Walter Battiss

Walter Battiss is regarded as the most important abstract painter from Africa. He studied in Johannesburg and Pretoria, and received his Master of Arts degree at 35-years-old. He also wrote many art books, articles, founded the magazine “De Arte”, and created the so-called Fook Island (island of the imagination), in which he composed the real life with all the figures and materials that existed in the real world as well. He created a map, imaginary people, plants, animals, a history as well as a set of postage stamps, currency, passports and driver’s licenses and even its own language.

In 1953 Battiss became director of the Pretoria Art Centre, and in 1965 he was appointed to the chair of Fine Arts and Art History at the University of South Africa. In 1981, a museum was opened for him in his hometown of Somerset. A year later he visited the “documenta” in Kassel.

Battiss got interested in African rock painting at an early age, which was reflected in his works. He combined it with influences of Fauvism and Surrealism, amongst others. He painted the Quagga Race, an oil painting measuring 61 x 76 cm, in 1948; it is now in a private collection. The quagga, a partially striped zebra species that became extinct by the end of the 19th century, is a recurring motif in Battiss’ work. The colored woodcut Seaside Sport was reproduced in the catalog of the Art Competitions.