Strauss & co - 8 - 11 November 2020

80 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 841 Hugo Naudé SOUTH AFRICAN 1868–1941 Wood Carriers signed; Die Kunskamer gallery label bearing artist’s name and title adhered to the reverse oil on canvas 57,5 by 50 cm R250 000 – 350 000 PROVENANCE Acquired from the artist by NC Krone. Thence by descent to the current owner. Naudé was the first South African artist to study overseas, doing so at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Although this academic training took the form primarily of figural work, focusing on portraiture, he was exposed to Romanticism and Realism which were the prevailing art movements of the time. After his time in Munich, in 1895 while painting at Fontainebleau, Naudé began to gravitate towards Realism as it was driven by social reform and strong humanistic sentiment. Many of his paintings of figures in landscapes can be traced to this movement. In the manner of Courbet and Millet, Naudé’s Wood Carriers (lot 841) makes heroic the labour of workers through the monumental scale of the women in their billowing drapery and the vivid palette employed. By comparison in the way of a rare departure, Satyrs in a Forest (lot 842) is a Romantic painting informed by the popular resurgence in Victorian times of antique myths. Presumably painted at Fontainebleau with European light and atmosphere and dated in Worcester a year after his return from Europe in 1897, it speaks of the bohemian life he left behind at France. Wildepad in die Knysna Bos (lot 843) is painted in the artist’s more characteristic style, which he developed over his long career and through exposure to the Impressionists and Post Impressionists while visiting England and Europe in 1913 with his nephew, Philip du Toit, as well as with NC Krone, on their Grand Tour of Europe. This large-scale work, illuminated by morning light, awakens in great contrast under the vibrancy of Naudé’s brush marks and dynamic paint application. The present lot and the two on the opposite page were acquired by NC Krone from the artist and display the artist’s evolving style from his early influences to maturity.