Strauss & co - 21 October 2013, Cape Town

724 Walter Whall BATTISS SOUTH AFRICAN 1906-1982 Nyasaland Lake Scene signed oil on board 40 by 63cm R300 000 – 400 000 Battiss produced many oils in the late ‘50s and ‘60s in which African figures constitute the subject matter, while the style and method show the assimilation and adaptation of Rock art. … All illusionistic and perspectival Western references have been discarded and the entire format has been used to convey a sense of continuous, communal activity. The figures are of uniform size, no one unit assumes focal dominance, and movement across the picture plane is generated by colour and linear rhythm. Arnold, Marion. (1985) ‘Confronting Paintings’. In Skawran, Karin and Macnamara, Michael. (eds.) Walter Battiss, Craighall: AD Donker. Page 61. 276