29th Sep, 2021 19:00
Modern & Contemporary Art
39
Robert Hodgins (South Africa 1920-2010)
Left out of Making Love in the Shadows
oil on canvas
Artwork date: 2009
Signature details: inscribed with the artist's name and dated on the reverse
Literature: CF: Dippenaar. E., Givon, L. and Dundas N. (2002). Robert Hodgins. Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers. A similar example illustrated in colour on p.103.
Sold
Estimated at R800,000 - R1,200,000
oil on canvas
Artwork date: 2009
Signature details: inscribed with the artist's name and dated on the reverse
Literature: CF: Dippenaar. E., Givon, L. and Dundas N. (2002). Robert Hodgins. Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers. A similar example illustrated in colour on p.103.
(1)
90 x 120 x 2.5 cm
Provenance:
Acquired form the Estate of Robert Hodgins.
Private collection, Johannesburg.
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
Notes:
Robert Hodgins paints like no other painter. His signature style of expressive draughtsmanship and glorious colour employed in conjunction with sharp intelligence and wit, make him unique in the pantheon of top South African artists.
“Always driven to experiment with light and colour”, says Brenda Atkinson, the editor of his monograph, “Hodgins started to gain confidence with both in the early to mid-1980s. Influenced by Bridget Riley and Francis Bacon, the artist who as a student could a"ord only four tubes of the basics, has come in the last decade or so, to be associated with impossible feats of the palette.”[1]
Having attended Goldsmiths College at the University of London, on a part-time basis not long after World War II, Hodgins began, as many painters do, by painting nudes. They continue to figure prominently throughout his oeuvre, in various guises.
Here, in this deliciously comic and poignant work, he hints at the delights and dramas to be discovered in the shadows. Divided vertically into three registers, the composition presents a lone central figure, sandwiched between two dark booths, each containing an embracing couple in a dark, steamy space. Isolated, in her brightly lit interior, she looks surprised and slightly mystified, to find herself alone.
The facial expression – confused, bereft and even a bit a"ronted – betrays the central figure’s emotions. Why should she be alone while the others ‘get lucky’ and what is to be done about this? Hodgins, ever the master of his medium, leavens the dark with brilliant colour and comic relief.
The title adds a vital dimension. “Language is crucial to the expressive vocabulary of Hodgins. … capable of quoting verbatim vast tracts of literary wisdom or nonsense, Hodgins inhabits and deploys language with an almost tactile delight. It’s as if he feels the sense of certain words rolling o" his tongue, registers on his skins the reverberations of their impact with the world. Hodgins is not of that generation who title their work Untitled; if words can add one or more possible layers of signification to a painting, he uses them to do so.”2[]
[1] Atkinson, B. (2002). ‘Old Loves, New A"airs’ in Atkinson, B. et al. Robert Hodgins. Cape Town: Tafelberg, p.13.
[2] Ibid., p.14
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: Modern & Contemporary Art, 29th Sep, 2021
Aspire Art Auctions brings a significant and insightfully compiled selection of top-quality modern and contemporary art to auction in Cape Town. The sale stars exceptional works by many of South Africa’s big signatures, including, William Kentridge, Robert Hodgins, Penny Siopis, Edoardo Villa, Sydney Kumalo and J.H Pierneef, amongst others. Also featured is an exciting collection of contemporary artists from elsewhere in Africa – Patrick Bongoy and Zemba Luzamba from the Congo, Moustapha Baïdi Oumarou from Cameroon and Gerald Chukwuma from Nigeria.
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.
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.