31st Oct, 2021 11:00
Art, Life and Love: The Collection of Nwabisa Xayiya (Live Auction)
36
Ezrom Legae (South Africa 1938-1999)
Torso
bronze on a marble base
Signature details: signed and numbered AP
Edition: from an edition of 5
Sold for R182,080
Estimated at R120,000 - R180,000
bronze on a marble base
Signature details: signed and numbered AP
Edition: from an edition of 5
(1)
63 x 17 x 13 cm excluding base; 61.5 x 24 x 16 cm including base
Provenance:
Private collection, Linksfield, Johannesburg.
Notes:
Born in Vrededorp, and partly educated at the legendary Polly Street studio, Legae also became a part of the Amadlozi Group with mentors and peers at the time Cecil Skotnes and Edoardo Villa among others. He worked in a wide range of media, but is well remembered for his sculpture. His standing as an artist on his own terms, and not simply as an anti-apartheid protest artists working at a time when it was almost incumbent on artists to show their opposition to apartheid, is indicated by the tributes paid to him on his death. The last respects paid by legendary retired gallerist Linda Givon, founder of the Goodman Gallery, are indicative: “Thirty years of working together through the heaviest time in a country shattered by the cruelest and most devastating destruction, a nation's deconstruction and reconstruction. You taught me how to look across the wall at the people who were so desperately subjected to unspeakable horror. Your sensitivity as a human being as well as an artist touched my heart and my soul. Your courage in a time when nobody dared to speak out in 1979 with your homage to Steve Biko and in 1980 with Freedom is Dead. Your sculpture of burnt flesh and necklaced people, tortured but always lyrical with a sense of poetry and deep sensitivity. It was fitting that you were chosen to present our great President Nelson Mandela with a bronze sculpture on his stepping down as head of the ANC. You have enriched my life and those of many others.”
While a far cry from that vein of activism in his sculptural work, in this fine piece, Legae has produced a figure study which, while abstracted, speaks typically to both Western and African art-making styles. The implicit energy and elongation of this torso creates a pleasing dynamism and elegance.
Edward Tsumele
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Auction: Art, Life and Love: The Collection of Nwabisa Xayiya (Live Auction), 31st Oct, 2021
This October, 2021, we are honoured to present Art, Life and Love: The Collection of Nwabisa Xayiya, a single owner auction showcasing the cultivated taste and style of Nwabisa Xayiya.
The auction offers examples by great modernists as well as exciting contemporary pieces. Notable is a selection of work by George Pemba. There is also a set of impressive urban scenes and portraits by Gerard Sekoto, a rarely seen Alexis Preller, a glorious Robert Hodgins, and varied examples of Dumile Feni’s work. Within the contemporary offering, there are outstanding works by Blessing Ngobeni, Sam Nhlengethwa, William Kentridge, Teresa Firmino, Athi-Patra Ruga, Kudzanai Chiurai, Nelson Makamo, Owusu-Ankomah and Nicholas Hlobo.
Viewing
Lots will be on view at the Xayiya residence: 63 4th Street, Houghton, Johannesburg
Saturday 23 October to Saturday 30 October from 10 am to 6 pm
HIGHLIGHTS
Currency conversions are based on the exchange rate at the auction's start time and date. Bidders should verify the current exchange rate on the day of the sale. All invoices and payments must be made in South African Rands.
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