Strauss & co - 5 June 2017, Johannesburg

23 6 Enslin du Plessis SOUTH AFRICAN 1894–1978 The House of Revel Fox, Newlands Cape Town signed and dated ‘75; signed and inscribed with the title in another hand on the reverse oil on paper laid down on board 49,5 by 75 cm R25 000 – 40 000 Enslin du Plessis remains one of South Africa’s most underappreciated painters. It is telling that Clive Bell, the Bloomsbury art critic, who was naturally drawn to the French Post-Impressionists, repeatedly singled out du Plessis for high praise. Having settled in London in 1922, and having only started to paint seriously in 1928, du Plessis developed an aesthetic midway between Walter Sickert and the great French Intimists, Eduoard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard. He was at his best when painting small-scale, homely interiors with his flickering and twisting brushstrokes. The present lot looks into the empty, Newlands home of the architect Revel Fox. The room might seem quietly uninhabited, but the artist establishes an intimate connection with the owner through the close observation of his possessions and style: we see Fox’s favourite pictures on the wall, his exposed herringbone brickwork, his African curios, his recently picked flowers and his mid-century furniture.