Literature

Warren Siebrits (ed) (2016) Walter Battiss: "I Invented Myself", exhibition catalogue, Johannesburg: The Ampersand Foundation, another impression from the edition illustrated in colour on page 106 with the title 'Woman, Deer and Salamander', cat. no. 1971.11 S6.

Provenance

The Collection of Professor Murray Schoonraad.

Exhibited

The Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, Walter Battiss Retrospective, 1979-80, cat. no. 115.

Notes

In 1968, the Transkei government allowed Battiss to cut 30 feet of a giant Boxwood tree into end-grain sections for a series of prints. He left them to age for three years, making them ready for engraving by 1971.

Battiss believed this rare wood was ideal for fine engraving. He produced many prints during this period, with the current lot and lot 40 being compelling examples. The natural material shapes each work, influencing both form and composition-the thicker the woodblock, the lower it came from on the trunk.¹

¹Warren Siebrits (ed) (2016) Walter Battiss: "I Invented Myself", exhibition catalogue, Johannesburg: The Ampersand Foundation, page 106.