ALEXIS PRELLER

22 b/w plates, 5-page profile of Alexis Preller by the author Christi Truter and a 6-page autobiographical third-person sketch by Preller. There ia a full list of the plates near the back of the book which confirms that all the plates were selected by the artist, the photographs were taken by Alan Yates.

This is the first and only edition of this first monograph.

The dust jacket is frayed along the top edge and spine, and is discoloured, and is protected in cellophane. It duplicates the designs on the front and rear wrappers. Without the dust jacket, the book is in good condition.

The book is fully intact, tightly bound, and with no names or inscriptions.

Alexis Preller was born on 6 September 1911 in Pretoria. Before pursuing a career in art, he had worked as a clerk. He left for England in 1934 where he studied art at the Westminster School of Art. He returned to South Africa in 1935 before leaving again, this time for Paris, where he visited studios, galleries and museums. Preller‘s work was hard for critics to classify. It seems to borrow from expressionism and surrealism, though he rejected the latter description for his work. Described by one critic as South Africa’s Gauguin, he was also influenced by Van Gogh and later by Piero della Francesca. Preller was one of the most innovative artists of his time. He died in Johannesburg, on 13 December 1975, from a heart attack.

Source: https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/alexis-preller-sa-visual-artist-dies