12th Nov, 2017 17:00
Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art
36
Maggie Laubser (South Africa 1886-1973)
Wild Flowers
oil on board
Artwork date: 1958
Signature details: signed; signed, inscribed with the title, 'Strand' and 'painted 1958' on a label on the reverse
oil on board
Artwork date: 1958
Signature details: signed; signed, inscribed with the title, 'Strand' and 'painted 1958' on a label on the reverse
(1)
55.5 x 45 cm
Notes:
Wild Flowers was executed when Laubser was 72 years old, but still at the height of her painterly powers. Wild Flowers is a fine example of her style from the late 1950s, demonstrating her return, if only in terms of subject matter, to the schematised bird and flower compositions of her earlier period. What is different in this phase, however, is that her well-rehearsed motifs are now no longer situated within a clearly defined landscape, but rather against a background that is more painterly, if not abstract, in character. This imbues the formal arrangement of her motifs with a sense of the decorative, if not of the imaginary.The duck, the yellow arum lilies, the cacti and the red and blue blooms are all set against a background of complementary reds and greens that subtly compete with each other. Pale greens and pinks enframe the motifs, subtly reiterating the greater saturation of complementary greens and reds within the floral forms themselves. The intensity of the yellow of the arum lilies, a variety of which is not indigenous to the Cape, underpins the contrast of warmer and cooler tones.At this stage, Laubser demonstrates that she was no longer as absorbed with the natural world as she had been previously. Her repertoire of motifs now serves as a framework onto which she can project and explore more fundamental concerns of composition, colour and surface for their own sake. Esmé Berman speculated that the tendencies evident in this phase of Laubser’s work were perhaps her ‘concession to the growing incidence of abstract styles in local art [at this time], and an attempt to project her personal viewpoint in more contemporary terms’.
Hayden Proud
Sources:
Esmé Berman. 1983. Art and Artists of South Africa. A.A. Balkema: Cape Town/Rotterdam. p. 255.
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Auction: Historic, Modern & Contemporary Art, 12th Nov, 2017
Aspire’s final auction for 2017 ended the year on a high note with a collection of top historical, modern and contemporary artworks.
A number of superb historic paintings came to auction, dating back to the late nineteenth century. Among them were works by Hugo Naudé, Anton Van Wouw, and Dorothy Kay. A fine collection of mid-twentieth century modern work by South Africa’s best-known artists at auction including Edoardo Villa, Maggie Laubser, Sydney Kumalo and Irma Stern were also on offer. The top lot by value was, however, a contemporary work. A superb drawing by world-renowned South African artist William Kentridge. Drawing from Mine (Soho with coffee plunger and cup) (1991), sold for R5 456 640, a record for a drawing by Kentridge in South Africa.
Viewing
Thursday 9 November 2017 | 10 am – 5 pm
Friday 10 November 2017 | 10 am – 5 pm
Saturday 11 November 2017 | 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday 12 November 2017 | 10 am – 3 pm
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