Strauss & co - 7 November 2016, Johannesburg

168 231 Walter Whall BATTISS south african 1906–1982 Homage to Cavafy signed and inscribed with the title oil on canvas 50 by 60,5 cm R 250 000 – 350 000 provenance The Collection of the Late Mr Chris (Tos) Du Toit. exhibited Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, Walter Battiss: Gentle Anarchist , 20 October – 3 December 2005 literature Karin Skawran. (ed.) (2005) Walter Battiss: The Gentle Anarchist , Johannesburg: The Standard Bank Gallery. Illustrated in colour on page 45. Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933) was a Greek poet, journalist and civil servant. His consciously individual style earned him a place among the most important figures not only in Greek poetry, but in Western literature too. His poems were typically concise but intimate evocations of real or literary figures from Greek culture, while his thematic focus was more often than not concerned with the future, sensual pleasures, the moral character and psychology of individuals, homosexuality, and nostalgia. Battiss was certainly moved by Cavafy’s poetry, and the homage he paid the Greek in the current lot, defined by a fragmentary composition, stolen glimpses, naked flesh and vignettes of cool pattern, might hint at the artist’s personal interpretation of Cavafy’s oeuvre .