Strauss & co - 8 - 11 November 2020

27 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 726 Johannes Meintjes SOUTH AFRICAN 1923–1980 Jong Minnaars (Young Lovers) signed and dated ‘49 oil on board 47,5 by 47 cm R80 000 – 120 000 PROVENANCE Mr and Mrs Ray Edwards, Port Elizabeth. Stephan Welz & Co in association with Sotheby’s, Cape Town, 4 November 2003, lot 647. Stephan Welz & Co in association with Sotheby’s, Johannesburg, 27 March 2006, lot 380. Private Collection. EXHIBITED Arts Hall, Port Elizabeth, Johannes Meintjes Exhibition , 21 to 26 July 1952, catalogue number 24. LITERATURE Athol Fugard (1952) ‘Art and Morality’, Evening Post, Port Elizabeth, 25 July. Staff Reporter (1952) ‘Johannes could draw before he could write’, Evening Post, Port Elizabeth, 26 July, illustrated. Johannes Meintjes (1975) Dagboek van Johannes Meintjes: Deel III, Molteno: Bamboesberg, page 68. Johannes Meintjes catalogue number JM 274. Copy of the Evening Post newspaper clipping about the work adhered to the reverse: ‘I returned from Port Elizabeth yesterday at 8.45pm after a wild ten days in the Bay. My exhibition was in the local art gallery and shook PE to its foundations. There was a dispute over my work in the press, strings of letters attacking and more defending; columns published. I was on the front page of the Evening Post twice, and the correspondence was mainly about my painting Young Lovers . The dispute was also reported on the covers of other newspapers. In the evenings, hordes visited the gallery, mainly out of curiosity, because sales were not so good. However, the prestige and publicity were unmatched in my career. In those regions, I am now famous and could barely move in public.’ 1 1. Johannes Meintjes (1975) The Diary of Johannes Meintjes: Volume III, April 1951–1955, Molteno: Bamboesberg, page 68.