Cape Town, 11 October 2011

147 Still life painting, a special genre in the artist’s career, allowed him to break away from his painted and incised panels in order to explore a more painterly approach to art. In addition, his Nordic heritage enabled him to find beauty in everyday objects and marry the elegance of Scandinavian design to the genre of still life. These paintings also evoke the legendary hospitality of Cecil and Thelma Skotnes in which the simple pleasures of good food, excellent wine and percolated coffee were shared with family and friends. In Still Life with Figs (Lot 257) Skotnes foregoes the conventional cluster of objects for a stylish, horizontal arrangement in which each object is affectionately treated with individual care. Figs associated with sensuality are gathered into a transparent glass bowl while a single red flower, often favoured as a token of love, forms another focal point of the composition. The carefully constructed wood and painted brass frame, made by the artist especially for this work, adds a further personal touch and enhances its value. Still Life with a Bowl of Fruit and a Coffee Pot (Lot 256) demonstrates the ways in which Skotnes explored the European traditions of the still life genre. The bowl of fruit clearly owes a debt to Paul Cezanne’s painterly approach of broken brushstrokes that catch and reflect light. Notice how the artist creates depth through the considered placement of objects zigzagging back into space and then, in a more contemporary vein, brings our attention back to the surface by dividing the picture plane into flat areas of tonal colour. These warm tertiary colours and chalky whites create an atmosphere of repose and comfort. Loaves and Fishes (Lot 258) explores the symbolic significance of food, highlighting the sacramental association of food with qualities of generosity and care that emphasise humanity. As a young soldier in post-war Florence, Skotnes was exposed to the canon of Western religious art. Throughout his career he was commissioned to produce murals, including The Last Supper , completed in 1990 for Santa Sophia, the Institute for Catholic Education in Pretoria, to which this painting bears a strong resemblance. 257