Alexis Preller; South African 1911-1975; Mural
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Literature : Esmé Berman and Karel Nel (2009) Alexis Preller: A Visual Biography, Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing. Illustrated in colour in Volume I, Africa, the Sun and Shadows, pages 202 and 203, and in Volume II, Collected Images, pages 190 and 191.
Notes : In situ murals are all too often destroyed when the buildings of which they are an integral part, are renovated or demolished. So, it is both a pleasure and a relief that this remarkable mosaic by Preller, the only one of its kind, has survived, and remains pristine and intact more than sixty years after its completion. Commissioned for the private home of his friends, the Meyers, for their newly completed modernist house in Waterkloof, Pretoria, Preller created the mural directly next to the main entrance. There are accounts of his travelling almost daily to work with the tiny, jewel-like glass tesserae as he translated the work from his cartoon drawing onto the wall. His handling of the materials is reminiscent of the archaic use of this medium in places like Torcello and Ravenna, which Preller had visited during his 1953 study trip, specifically to look at murals in Italy and Egypt in preparation for the major commission, All Africa, 1953-55. Seemingly standing on the curve of the Earth, the five towering figures form a compact group. It takes the viewer time to discern the separate figures from amidst the luxury of their robes. Despite being in close proximity to one another, the figures generally face outward, composed and formal in their demeanour. The composition of the figures is realised through a series of ellipses, both large and small, which define the heads, the robes, the mysterious bowl-shield forms and the shape of the group as a whole. The tessellated background in cerulean, lilacs, violet and Adriatic blues, is indeterminate, but mostly suggests that the figures have their heads and shoulders among mountainous cumulus clouds. Within this airy realm, a flock of stylised birds makes its way, and strange, pointed leaves emanate from the group. More gods than people, the figures seem almost to fill the space between Earth and Sun. The emblematic radiance of the sun is represented in a shimmering square cartouche. The broad band of blue, defined by a thin red horizon seems to separate the local solar system and its sun from deep space above. Karel Nel
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