Walter Battiss: People in the sun - SOLD
Walter Battiss
People in the sun – ca. 1964
Oil on canvas
61 x 76 cm
Signed bottom right
Sold - 2009
Born Walter Wahl Battiss, 6 January 1906, Somerset East
Died 20 August 1982 at the age of 76, Port Shepstone
Walter Battiss is perhaps best described by Karin Skawran in her introduction to the retrospective exhibition catalogue, Walter Battiss – gentle anarchist:
In his life and in his work the artist rejected conformity and challenged every kind of boundary – creative, academic, political, cultural, spiritual. His vision and artistic approach shifted continually, and his enquiring mind embraced life in all its facets. A ‘gentle anarchism’ consistently runs through his life and work.
Battiss maintained:
In conforming I am wasting a hell of a lot of time… this ritual of conforming often gives people a certain security… And I like living in insecurity.
Walter Battiss’ chameleon-like versatility, his invigorating vitality and sheer sense of adventure made him the perfect artist – one who was continuously open to new influences and forever alert to new, contemporary artistic movements. Starting his career with a conservative, academic approach, his seminal influence was the African rock art of the San people, which dominated his stylistic development in terms of content and symbolism.
Battiss significantly explored abstract painting in the early 1950’s, and he continued to explore new themes and stylistic variations throughout his career – his expressive approach never stagnated. Battiss developed a unique and recognizable signature style, made possible by his technical virtuosity, which allowed for a juicy paint application, often incised with sgraffito mark-making in his vibrant palette of sun-drenched colour.
Battiss’ zest for life and art left South Africa a rich artistic heritage based on his love for the ‘artists of the rocks’, and concern for his fellow artists, pupils and nature. Apart from his artistic contribution, he was an inspirational teacher, a world authority on rock art, and the author of ten books. His versatility is legendary – he was a masterful draughtsman, an accomplished watercolourist, an exceptional painter and proficient in all forms of graphic art. A true artist, Walter Battiss always managed to re-invent himself - never complacent, he was forever in search of the next challenging art adventure.
The most profound aspect of Battiss’ oeuvre is the Africaness of it – he was not satisfied with merely illustrating or copying, but interpreted Africa with all its mysteries, symbolism and imagery, inspired by its artists of the rocks.
Bibliography:
Karin Skawran (Introduction), Walter Battiss – gentle anarchist, Johannesburg, 2005, p14
Esmé Berman, Art and Artists of South Africa, Cape Town, 1983, pp 57 to 60
Karin Skawran & Michael Macnamara, Battiss, Johannesburg, 1985, p 62 (Text by Marion Arnold)
To view the Walter Battiss web page click here
To view the Walter Battiss biography click here