Prelude to Podlashuc
Timed Online Auction, 31 January - 17 February 2025
Prelude to Podlashuc: A Glimpse into the Creative World of Alexander Podlashuc
About the SessionThis curated selection of works by Alexander Podlashuc highlights his sharp observations of industry, Cape Town’s cityscapes, and everyday still lifes. His background in graphic arts and British Modernism shaped a style that blends bold composition with incisive social commentary. Podlashuc’s work captures South Africa’s shifting landscapes—both physical and political—through industrial scenes, harbours, and domestic settings. Each lot in this sale is thoughtfully narrated by the artist’s son, Leopold, who provides insight into the personal and historical contexts that shaped his father’s vision. His reflections reveal the depth behind Podlashuc’s uniquely personal style. Above all, this collection celebrates an artist whose silenced voice continues to echo powerfully throughout South Africa’s art community.
About this Item
signed and dated '92; inscribed with the title and numbered 9 and 2 on the reverse
Notes
‘Social realism tinged with satire is often found in Podlashuc's (Pod) work. As a labourer rebuilding London in the late 1940s, Podlashuc (Pod) won an art competition for his illustrations of English working-class life. The prize took him to a Socialist Youth Congress in Poland. The smouldering carcass of the country that triggered World War II, now abandoned by the West, struck a nerve. While Clement Attlee introduced the Welfare State to Britain, boosting working class conditions at home, international working-class solidarity evaporated. Britain First! And in the colonies, South Africa First! Australia First! And only for some. Hegemonic Labour was no less the hegemon. In South Africa, Apartheid came into being. Jobs were created by the National Party government to maximise the employment of poor whites: the railways, police, prisons and harbour services brimmed with white men earning a salary just for being white. The ‘tapiologist’ (despite being necessary) was spoken of derisively to employ the otherwise unemployable and ensure the National Party of election victory. All the while made invisible by Apartheid, the real working class, the black majority, laboured in abjection. Podlashuc (Pod) began to paint stone-faced white workers with the same stone-face as the dominee and politician. Apartheid came and went, until one day in 2001, at Sydney’s Central Station, Pod saw a familiar face.’—Leopold Podlashuc, 2025.
Provenance
The Podlashuc Collection.