17th Jul, 2017 17:00

Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art

 
Lot 123
 
Lot 123 - Walter Whall Battiss 9South Africa 1906-1982)

123

Walter Whall Battiss 9South Africa 1906-1982)
Untitled

oil on canvas

Artwork date: circa 1979
Literature: Acquired from the artist.

Sold for R454,720
Estimated at R400,000 - R600,000


 

oil on canvas

Artwork date: circa 1979
Literature: Acquired from the artist.

(1)

91 x 120.5 cm

Acquired from the artist.

Notes:

By the mid 1970s Walter Battiss had become South Africa’s most advanced painter. The reasons for coming to this bold conclusion are simple. He had spent most of his life travelling abroad and made a conscious effort, more than any other South African artist, to keep himself abreast of all the latest developments in international contemporary art circles.Although he admired England and Europe a great deal, the country that ultimately made the biggest impression on him was America. He first visited in May 1974, spending ten days in New York and staying at the famous Chelsea Hotel. In a letter written to his beloved sister Doreen, he writes:“This is a real tonic being here on the island of Manhattan & will richly benefit me. I’m glad I left it till now when I’m that mature to take it in properly.”(Siebrits 2016:129)In the eight years of his life that remained Battiss returned to America more than six times. It was spending time in America that taught Battiss the importance of thinking bigger and as a result he started to paint on a much larger scale. As he was retired and his wife had passed away in 1975, Battiss began to spend more time in the USA – during 1976 and 1978, often based in Boston, where he rented an apartment and had a studio. There is a good chance that “Untitled” was painted there and brought back to South Africa.

Warren Siebrits

Sources:

Siebrits, W. (2016). Walter Battiss: “I Invented Myself” The Jack Ginsberg Collection. Johannesburg: Wits Art Museum.

You can place an absentee bid through our website - please sign in to your account on our website to proceed.

In the My Account tab you can also enter telephone bids, or email bids@aspireart.net to log telephone/absentee bids.

Join us on the day of the auction to follow and bid in real-time.

The auction will be live-streamed with an audio-visual feed.

Auction: Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art, 17th Jul, 2017

Aspire Art Auctions’ second Johannesburg sale offered a selection of some of the best works produced by local and international artists available on the local market. Offerings included Cameroonian-born, Belgium-based, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Chilean, Eugenio Dittborn, and South Africans, William Kentridge, Kendell Geers, Louis Maqhubela, Cecil Skotnes, Maggie Laubser, Irma Stern, and Mohau Modisakeng, amongst others.

The sale was led by an international auction record of R1 200 320 achieved for a drawing, Children under Apartheid, by exiled South African artist Dumile Feni, as well as the successful sale of top international lot Golden Mask by renowned performance artist Marina Abramović. 

Viewing

Friday 14 July 2017 | 10 am – 7 pm
Saturday 15 July 2017 | 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday 16 July 2017 | 10 am – 4 pm

View all lots in this sale

Images *

Drag and drop .jpg images here to upload, or click here to select images.


 

IMPORTANT NOTICE:


 

Logistics

While we endeavour to assist our Clients as much as possible, we require artwork(s) to be delivered and/or collected from our premises by the Client. In instances where a Client is unable to deliver or collect artwork(s), Aspire staff is available to assist in this process by outsourcing the services to one of our preferred Service Providers. The cost for this will be for the Client’s account, with an additional Handling Fee of 15% charged on top of the Service Provider’s invoice.

Aspire Art provides inter-company transfer services for its Clients between Johannesburg and Cape Town branches. These are based on the size of the artwork(s), and charged as follows:

Small (≤60x90x10 cm): R480

Medium (≤90x120x15 cm): R960

Large (≤120x150x20 cm): R1,440

Over-size: Special quote

 

Should artwork(s) be collected or delivered to/from Clients by Aspire Art directly, the following charges will apply:

Collection/delivery ≤20km: R400

Collection/delivery 20km>R800≤50km

Collection/delivery >50km: Special quote

 

Packaging

A flat fee of R100 will be added to the invoice for packaging of unframed works on paper.

 


International Collectors Shipping Package

For collectors based outside South Africa who purchase regularly from Aspire Art’s auctions in South Africa, it does not make sense to ship artworks individually or per auction and pay shipping every time you buy another work. Consequently, we have developed a special collectors’ shipping package to assist in reducing shipping costs and the constant demands of logistics arrangements.

For buyers from outside South Africa, we will keep the artworks you have purchased in storage during the year and then ship all the works you have acquired during the year together, so the shipping costs are reduced. At the end of the annual period, we will source various quotes to get you the best price, and ship all your artworks to your desired address at once.

Aspire Art will arrange suitable storage during, and cost-effective shipping at the end, of the annual period.

 


Collections

Collections are by appointment, with 24-hours’ notice

Clients are requested to contact the relevant office and inform Aspire Art of which artwork(s) they would like to collect, and allow a 24-hour window for Aspire Art’s logistics department to retrieve the artwork(s) and prepare them for collection.

 


Handling Fee

Aspire Art charges a 15% Handling Fee on all Logistics, Framing, Restoration and Conservation arranged by Aspire.