Strauss & co - 13 November 2017, Johannesburg

183 255 Normand Robertson Dunn SOUTH AFRICAN 1917–1988 Shrine with Medallions signed and dated 67; signed and inscribed with the title on the reverse oil on canvas 75 by 90,5 cm R50 000 – 70 000 LITERATURE Chris Perold. (2015) The Private World of Norman Dunn , Pietermaritzburg: Otterley Press. Illustrated in colour on page 21. Otto Schröder. (1969). Quinquennial Exhibition of South African Art 1969 . A similar example ( Paw-paw Tree with Shields ) is illustrated, catalogue number 16. Normand Dunn, after winning a scholarship to the Edinburgh College of Art, and serving with distinction in the Burmese campaign during World War II, took up the position of art master at Hilton College in 1947. In addition to his teaching duties he wrote a weekly column for the Natal Witness and, under the pseudonym Falk, provided satirical cartoons for the paper. Appropriately, and having already committed himself to an African aesthetic, Dunn held a joint exhibition with Walter Battiss at the Neil Sackler Gallery in Pietermartizburg in 1961. Then, and throughout that decade, his work might be seen as a unique, decorative, startlingly-coloured conflation of bold Zulu motifs, classical Aegean friezes and a European Gothic spirit. African Trident (Lot 256) and Five ‘Basuto Gothic’ Figures (Lot 257) are fine, rare examples from this period, as is Shrine with Medallions (Lot 255), which closely resembles Paw-paw Tree with Shields purchased for the nation by the then South African National Gallery in 1969. Fisherman’s Cottage (Lot 258) is evidence of Dunn’s dramatic shift in style and scale after moving to his Swellendam cottage in 1975 and beginning his professional relationship with Everard Read. The work from this latter period of the artist’s career, typified by everyday views from the surrounding towns and nearby coastal villages, is memorable for its folksy subjects, intense, whimsical colour, close, humorous observation, and warm, moral anecdotes. A SELECTION OF ARTWORKS FROM KWAZULU-NATAL | LOTS 239–298