art works from all over the country for the annual exhibitions. The Dr Matthys Johannes Strydom Family Collection offered by Strauss & Co gives collectors and art lovers the chance to become part of this great selection from the art history of our country.
About this Item
signed and dated 51
Notes
“Van al ons kunstenaars, is Preller seker dié een van wie ek al die werke wat ek gesien graag self sou wou besit; behalwe sy skulpturele reliefwerke, waaraan ek tot nog toe, geen vattigheid kon kry nie. Waar ek kon, het ek van sy werk aangekoop vir die Strydom Galery en is baie dankbaar dat ons uiteindelik self vier werke van hom kan besit – wat ons nog elke dag kan geniet en algaande meer waardeer.”
“Of all our artists, Preller is probably the one of whom I would like to own all the works I have seen; except his sculptural relief works, which never appealed to me. Where I could, I purchased some of his work for the Strydom Gallery and am very grateful that we can finally own four works – which we can still enjoy every day and appreciate all the more.” — Dr Matthys J Strydom, 2021
Alexis Preller visited Paris in 1946 and when he “was not studying the riches at the Louvre, he often prowled the bookshops of Montmartre. One day, he came upon a rare treasure, a beautiful and very costly illustrated book on Hieronymus Bosch (c1450-1516). The Dutch master of fantasy and symbolism was a fascinating figure and an eminently compatible addition to his artistic pantheon. Alexis was enthralled…”1
The Garden of Earthly Delights is the modern title given to a triptych of oil paintings by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, painted between 1490 and 1510. This very large work, 220 by 390cm, is Bosch’s most famous and is rendered in incredible detail and incandescent colours, something that has also become synonymous with Preller’s oeuvre. Three paintings by Preller, evocative of the oval procession of riders in the upper third of the central Bosch panel, have come up for auction with Strauss & Co, two small scale paintings, Horseman and Boy on a Horse, both painted in 1950, and now the company is delighted to bring to market The Rider of 1951.
1. Esmé Berman and Karel Nel (2009), Alexis Preller, Africa, the Sun and Shadow, Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing, page 105.
Please see the e-catalogue to view additional images discussed in the text.
Provenance
Ashbey's, Cape Town, date unknown, lot 14.
Strydom Art Gallery, George.
Dr Matthys Johannes Strydom Family Collection.
Literature
Matthys Strydom (2021) Nog Stories Teen My Muur, George: LW Hiemstra Trust, illustrated in colour on page 99.
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