Provenance

The Collection of Professor Murray Schoonraad.

Literature

Warren Siebrits (ed) (2016)Walter Battiss: "I Invented Myself", exhibition catalogue, Johannesburg: The Ampersand Foundation, hardcover, similar examples illustrated in colour on page 35.

Notes

In 1933, Walter Battiss encountered damaged rock paintings on a farm in Malopodraai, Free State, an experience he described as discovering the "bigness of South Africa."¹ He found himself captivated by the skill in depicting forms as well as the tonal values achieved by these early painters.² Inspired by his experience of the caves, he began a self-directed study that would shape his artistic career. Over the next two decades, Battiss dedicated his spare time to locating, documenting, and publishing rock art across southern Africa, later becoming a noted authority on both rock engravings (petroglyphs) and rock paintings, examples of which can be seen in lot 4 and 5.

In 1938, Battiss embarked on his first trip to Europe, where he studied prehistoric cave art in southern France and absorbed modernist influences from the works of Matisse, Braque, and Picasso. It was after this trip that he began consciously incorporating primitive art forms into his mode of making until it became a definite part of his style.³

The present lot as well as lot 3 closely relate to The Early Men (1938), a seminal painting which introduced his iconic style of making. It combines elements of southern African rock art with the bold colour and compositional experimentation of European modernism, marking a pivotal moment in his artistic evolution and theme that he revisited many times over his career.

¹Murray Schoonraad. (1985) 'Battiss and Prehistoric Rock Art', in Walter Battiss, Karin Skawran and Michael Macnamara (eds.), Cape Town: A.D. Donker, Page 40.

² Warren Siebrits (ed) (2016) Walter Battiss: "I Invented Myself", exhibition catalogue, Johannesburg: The Ampersand Foundation, page 24.

³Ibid., page 26.