From the Portfolio "Ten
landscapes" 1976
Born in East London 1926.
Died 2009 in Cape Town
An artist working in oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache. Most well known for engraved and incised painted wood panels. A muralist and graphic artist.
Egon Guenther wrote the following about this prominent artist.:
"Very few South African artists have been able to establish an artistic form of expression which is not only personal, but also captures the spirit of our own complex environment. Among these few is Cecil Skotnes .
Unperturbed by fashionable tendencies, Skotnes follows instinctively his urge to express himself. He creates an artistic record of our time and our own environment,, giving his work universal validity.
In 1955 the painter Skotnes began to experiment with the century-old graphic medium of the woodcut. The following year he produced his first prints, taken from the traditionally incised woodblock.
For Skotnes his early black and white prints opened a wealth of complete new possibilities. Several years of pure graphic production followed, during which Skotnes developed and matured into a notable graphic artist. Not only had he learned to master a technique entirely new to him, he also discovered his own world of shapes. Very soon Skotnes realised the limitations of print-making without working in an additional medium. Why not use the wood-block itself as an artistic presentation.
The first wood-panel made quite an impact, and for Skotnes this strongly graphic technique became his main medium.
The dormant colour sense of the painter awakened and demanded an equal share. Black contours made way for glowing reds, orange and white on umber and ochre backgrounds.
From the traditional culture of twentieth century Europe and inspired by the complexity of African imagery, Cecil Skotnes has crystallised his own artistic identity, which so strongly radiates from his work."
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TOTEMS 1976
Woodcut, 29/75
37 x 50cm
QUARRY 1976
Woodcut, 29/75
37 x 50cm
MATOPOS 1976
Woodcut, 29/75
37 x 50cm
CATARACT 1976
Woodcut, 29/46
37 x 50cm
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