Lionel Smit (South African 1982 - ) PORTRAIT IN YELLOW

Estimate

R220,000 - R320,000

Lionel Smit (South African 1982 - ) PORTRAIT IN YELLOW

More Information

signed and dated 2010
oil on canvas
170 by 130cm

PROVENANCE
Christopher Moller Gallery, 2010

Lionel Smit is both a painter and a sculptor and this understanding gives insight into his work which exists in both two dimensional and three dimensional space. When he sculpts, he applies material onto the form as if individual brushstrokes, at the advent of a portrait, which are produced in a large scale as a rule, he applies abstract bands and strokes, building them up until faces form from the initial abstraction.

Smit grew up in the studio of his father Anton Smit, a practising and respected artist, surrounded by clay and other materials as well as a father’s guiding hand. The idea to become an artist was never a decision the young Lionel Smit ever had to make and the artist has noted that it was always decided, as far back as he can remember.

In many of his recent portraits, Smit has incorporated shades from throughout the colour spectrum to depict tone and depth. In contrast, the two portraits that we have on our June Auction, produced in 2010 and 2012 respectively, are restrained in their choice of colour palette. Portrait in Yellow consists almost entirely of yellow shades, with the rare streak of blue and grey to increase intensity and manages to portray a ghostlike countenance in this unusual hue.

The Portrait in Profile is almost entirely, and unusually for the artist, devoid of colour. Rendered in charcoals, Smit has achieved a somewhat pensive mood in his subject. Portrait in Profile was commissioned by the owners of Portrait in Yellow, who enjoyed their yellow painting, but felt that it was lonely and required a friends.
S.D

‘’Lionel Smit: The Artist,’’Lionel Smit, accessed May 11 2021, https://www.lionelsmit.com/about

Correspondence with the sellers of the portraits on 13 May 2021.