Julian Motau charcoal on paper

A very good art investment from the late s.a artist Julian Motau.The painting is charcoal on paper and the size is 60cm 40.5cm unframed.

Julian Motau

Julian Motau was born to an elderly father with several traditional wives and a host of children, and grew up in a rural homestead in Tzaneen in Limpopo Province. Motau was almost entirely self taught, and in Tzaneen barely received any education at all in the western mode.

In 1963, brimming with talent and burning with the anger that was to find expressionist articulation in his work, the young Motau arrived in Johannesburg, where his special qualities were recognised by the artist Judith Mason, who gave him a space to work and some informal instruction, as well as introducing him to the gallerist, Linda Goodman (Givon), who gave him his first one-person show in 1967. Also in 1967, he won first prize on the New Signatures Exhibition in Pretoria, and it seemed that Motau had arrived. But one year later he died at the age of 20 in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg.

Strongly influenced by the uncompromising expressionism of Dumile Feni (qv.), Motau’s own artwork is remarkable for its intensity of expression and the anger which comes through in its choice of subject matter as much as the Dumile-esque rendering of theme. Motau has been hailed as marking a new politicisation of township art, but while there is some truth to this, the work remains too unruly and too unformed to constitute much more than an interesting beginning, tragicall.

Shipment will be R200 and we urge the winning bidder to make the payment in 24hrs after the sale.