Strauss & co - 7 March 2011, Cape Town

168 299 Stanley Faraday Pinker SOUTH AFRICAN 1924- The Patio, Nerja signed, inscribed with the title and the artist’s London address on the reverse oil on board 70 by 90cm R600 000–900 000 EXHIBITED Irish Exhibition of Living Art , Dublin, 1962 Stanley Pinker studied under Maurice van Essche at the Continental Art School in Cape Town before his departure for Europe in 1951. He lived mainly in London and in Nice until his return to South Africa in 1964. It is during this period that Pinker would have made this painting on a visit to southern Spain and certainly before its exhibition on the Irish Exhibition of Living Art that took place in Dublin in 1962. He was living in Camden at the time as we can deduce from his address, 2 Elaine Grove, London NW5, inscribed on the back of the painting. Nerja, on the Costa del Sol coast near Málaga, boasts kilometres of beaches with powdery sand and sparkling clear water. The old quarter of the town remains virtually unchanged with narrow, winding streets, whitewashed houses with wrought iron terraces overflowing with geraniums. The heart of Nerja is its spectacular Balcón de Europa, a magnificent promenade along the edge of a towering cliff, once the site of a great Moorish castle, with sweeping panoramic views of the Mediterranean and the small coves and beaches below, against an awe-inspiring backdrop of hazy, blue mountains. Pinker has painted The Patio, Nerja in such a way that we can easily imagine the artist and his friends relaxing on the verandah overlooking this splendour. He captures the mood of this idyllic coastal resort with the sensuous elegance typical of many French artists. Like Matisse he combines painterly abstraction and sun-drenched languor to great effect. The prevailing atmosphere of serenity derives from the simplicity of the blue and white tiled patio and the infinity of blue beyond the pergola and archways. They contrast with the intersecting planes and syncopated rhythm of red chairs in the lower left quadrant. Here a woman relaxes gazing out onto this scene of holiday bliss.