Lot 916

                                                  Alexis Preller

                                                  STILL LIFE WITH CHAIR

                                                  (Pre-sale estimate R600 000 - R900 000) 

                                                  SOLD FOR R896 000

“His first love of painting had been born in admiration of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, and he was not loathe to draw on them for his early inspiration.”

The influences of both these artists can be traced in this early still life. Bearing a strong resemblance to Van Gogh’s famous 'YELLOW CHAIR', one is immediately aware of the similarity of the two works. Preller’s work also features a yellow chair as the main subject set upon a red tiled floor; even the placing of the chair in the composition is identical to that of Van Gogh’s. The unique red Coral Tree flowers arranged in the vase in the foreground are comparable to Gauguin’s favouring of the exotic flowers. Similarities can also be traced in the bowl of mangos, a favourite still-life subject of Preller’s, which rests on the edge of the chair. Gauguin depicts exotic fruit, in particular mangos, in numerous still lifes.

Leaning against the wall, obscured somewhat by the chair and flowers is another painting which Preller may have completed at the time or earlier. The reference to images from books, paintings and other visual material is a recurring element in Preller’s work. The yellow chair reappears about a decade later in a sensitive and interesting work titled   'STILL-LIFE – YGDRASIL', of the Unisa Permanent Collection, which is examined in detail by Karel Nel and Esmé Berman in Alexis Preller: Collected Images, page 34-37.

Text edited by Monique Howse BFA (Hons) from E. Berman and K. Nel Alexis Preller:Collected Images              2009 Shelf Publishing, Johannesburg

For further information, please contact the Johannesburg Paintings Department  011 880 3125