Strauss & co - Wits Art Museum

WITS ARTS MUSEUM ENDOWMENT AUCTION 15 6 Alfred Thoba (b.1951) ANC GOVERMNET HAVE GIVEN SOUTH AFRICA WEMEN FREDOM OF EXCHANGING SEX HOMOSEXSUALITY, BUT HE DID NOT ASK WEMAN PARENT TO DESTROY THEIR CULTURAL LOBOLA [sic] Oil on canvas laid down on board 30 x 40 cm 13/08/2009 Donated by Warren Siebrits and Lunetta Bartz R30 000 – 40 000 Largely self-taught artist Alfred Thoba was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. He is famous for his politically charged paintings and was forced to hide his artworks from the police under the Apartheid regime. After the end of Apartheid – which Thoba celebrated in his now seminal work Thank you Mr. De Klerk for Handing Over South Africa to Nelson Mandela, Your Kindness is So Handy (1996) – Thoba’s works have remained politically and socially engaged. His recent works, including the painting on display, have dealt with the effects of Westernization and urbanization on rural and cultural values. Similar to the works made for the exhibition Making war to the world about images of god, this painting was inspired by newspaper articles that Thoba clips out and stores for later use, and is accompanied by a letter written by the artist himself.  LdB