Lot 262: Moses Tladi SOUTH AFRICAN 1903-1959 - Farm Cottage Driefontein, J.H.B.

Moses Tladi
SOUTH AFRICAN 1903-1959
Farm Cottage Driefontein, J.H.B.
signed; dated 1939 and inscribed with the title on the reverse
oil on board
14 by 18cm

As Moses Tladi produced such a small body of work, and as the majority remain part of the artist’s estate, examples appear on the market only
rarely. Two jewel-like works, Near the Mill, Kroonstad (OFS) and Two Hillocks , featured in these salerooms in November 2017, and each
generated enormous interest. On the back of two major retrospective exhibitions, first at the Iziko National Gallery in Cape Town and then at
the Wits Art Museum in Johannesburg, Tladi is finally drawing some of the attention his work deserves. The two works on offer here, Farm
Cottage Driefontein, J.H.B. and Mountain Landscape, show Tladi’s gentle, signature approach to the landscape: the light is golden, the air still,
and the scene closely and affectionately observed. The former picture, a postcard-size depiction of a favourite farm in the foothills of the
Magaliesberg, appreciates a moment of rural, domestic calm, while the mountains of the latter painting, made more compositionally imposing,
and given a coarse, earthy texture, are imbued with a sense of majesty and awe.