Lot 737: Clément (Joseph Charles Louis) Sénèque (South African 1896-1930) THE FRENCH

Clément (Joseph Charles Louis) Sénèque (South African 1896-1930) THE FRENCH ALPS signed and dated 26 oil on canvas Sueddeutscher Zeitung
PROVENANCE
From the private collection of the artist's granddaughter
47 by 59cm

Lot 735 – 739 are a selection of five fine oil paintings from the acclaimed yet brief production of the Mauritian born artist, Clément Sénèque. These works have not previously been offered on the market, having been in Switzerland in the Sénèque family collection since the early 20th century, thus providing a unique opportunity to acquire fresh works by the artist. It is appropriate that in the 21st century the work of Sénèque is enjoying renewed interest and that the impact of his short career has received the scholarly attention of two KwaZulu-Natal art historians, Dr Melanie Hillebrand and Brendan Bell.

Trained in Paris at the École des Beaux Arts in architecture and town planning, Sénèque enjoyed recognition in his time as an architect and self-taught painter with a precise eye for architectural structure and details. He admired the work of Frank Brangwyn and locally that of Gwelo Goodman and Pierneef. His verdant landscapes of Kwa-Zulu-Natal, light drenched architectural studies and harbour scenes were most popular in South Africa, eventually earning him the distinction of having his work acquired by all the major local public art collections and the post of chairman of the Natal Society of Arts Sketch Club in 1926. His production was exceptionally brief in South Africa - only five years from 1925-1930 - before he died of pneumonia.

“Sénèque’s importance to Natal, despite his relatively short career is immense. Numerous contemporaries and younger artists admired and copied his style, thus producing what might be described as a Natal school of the twenties”. - Melanie Hillebrand

On offer are two Natal landscapes; lot 735 is the arresting view of an aqueduct-like stone bridge, partly illuminated in sun, set in a serene landscape of dark, reflective water against a tropical forested landscape, with wild banana fronds and weeping trees against a modulated aqua sky. Although the work is inscribed on the back,
Pont-La–Reduit and dated 1920, it is unclear if the inscription is indeed by the artist, as the subject is most likely the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

The second landscape, lot 736, is Chimney Stack and Trees (1926), which presents an unusual view of a distant Durban harbour through a vista of elongated bare trees.
A glowing red-orange set of chimney stacks is dramatically illuminated by an early winter sun, the entire composition set against a pale turquoise sky, affirming the artist’s pre-occupation with the sky in his African works. However, “His interest lay in the structural masses of the land and the intersecting lines established by the horizon and vertical forms of buildings.”

Less familiar to local audiences are his earlier French Alps and Montagne scenes, painted while on honeymoon in the region, or shortly afterwards. The Durban Art
Gallery acquired one such work, Mont Blanc from Sallaches, in 1927. Equally impressive is lot 737, a 1925 work entitled French Alps which was exhibited in the Sénèque retrospective at the Tatham Gallery, Pietermaritzburg in 1969, and was considered to be one of his finest works in notes made to the draft of the introduction to the accompanying catalogue. “In order to add textural interest Sénèque covered his canvas in sackcloth, adding depth to the composition of French Alps. Melanie
Hillebrand, in her PHD dissertation argues that, “His bold use of tone gives the mountains a stereoscopic quality.”
He produced many paintings, drawings and prints of the French Alps as a result of his happy memories at the time. He returned to Durban, where he encountered difficulties getting established as an architect – although highly regarded – with a young wife and child to supp

SOUTH AFRICAN