Strauss & co - 12 November 2018, Johannesburg

145 234 Dr. Phuthuma Seoka SOUTH AFRICAN 1922–1995 Page v Coetzee, two carved and painted wood Greg Page height: 78 cm; Gerrie Coetzee height: 90 cm (2) R40 000 – 60 000 LITERATURE Sue Williamson (1989). Resistance Art in South Africa, Cape Town: David Philip, illustrated in colour on page 47. NOTE American boxer Greg Page took the World Boxing Association Heavyweight title from Gerrie Coetzee on 2 December 1984 when he knocked out the South African champion in the eighth round. It might come as little surprise that the present lot, a depiction of a famous fight between black and white boxers at Sun City in 1984, features in Sue Williamson’s landmark book, Resistance Art in South Africa . The politically- loaded piece references the defeat that Greg Page, an African-American from Louisville, Kentucky, inflicted on the then WBA heavyweight champion, Gerrie ‘The Boksburg Bomber’Coetzee. The fight was eagerly anticipated in the townships – despite Page’s underdog status – and the result wildly celebrated there. Williamson’s description of the work follows the obvious political analogy, and is certainly worth noting: ‘In Dr Seoka’s lively and evocative piece, Coetzee is shown slack-jawed, sagging at the knees, while an agile Page, possibly feeling the great swell of black support behind him, moves in for the kill’. 1 1 Sue Williamson (1989). Resistance Art in South Africa , Cape Town: David Philip, page 47.