Strauss & co - 20 May 2013, Johannesburg

110 223 Robert Gwelo GOODMAN south african 1871–1939 Hermanus signed with the artist’s initials; part of the artist’s letterhead Cannon House, Newlands Avenue, Newlands, pasted on the reverse signed by the artists, inscribed with the title and dated 1924–35 oil on canvas 83 by 118 cm R400 000–600 000 provenance The Collection of Herbert Hildeyard Phillips (Esq), Bulawayo The Collection of Mr J.G. van Weers Sold: Sotheby Parke Bernet, Johannesburg, 3 March 1975, lot 175 Sold: Sotheby’s, Johannesburg, 17 May 1983, lot 100 Private Collection literature Newton Thompson, Joyce. Gwelo Goodman: South African Artist , Timmins/George Allen & Unwin, Cape Town, 1951, mentioned on page 148 notes Between 1901 and 1915 Robert Gwelo Goodman had slowly established a reputation as a landscape painter in England and, in 1915, he won a Gold Medal for two pastel drawings at the San Francisco International Exhibition. It was during this year that he decided to settle in South Africa. These early works were the forerunners of his more mature style of paintings for which he is today lauded. Exhibited at Gwelo’s final Pretoria exhibition in 1935, Hermanus was the result of lengthy working and reworking. In an interview given to the Press at the time, it was reported that: ‘There is a scene at Hermanus on which he has been at work at various times for the last eleven years. He has repainted it seven times, and got it right only this year during a chance visit to Hermanus.’ 1 The Pretoria City Council wanted to buy this picture but Gwelo refused to wait while they made up their minds and it was sold to a private buyer. Hermanus has all the trademarks for which Gwelo has become renowned: a rich tapestry of brushwork, the keenly observed sea including the soft white spray of breaking waves, the sensitive capturing of the light, the clear South African sky. Gwelo achieved this intensity by priming his canvasses with van Dyck brown on top which he laid his broken multi-tonal strokes. In order to convey the brightness and the glare of local sunlight, he was forced to intensify his palette, which accounts for the characteristic Goodman signature – of vibrant orange highlights against mauve middle tones and dark brown shadow. 2 1. Newton Thompson, Joyce. Gwelo Goodman: South African Painter. Howard Timmins, Cape Town, 1951, page 107 2. Berman, Esmé. Art & Artists of South Africa ¸ Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House, 1994, page 185