Strauss & co - 16 February 2019, Cape Town

117 92 Walter Oltmann SOUTH AFRICAN 1960– Handbell: Mouse 1995 signed edition 1/3 bronze on a wooden base height: 28 cm excluding base R30 000 – 50 000 LITERATURE Joseph Sherman (ed.) (1995) Three Sculptors, Three Readers. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand. Illustrated on page 35. ITEM NOTES Accompanied by a copy of Joseph Sherman (ed.) (1995) Three Sculptors, Three Readers, Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand. In 1994 and 1995 Oltmann explored the motif of a hand and a sleeve. In these works the upright hollow sleeve becomes equated with the body of a bell and the hand doubles as a handle. They are reminiscent of hands carved on Zulu sticks, to be grasped by the hand of the user. The relationship to representational carvings on African artefacts like sticks is further reinforced by various animal motifs balancing on the fingertips at the apex of distinctive versions of Handbell . Creatures like a chameleon, a snake, and in this lot, a mouse create diversity, not only in themselves, but also in the reflection of their different skin textures in the sleeve that forms the body of the bell. 1 1. Joseph Sherman (ed.) (1995) Three Sculptors: Three Readers , Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand. Page 34.