Walter Battiss letter

A special handwritten letter by the supremely talented South African artist Walter Whall Battiss (1906-1982).

Dated 9 September 1967. Letterhead and crest for the University of South Africa (Unisa) Pretoria Fine Arts department. 

He begins: "Dearest little Sister & Owen and the boys..."

Written in his idiosyncratic script he writes of recent trip to attend a wedding in Greece, including some scathing comments about the expats living there. "And now I've done 14 islands for my Greek look "Nesos" & I aim at 24 ultimately!"

Letter also includes a little doodle of a butterfly before elaborating on his thoughts on living in South Africa. "Here is absolutely no culture in this country because we are under the duress of the verkrampde crowd of calvinists."

Condition: Very good. No fading or discolouration.