Strauss & co - 5 June 2017, Johannesburg

53 54 Alan Crump SOUTH AFRICAN 1949–2009 Kill signed and dated 2000 watercolour on paper 58 by 77 cm R20 000 – 30 000 Alan Crump is perhaps best remembered as an important and influential figure in the South African art world – not least as Professor of Fine Arts at Wits University, where his commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative practice had a significant influence on generations of students. A major retrospective of his work was held at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and at the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown in 2011. Moving from an early interest in sculpture and printmaking, Crump distinguished himself ultimately as a watercolourist. Kill is an excellent example of his unrivalled mastery of this notoriously difficult medium, where the delicacy of the washes of colour and layering of brushstrokes belies the abjection of the dead and dismembered antelope. Crump was deeply concerned about human encroachment on nature, and made many works dealing with themes of destruction and loss. Subtle and elegiac, Kill is a powerful reminder of the vulnerability of nature, and a testimony to the artist’s consummate skill. Federico Freschi