1st Sep, 2019 9:30
Modern & Contemporary Art
72
Robert Gwelo Goodman (United Kingdom 1871-1939)
Proteas
oil on canvas
Signature details: signed with the artist's initials bottom left
oil on canvas
Signature details: signed with the artist's initials bottom left
(1)
89 x 89.5 cm
Notes:
Robert Gwelo Goodman loved painting, architecture and flowers. He first exhibited a collection of flower-studies in 1918 at the Herbert Evans Gallery in Johannesburg, but it was during the latter part of his life, from the 1930s onwards, that he truly delved into this genre. Goodman lived in Newlands House near the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town, which allowed him easy access to the many varieties of Cape flora to study as subjects for his work. In addition to the many Rose studies he produced, his realist paintings of Proteas in particular were much-admired and sought after. In 1930, Goodman exhibited at the Durban Art Gallery and included Study of Protea, on loan from the Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice. The painting returned to England where it was displayed in the Athlone’s drawing-room in Kensington Palace.[1] Later, in 1934, another striking rendering of Proteas formed part of the artist’s presentation at the Royal Academy in London.[2] Goodman’s last exhibition was in 1938 at Argus Galleries in Cape Town where seventeen flower pieces were shown, among them a large picture of Proteas.[3] Shortly after his passing later that year, the Cape Government acquired two Protea paintings for the collections of the Government Residences; Genadendal and Leeuwenhof.The present work is an elegant and superb example of Goodman’s Protea studies from the mid to late 1930s. Its magnetism lies in the simplicity of the floral arrangement. The composition is impressive. A lush bouquet of various Protea species and natural foliage - rendered with loose, short brush-strokes in shades of pink, yellow and green - is set against a flat teal background. The result is vivid, dramatic and visually spectacular, giving the painting a timeless and almost contemporary edge.Although academic in nature, Proteas is in a sense romantic, as it embodies the artist’s interest and appreciation for the unique and indigenous plants of his adopted country.
Marelize van Zyl
Sources:
[1] Thompson, N. J. (1951). Gwelo Goodman. South African Artist. Cape Town: Cape Times LTD. p. 96
[2] Ibid 104.
[3] Ibid 115.
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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 1st Sep, 2019
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