ALEXIS PRELLER
"The lighted candle", 1948
oil/canvas board - 19x22 cm
Collection:
Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein - donated May 2009
Provenance:
FFH, Basel
Gallery 101 Johannesburg
Gordon Vorster, Broederstroom
Work illustrated:
"Alexis Preller - Africa, the Sun and Shadows" (Berman/Nel) (Shelf Publishing), 2009, ill. p. 115 - ISBN 978-0-620-43245-0
On website of "South Africa Info" (The impact of African forms) (as at 2007-2012)
According to the author and art historian Esmé Berman, Alexis Preller was befriended with Sampie de Wet, the Pretoria writer. He designed the dust-jacket for her book "An Hour of Breath" (C.N.A., 1950), the front of which was the above image of the glowing candle, with the title across a zone above and her name across a zone below. The back was the image of the burnt-down candle, with title and name in reverse. The two images were divided by the spine, which carried the title of the book.
The latter painting of the burnt-down candle, from an undisclosed private collection, was auctioned by Bonham's, New Bond Street, London, on the South African Sale 15681 on 30th January, 2008 (Lot 203) for GBP 10,000 and is illustrated hereafter for interest's sake:
Alexis PRELLER "The candle", abt. 1948, oil/canvas board - 19x21.5 cm
Note:
Originally, as a pendant, Gordon Vorster owned a similarly sized work of a zebra painted by his friend Alexis Preller. The candle above on top of this page was first sold to a librarian from Austin TX, USA. Years later, she brought it back to Gallery 101 presuming it to be a print; she had not been able to find a buyer in the USA or England. Gallery 101 swapped it for a small painting by Jan Dingemans and a linocut by Gordon Vorster!