Strauss & co - 26 - 28 July 2020, Online

171 393 Robert Gwelo Goodman SOUTH AFRICAN 1871–1939 Woodley, Durban oil on canvas 30,5 by 41 cm R100 000 – 140 000 While undoubtedly one of the country’s most accomplished painters, and a stand- out pastelist, Robert ‘Gwelo’Goodman too often escapes the attention he deserves. Immersive and memorable paintings of Cape Town landmarks, quick and icy Drakensburg streams, quiet and ambassadorial interiors, flashy still lifes, and Cape Dutch façades in dappled light, all typically animated with short, flickering strokes of pure colour, mark out a prolific and impressive career. Major private collections have inevitably included choice examples, while few state institutions are without noteworthy Gwelos in their survey holdings. The six genre-spanning examples laid out here (Lots 392 to 397), executed in different mediums and across four different cities, give just a glimpse of the artist’s skill, confidence and variety. It is worth remembering that Robert Goodman was born in Taplow in Buck- inghamshire in 1871. He moved with his family to the Cape in 1886 (the year Jo- hannesburg was established and the year another great landscape painter, Henk Pierneef, was born in Pretoria). He took up lessons with the experienced Liver- pudlian JS Morland, the first president of the South African Society of Artists, and at the turn of the century considered the doyen of local painters. With Morland’s financial help, and on his advice, the young Goodman continued his training at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1895 – guided by William Bouguereau – before moving to London in 1897, where he based himself until 1915. He travelled frequently during this period, mainly to the Continent, but also to India and back to South Africa occasionally. Returning to England from South Africa in 1901, where he had recorded scenes from the An- glo-Boer War front, he chose to adopt the name Gwelo in the hope of standing out in the London art scene. This necessitated his now famous ‘RGG’monogram. Gwelo travelled widely in Europe, and clearly had an affection for Italy. He visited Venice in 1910, and was taken by the dancing light so unique to the city. Flashing colours glinting off water, and shadows settling on Istrian stone, particularly suited his pastel style. Lot 397 catches the artist working en plein-air overlooking the Ponte de la Piavola, and justifies one of his often-quoted claims: ‘Pastel is capable of a richness and velvety depth of colour impossible in any other medium’. 1 In Lot 396 he chose to paint the Florentine skyline, across the Arno, probably from the Piazzale Michelangelo, in 1912. In this spirited picture the city is 392 Robert Gwelo Goodman SOUTH AFRICAN 1871–1939 Copper Pot with Aloes signed with the artist’s initials oil on canvas 58 by 45 cm R90 000 – 120 000 PROVENANCE Justin Mackeurtan, Esq. LITERATURE Joyce Newton Thompson (1951) Gwelo Goodman: South African Artist , Cape Town: Howard Timmins, page 145. A FOCUS ON ROBERT GWELO GOODMAN 1871–1939