
Helene Love-Allotey
Head of Department
This auction has ended. View lot details


Sold for £6,400 inc. premium
Our African Modern & Contemporary Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialist
Head of Department
Provenance
Acquired from Johans Borman Gallery, South Africa, 2013;
A private collection.
In communicating the social and historical issues relevant to his life, Richard Mudariki creates bright, lively and animated works in a modernist sense. In depiction, Mudariki recalls theatrical techniques used by European Old Masters to present dramatized scenes. Incorporated to evoke satire, Mudariki uses a heavy symbolism to direct a narrative that is engaged with current affairs. Conversely, Mudariki also uses his work to challenge the dated notions of art history and uses his art to criticise the vacuum and canonicity of a seemingly singular art historical narrative.
This high energy of The Battle of Cape Town epitomises the talent of Richard Mudariki. In composition, the present work resonates with J.R. Skeltons 1909 depiction of the event, General Janssens at the Battle of Blaauwberg. General Janssens led the defence of the Dutch colonials on the Cape against the British during the Napoleonic war. It could be said that Mudariki takes a surreal approach to the scene by conflating the soldiers with animals, therefore dehumanising and also dramatizing their roles. Indeed, given the bodies of two people on the floor of the work, the artist criticises the colonial history of the Cape and the animalistic inhumane atrocities that occurred.
Please note: This work was exhibited in 'Mutara Wenguva "Time Line", Paintings by Richard Mudariki' held in 2017 at the Sanlam Art Lounge (Johannesburg), and the Sanlam Art Gallery (Cape Town). It was further illustrated in the exhibition's catalogue, 'Mutara Wenguva "Time Line", Paintings by Richard Mudariki', edited by Stephan Hundt, (Cape Town: Sanlaman Life Insurance Ltd, 2017), p. 61.