What the Fook? The Life and Work of Walter Battiss
Timed Online Auction, 12 - 30 June 2025
What the Fook? The Life and Work of Walter Battiss
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About this Item
signed, dated 1938 and inscribed with the title
Provenance
The Collection of Professor Murray Schoonraad.
Notes
Battiss first developed his immense interest in primitive art after his first move to Koffiefontein in 1917 during his childhood. Soon after, in 1919, his family settled in Fauresmith in the Orange Free State. It was here that he completed his education.
Battiss, growing up in an English-speaking household, felt somewhat alienated in this new town. His interest in art was also not encouraged, and he spent much time alone due to his peers' disinterest. After matriculating in 1923, he left for Rustenburg to pursue a career as a clerk in the Magistrates Court.1 He began formal art studies in 1929 at the Witwatersrand Art School, where he studied drawing and painting, followed by the Johannesburg Training College, from which he earned a teacher's diploma. Battiss continued his studies while working as a magistrate's clerk, and finally obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts at the University of South Africa at the age of 35.2
The present lot can be assumed to have been created on a visit to his home town of Fauresmith in 1938, shortly before he published his first book, 'The Amazing Bushman'.
1The Walter Battiss Company and The Ampersand Foundation (2016) Walter Battiss: "I Invented Myself", exhibition catalogue, page 60.
2(2011) South African History Online, Walter Battiss, online, https://sahistory.org.za/people/walter-battiss, accessed 30 May 2025.