Strauss & co - 12 October 2015, Cape Town

500 Jean Max Friedrich WELZ SOUTH AFRICAN 1 900-1975 The Clarinet Player signed and dated 47 oil on paper 65 by 37cm R80 000–120 000 LITERATURE Elza Miles, (1997) The World of Jean Welz, Stellenbosch: Fernwood Press. Page 50 and illustrated in colour on page 82, figure I. In Hugo Naudé’s house, where the Welz family lived from 1943, Jean Welz created a studio upstairs, where both art lessons and musical evenings were held. Considering that Welz himself played the violin and that his violin was one of his most prized possessions, it is not surprising that his portrayals of musicians would be sympathetic. Elza Miles, in her monograph of the artist, notes, “when the woman picks up the instrument, the emotional side of her identifies with the sound that it makes. The moment of creative union between artist and instrument was consolidated by Welz in drawings, sketches, a painting (which he destroyed with numerous over-paintings) and a spontaneous oil on paper, Clarinet player . Miles: page 50. In the year in which he painted this work, Welz was awarded the Silver Medal of the South African Academy as official recognition for his art. PROPERTY FROM THE RODWELL HOUSE COLLECTION | LOTS 495-510 209