Title: African woman – Portrait of Girl
Medium: Oil on board
Signed: Preller right top
Unframed: 34.5cm x 25.5cm
Framed: 65cm x 57cm
“Whatever I am after it is contained by an African shape…” – Alexis Preller (Berman 2009:139).
From the beginning of Preller’s career, he was searching for a form that might symbolise the intrinsic character of Africa. Esme Berman (2009:139) explained his search for an African form as follows: “It was not surface appearances, but rather something far more elusive that concerned him. He aimed to find a means of giving visual form to an abstraction – his perception of a spirit utterly unlike that of his European antecedents.”
Alexis was fascinated by the indigenous traditions of people living in Africa during a time when the minority ‘white’ population did not really have any insight or interest in the ancient cultures and traditions of Africa. He was stirred by the mystique of ‘the other’ and desperately wanted to identify himself with Africa and not just represent these cultures as an onlooker or commentator.
This proved to be very idealistic and although he respected and deeply cared for these people, he was still a product of his Western and European heritage (Berman 2009:140). In the painting, African women – Portrait of Girl, Irma Stern and Maggie Laubser’s expressionistic influence can clearly be seen. From this we gather that it was an incredibly early portrait made by Preller.
