Evening Sale

Live Virtual Auction, 16 September 2025

Evening Sale: Modern and Contemporary Art

Current Bid

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Lot 342
  • Strat Caldecott; Village Square
  • Strat Caldecott; Village Square
  • Strat Caldecott; Village Square


Lot Estimate
ZAR 100 000 - 150 000
Current Bid
Starting at ZAR 95 000
Location
Cape Town
Shipping
Condition Report
May include additional detailed images
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About this Item

South African 1886-1929
Village Square

signed with the artist's initials

oil on canvas
29 by 39,5cm excluding frame; 52,5 by 63 by 7cm including frame

Notes

In the present lot, Strat Caldecott presents a bustling streetscape filtered through the sensibility of early Cape Impressionism. The architecture, light earth-toned houses suggestive of Mediterranean vernacular forms, frames a roadway animated by pedestrians, dogs, and a pair of parked automobiles. The artist’s vantage is sharply defined by an ornate low fence in the foreground, which both fences him from the scene and invites us into it. The road draws the eye toward the left, culminating at a monumental fountain, its presence lending gravity and focal unity to the composition.

Caldecott is widely recognised as a leading exponent of French Impressionism at the Cape. Over more than a decade of training in Europe, at the l’Ecole des Beaux Arts amongst others, he absorbed the techniques of broken brushwork, vibrant light effects, and the complementary interplay of colour, traits he brought back with unmodified clarity to the South African setting. Here, those lessons are palpable. The brushwork is fluid and loosely handled, creating a lively surface that resists static description. The palette relies on warm ochres, creams, and soft siennas for the façades, offset by cooler shadows that lend depth to the architectural recesses. Highlights of blue and green suggest atmospheric movement, while the animated figures and dogs are rendered in brisk, gestural strokes, reinforcing the sense of fleeting encounter. The paint application itself mirrors the vitality of the square: a momentary slice of urban life preserved in shimmering colour and touch.

Although the architecture evokes the Mediterranean, there is no firm evidence that Caldecott travelled to Italy or Spain; his European years were centred in Paris. The stylistic echoes here may instead reflect the cosmopolitan influences he encountered in France, where exhibitions and artistic circles exposed him to a wide array of continental motifs. For South African audiences of the 1920s, such imagery would have carried both familiarity and aspiration – linking Cape Town’s own urban spaces with a broader, modern, international sensibility.

The cultural dimension of this Village Square lies in this balance between the local and the cosmopolitan. The presence of motorcars alongside pedestrians and animals speaks to the Cape’s rapid modernisation in the interwar years, while the ornamental fountain and low fence suggest a civic pride rooted in European precedent. In capturing this interplay, Caldecott situates the South African city within a larger narrative of modernity, casting its streets not only as lived spaces but also as markers of cultural sophistication.

Despite the absence of a date, the work’s scale and manner suggest a production from his later career, after his return to South Africa in 1923. Caldecott’s life was cut short in 1929, leaving behind a compact but striking oeuvre that translated Parisian Impressionist technique into distinctly South African registers. The present lot exemplifies this achievement, embodying both the technical brilliance and cultural resonance that define his contribution to early 20th century South African painting.

J du P Scholtz (1970) Strat Caldecott, Cape Town: A A Balkema

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