SKOTNES, CECIL (1926-2009)

"British Traders Arrive, No.33" (1973)
(The Assassination Of Shaka Series)
limited edition woodcut, ed. 154/225
44.5 x 29cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Skotnes is a famous 20th Century South African painter & printmaker. British-born Skotnes was trained in Florence, then Withwatersrand Technical College, and was a founding member of the Amadlozi Group. Skotnes is a pivotal figure in twentieth-century South African art. This stunning, original woodblock print is number 1 of only an edition of 5. As a member of the younger generation of artists emerging in the 1950s after World War II, he assisted notably in generating an art which embraced a South African identity. He had a huge influence as a teacher and supporter of the emerging Black Urban Art in South Africa during the 1960s, to the effect he was included in the groundbreaking revisionist exhibitions on the marginalised history of black artists in the apartheid era, such as The Neglected Tradition, held at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1988, despite being white. He exhibited widely and Internationally during his lifetime and his works are represented in important collections all over the world.