Strauss & co - 11 November 2019, Johannesburg

101 SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS AND PARIS 90 Jack Lugg SOUTH AFRICAN 1924–2013 Nongqawuse’s Dream signed and dated 62; inscribed with the title and the date on the reverse oil on canvas laid down on board 59 by 74 cm R20 000 – 30 000 PROVENANCE The artist’s family. EXHIBITED Gallery 101, Johannesburg, Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, Drawing and Graphic Art by Jack Lugg , 1962. Ann Bryant Art Gallery, East London, Jack Lugg Retrospective , 2018. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum, Port Elizabeth, Jack Lugg Retrospective , 2018. Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, Jack Lugg Retrospective , 2019. LITERATURE The Art Critic (1962) The Star , Tuesday 26 June. Not illustrated. Sarah Sinisi (2019) The House that Jack Built: An Illustrated Biography of Jack Lugg , Cape Town: Jack Lugg Art Gallery. Illustrated in colour on page 162. ITEM NOTES This work forms part of the African Legends series the artist produced in 1962. The artist studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, under Matisse. 89 Gordon Vorster SOUTH AFRICAN 1924–1988 Landscape with Baobab Trees signed on the backing paper on the reverse oil on canvas laid down on board 53 by 102,5 cm R40 000 – 60 000 PROVENANCE Commissioned from the artist by the current owner. ITEM NOTES The artist visited Paris. In the 1950s, Jack Lugg relocated to the Eastern Cape, where his interactions with the local Xhosa people prompted a number of artworks centred around both Xhosa stories and traditions, and broader South African cultures and histories. The painting titled Nongqawuse’s Dream draws from historical accounts in both colonial records and oral recollections of generations of Xhosa storytellers. Nongqawuse, a prophetess, was told of a number of ancestral asseverations that instructed the Xhosa people to destroy their cattle, crops, and essentially, their livelihood – with the promise that the impending colonial power would be thwarted. Many followed through. Over time, weakened and with the prophecy unfulfilled, the Xhosa people were subdued by British invaders. Lugg tugs on a thread of this story, weaving together his own ideas and untangling aspects of the story through the medium of painting. He portrays the ephemeral, the intangible, and the spiritual, and said that ‘art is almost like a religion for me. I’m merely the vehicle through which this strong spirit drives’. 1 In this painting, tentative stokes and deep colours conjure a scene that is there but not quite there. The quiet, watery depths suggest dipping in and out of consciousness, or a state of dreaming and awakening. 1. Sarah Sinisi (2019) The House that Jack Built: An Illustrated Biography of Jack Lugg , Cape Town: Jack Lugg Gallery.