Strauss & co - 5 June 2017, Johannesburg

254 276 Cecil Skotnes SOUTH AFRICAN 1926–2009 Figure Head carved, painted and incised wood panel, mounted on a steel base height: 168 cm, including base R60 000 – 90 000 PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist by Vittorino Meneghelli circa 1971 thence by descent to the current owner. This unusual shaped panel, Figure Head , by Cecil Skotnes was owned by the renowned collector Vittorino Meneghelli and was shown on the 1971 exhibition entitled Icons produced specifically for the Totem Meneghelli Gallery in downtown Johannesburg. In this engraved panel the head and body are conflated into a single iconic image. The graphic, circular eyes and long nose create a dominant gestalt which is visually buttressed by a series of organic, amorphic forms which amalgamate to create an abstract body, an imposing presence, a ‘figure head’. In most of Skotnes’s work his anthropomorphic forms are set off against a dark whittled background creating a mysterious yet physically tactile context. The Icons exhibition was characterised by a series of cut-out figures and heads. In these unusually shaped works the figures were cut free from background creating a series of striking shapes that were placed on stands or hung off the wall at 90 degrees enabling viewers to see both sides of the panel. This unusual departure in Skotnes’s oeuvre , I surmise, had much to do with the influence of Vittorino Meneghelli who as a gallerist often challenged and shifted his artist friends’ consolidated or fixed working practises, goading them to explore and experiment beyond their defined boundaries. Karel Nel ©The Estate of Cecil Skotnes | DALRO