Footnotes

• PROVENANCE:
  A private collection, UK
  
  LITERATURE:
  A. E. Duffy, Anton van Wouw: The Smaller Works, (Pretoria, 2008), another edition illustrated p.63 and p.64
  M. Read and J. Michau, Anton van Wouw, 1862-1945 exhibition catalogue, (Johannesburg, 2009), another edition illustrated p.13 and on the front cover
  University of Pretoria, Anton van Wouw en die van Wouwhuis, (Pretoria, 1981), another edition illustrated p.29
  
  
  With his focussed brow and folded arms, Van Wouw's Shangaan has been described as a particularly intense exponent of his smaller sculptures. The work reveals the sculptor's studious observation of the minutiae of human posture: the sitter's upper arm muscles are particularly prominent where his hands buoy them up, his armband pulls taught against the skin on his wrist, and his shoulders are set slightly akilter. As A. E. Duffy remarks of the work, as is evident in this Nisini casting:
  
  "Conspicuous in the best Italian castings are the distinctiveness of the frown on the forehead, the protruding mouth, the exact lines of the armband, the well-modelled right thumb and ears and the contrast between the dark patina of the hair on the head and the light brown patina of the rest of the body."
  
  
  BIBLIOGRAPHY:
  A. E. Duffy, Anton van Wouw: The Smaller Works, (Pretoria, 2008), another edition illustrated p.64

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Category: Fine Art / South African Art

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