Strauss & co - 17 March 2014, Cape Town

307 755 Andrew PUTTER SOUTH AFRICAN 1965– Lydia Logie; Guillaume Chenude Chalezac, African Hospitality series, two executed in 2009 edition 1/8 and 2/8, with Certificates of Authenticity signed by the artist archival pigment ink on cotton rag paper, archivally framed with non-reflective museum glass both 74 by 52,6 cm (2) R35 000–45 000 NOTES Photography and compositing: Tony Meintjes Many Europeans were shipwrecked along the ‘Wild Coast’of South Africa in the 1600s and 1700s. Most fled or perished, but a handful were taken in by local Xhosa-speaking communities. Some of these European castaways formed deep ties with their African hosts, learning the language, marrying into the tribe, and dying as Africans. Andrew Putter’s portrayal of these real characters is clearly fictional yet he is careful to work within the space of the historically possible. Many of the adornments (both African and European) that appear on the models were sourced from important collections, and the choices of hairstyles, fabrics, flowers and plants were the result of research, collaboration and consultation with experts. Although the adornments and landscape are largely south-east African, the poses, compositions and lighting are heavily indebted to 18th-century English painting. Through the interplay of dissimilar cultures, Putter proposes that it is possible for new forms to emerge. http://www.stevenson.info/exhibitions/putter/ african_hospitality.htm