Head ,1983
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Notes : This iconic Head was proudly displayed in the Cape Town house of Cecil and Thelma Skotnes after their move there in 1979. It remained in their estate until passed on to a descendant and has thus never been to market.John Skotnes has fond memories of this work as it “graced the family living room and was witness to the wholeness of my parents’ family life” including “the friends, family, artists, stars, musicians, dancers and people from so many different walks of life, who constantly came to the home”. Reflecting on his extraordinary father, John explains, “he never romanticised his work but he celebrated the making of a ‘big one’, like this panel, A totemic head such as this that so powerfully evokes Africa with its strong forms and earthy colours, also serves as a mindscape mapping moods and experiences. As Neville Dubow, friend of the artist and former Director of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, has remarked in the Cecil Skotnes retrospective catalogue, “The key here is the concept of landscape in its broadest sense, of the landscapes of the mind, of an artist’s mindscape, and above all, of the link between landscape and memory”
Emma Bedford
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