Alexis Preller (6 September 1911 – 13 December 1975) was a South African painter. He trained at the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman descri ...

from which he graduated in 1934 and later at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

in Paris (1937). He was especially influenced by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

and

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

and visited European galleries and museums to study these artists' works. Elements of Gauguin can be seen in his paintings on South African subjects such as the ''Garden of Eden'' (1937). Over time, he developed his own style and his works showed an array of elements from nature, African masks and other African art. One finds this overlay of his personal style on African themes most illuminatingly expressed in works such as ''Basuto Allegory'' (1947). Travels in Europe and North Africa gave further expression to his output which became influenced by the frescoes of

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca ( , ; ; ; – 12 October 1492) was an Italian Renaissance painter, Italian painter, mathematician and List of geometers, geometer of the Early Renaissance, nowadays chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is charact ...

and Egyptian murals. One sees this influence in works such as ''Hieratic Women'' (1956). Preller's later unique style isolated him from the artistic movements of the 20th century, nor did he fit into any conventional style of the old school. Although highly regarded in his native Pretoria, this was not initially the case elsewhere in South Africa – an exhibition of his works in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in the late 1960s was coolly received by art critics there.''Cape Argus'' (1969) He was not always understood because he was different and hard to label. However, by owning, combining, and transforming all the influences and iconographies throughout his career, Preller developed an inimitable and sophisticated Preller-style, uniquely African, and created a vast and very valuable legacy for the South African art market. Recognition for his work has grown over the past few decades, and the opening of the most recent major exhibition, ''Africa, the Sun and the Shadows'' of his works at Johannesburg's Standard Bank Gallery on 13 October 2009, was highly attended.

References

External links

Alexis Preller at ARTPRICE

Revisions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preller, Alexis 1911 births 1975 deaths Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière 20th-century South African painters 20th-century South African male artists South African male painters