Strauss & co - 8 - 11 November 2020

107 T O P L A C E A B I D C L I C K O N T H E R E D L O T N U M B E R 873 Walter Battiss SOUTH AFRICAN 1906–1982 In Africa 1973 signed oil on canvas 58 by 73,5 cm R350 000 – 500 000 PROVENANCE Private Collection Murray Schoonraad. ‘A work such as his In Africa cannot be seen as erotic, despite the attention given to sexual characteristics. Scratched onto a background of broadly applied strokes of brightly coloured paint, the lines conjure up a fertile crowd of human beings, their proximity within the tight space emphasising their physical awareness of each other. This is a luscious painting. Its decorative qualities are as delightful as its content. And one smiles when, on reading through the ingeniously related figures, one comes upon a girl whose breasts have risen vertically in a mood of special exuberance.’ 1 1. Raymund van Niekerk (1985) ‘Humour in Battiss’, in Karin Skawran and Michael Macnamara (eds) Battiss, Johannesburg: AD Donker, page 99. LITERATURE Karin Skawran (2005) Walter Battiss: Gentle Anarchist , Johannesburg: Standard Bank Gallery, illustrated in colour on page 101. Karin Skawran and Michael Macnamara (eds) (1985) Battiss, Johannesburg: AD Donker, page 99 and illustrated in colour on page 97 as plate 19.