Strauss & co - 18 March 2019, Cape Town

148 518 Judith Mason SOUTH AFRICAN 1938–2016 God is a Rumour II signed mixed media on paper 79,5 by 69 cm (2) R  –   PROVENANCE Purchased from Lieschen Heinze, Chelsea Gallery, Darling, in 2005. Accompanied by a Judith Mason hand-made booklet inscribed: From a remark by Dennis Potter, the British playwright, in an interview with the BBC. ‘The head spreading the ‘rumour’ is that of the wise crone, or a sybil, or sophia, hiding behind a veil, in front of which is an early Egyptian fertility figure in outline.’ Above her, against a pattern derived from mosque decoration are the four pointed ideogram of the ‘nyame dua’, the Supreme God of the Akan in West Africa; a Hopi labyrinth signifying Mother Earth; the Star of David; tantric diagrams and stars. At the bottom left hand is an image loosely derived from an Indian Naga deity figure of the 2nd century AD, and Mohammed, veiled and a little alarmed, perhaps, at all this femininity, stands at the bottom right-hand corner. This image is taken from a 17th century Turkish illustration. The scorch marks of the flat iron attest to the household goddess, the threads thro’the mouth signify the resistance to women as preachers. Judith Mason 519 Judith Mason SOUTH AFRICAN 1938–2016 Horse signed oil on board 99,5 by 99,5 cm R  –  