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Walter Battiss

Walter Whall Battiss was born in 1906 in Somerset East, a Karoo town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. After receiving his teaching diploma in 1933, Battiss started working at the Park School in Turffontein, Johannesburg. In 1936 he was appointed art master at Pretoria Boys School, where he would work for most of the next 30 years.

While exhibiting a collection of South African art with the International Art Club in Italy in 1949, Battiss had his first meeting with Pablo Picasso and the futurist Gino Severini. Both these artists made strong impressions on him, and the influence of their work can be seen in his art. Between the years of 1966 and 1968, Battiss made several trips to Greece; and thus began the influence of islands on his creative thinking. He died on 20 August 1982 from a sudden heart attack at the age of 76.

Auction Results

Walter Battiss In the Winelands, 1977 Estimate R700 000 - R1 000 000 SOLD: R1 372 500 Aspire Art Auctions 20th Century & Contemporary Art September 2023	Walter Battiss Figures Round A Camp Fire, Signed, Oil, 25 x 50 Estimate R250 000 - R350 000 SOLD: R220 000 5th Avenue Auctioneers December 2020	Walter Battiss Congolese Figures, Oil Estimate R150 000 - R250 000 SOLD: R155 000 5th Avenue Auctioneers October 2020