'QUESSA BRONZE' BY GIOVANNI SCHOEMAN (1940-1980) ("EXECUTED SA SCULPTOR and DIAMOND SMUGGLER")
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How often do you find a piece with such a history on bid or buy? This lovely piece is described as “Quessa Bronze” by GIOVANNI SCHOEMAN and has been signed by the artist. It is a bronze colour metal (presumably lead) which measures 11.5cm high by 5.5cm wide. A rather voluptuous pose by the lady Quessa.
Now something about the artist : Giovanni Schoeman was born in Pretoria, South Africa in August 1940 and studied in Johannesburg, Groningen, London and Milan. He lived in Santa Barbara, California. He was also the inventor of “an innovated process ‘particle bound casting’ in precious and semi-precious metals.” Major commissions of his in the industry include amongst others sculptures for Rolls Royce Ltd, UK British Museum, United Artists Corporation and sculptures for Rocky II. Some private collectors include Sylvester Stallone, Burgess Meredith, Elizabeth Montgomery, Carl Weathers, Billy Preston, Dizzy Gillespie, Sheik Abdula Al’Burikian and E Nasr. In 1980 Schoeman was executed by Dennis Boyd Miller, who is now in his seventies and serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in Folsom Prison. The following is a verbatim extract from an article which I found at http://www.independent.com/news/2009/mar/17/jail-overcrowding-case-postponed/:
"While Miller is but a footnote to the legal proceedings now unfolding, it’s a fascinating chapter in the annals of Santa Barbara crime. A native of Washington state at the time, Miller was a Walter Mitty character from the dark side. A man of multiple personas, Miller presented himself to some as a CIA hit man, and he was hired to kill a South African sculptor and diamond smuggler then living in Santa Barbara named Giovanni Schoeman. Miller wound up killing not just Schoeman, but his girlfriend and a business partner as well, shooting them all in the head. To the extent Miller was ever a professional hit man, he was notoriously inept. He had his hair cut shortly before executing Schoeman and company, and left fresh hair clippings at the scene of the crime. In addition, he got the victims’ blood on his boots. He left fingerprints at the Montecito hotel where he stayed. And when detectives searched his home in Washington, they found a box of bullets identical to the ones used in the killings.
The only question left unanswered at the trial was Miller’s motive. Both sides suspected that Miller had been hired by a Seattle resident named Ed Zehner, with whom Schoeman had had bitter business disputes. But Zehner - who ran an art gallery and a hypnotherapy institute in Seattle - was never charged in connection with the crime, let alone prosecuted or convicted. Aside from smuggling diamonds, Schoeman also manufactured fake bronze statues. In fact, he had been commissioned by actor Sylvester Stallone, who then owned property in Santa Barbara, to make a life-size bronze of his character Rocky Balboa duking it out with his nemesis Apollo Creed. At the time, Stallone had hoped the statue would be located in front of City Hall in Philadelphia, where the Rocky films were situated.
Typically, Schoeman would replicate existing statues, using a fa§ade of bronze on the outside, but filling the core with lead shot or fishing weights. Investigators suspected that Zehner and Schoeman had a falling out in the manufacture of phony statues, and that led to Schoeman’s execution. They suspected that Zehner’s girlfriend - who had been arrested for smuggling diamonds concealed in her brassiere - befriended Miller, whom she reportedly met in a Washington bowling alley. But Miller never rolled over on Zehner or his girlfriend, and investigators could never prove the connection.
Miller’s prosecutor had sought the death penalty at the time, but jurors declined, and sentenced him to life instead. At the time, some jurors expressed hope that Miller might one day spill the beans on the parties truly responsible for the triple homicide. To date, Miller has not done so."
There is unfortunately some damage to the piece. There was a clumsy reattachment of the head and damage to two tiny pieces on the bottom of the dress. Some of the bronze coating has rubbed off. I am sure it will be possible to have this restored to its former glory. Item is heavy for its size, which is why I presume it is lead.
