Lot 44: LARRY (LAURENCE VINCENT) SCULLY (SOUTH AFRICAN, 1922-2002) ‘Nkosi Sikele

LARRY (LAURENCE VINCENT) SCULLY (SOUTH AFRICAN, 1922-2002) ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika’ (God Bless Africa) signed and dated ‘Scully ‘94-’97’ (lower right) oil on canvas 200 x 300cm (78 3/4 x 118 1/8in).

Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner, 1998. Larry Scully›s art has been informed by many cultural influences. Born in Gibraltar in 1922, he then spent the majority of his childhood in Portsmouth, England, before moving to South Africa aged 15. His artistic ability was soon recognised. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Scully was employed as a draftsman in the South African Permanent Forces. Following the end of the war, he obtained a grant to study at the University of Witwatersrand, where he met fellow artists, Cecil Skotnes and Christo Coetzee. In the late 1940s, Scully took up a teaching position at the Polly Street Art Centre in Johannesburg, the first institution to offer art education to black students. In the 1970s, he was appointed to head a committee organising the Johannesburg Biennale. However, when ordered by the South African government to exhibit only white artists, he resigned from the post. Nkosi Sikelel› iAfrika was completed in 1998. It celebrates a new South Africa, unified under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. Nkosi Sikelel› iAfrika is a hymn, originally composed by the Xhosa clergyman, Enoch Sontonga in 1897. It became the anthem of the ANC, and an important symbol of the anti-Apartheid movement. As such, it was banned by the regime until the ANC came to power in 1994. Scully described the motivations behind the work thus: Painting is for me visual music and visual thinking. My inspiration comes from the colours, textures and forms and light of Africa, and is a continuing search for unity out of diversity. Nkosi Sikelel› iAfrika was originally intended to hang in the Head Office of South African Airways in Johannesburg. However, Scully was persuaded to sell it to the current owners instead, as they were so captivated by the work.