Narrative

With the exception of T'kama-Adamastor, Coetzee's large canvas for the William Cullen Library, the iconography of which was based for the most part on André Brink's novella Cape of Storms: The First Life of Adamastor, the artist's narrative paintings are not illustrative of texts or stories. First and foremost they evolve according to their own logic of visual suggestion and literary association, and only in those terms may invoke pre-existing narratives. Although in works like Revelations (1983) or The Enormous Room (1990) there are clear references for instance to sacred texts, the underlying concern of the works is really poetic and exploratory rather than traditionally illustrative.

As Coetzee put it in the 1993 catalogue for an exhibition of his work at the UNISA Art Gallery:"Large parts of a given work, prompted initially by mood, intuition or visual excitement alone, were often fully established on the canvas before the theme announced itself to me. This verbal moment of birth then allowed me, sometimes via departures into reading or writing, to fashion the work further and bring it to completion. The opening moves of a painting are really a visual strategy for raising questions, to which the dialogue of the ensuing process provides an answer of sorts."

Columbine oil on board, 34 x 28 cm, 2003, Private Collection, Johannesburg enlarge		Niombo oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm, 2000, Private Collection, Oxford enlarge
Tobias oil on board, 40 x 33 cm, 2002, Private Collection, Johannesburg enlarge		The four moments of the sun oil on canvas, 130 x 110 cm, 2008, i-art for sale enlarge
Niombo: Burying the Double oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm, 1991, Collection of the JHB Art Gallery enlarge		Zarathustra's Hat oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm, 1991, Collection of the University of South Africa enlarge
Ship of Fools oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm, 1991, Durban Art Gallery enlarge		The Enormous Room oil on canvas, 104cm x 104cm, 1991, Collection of the University of Bloemfontein enlarge
Fat Tuesday oil on canvas, 100cm x100cm, 1991, Private Collection enlarge		Children of the Sun oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm, 1990, Private Collection enlarge
The Dolorous Wound oil on canvas, 100cm x 85cm, 1990, Collection of the University of the Witwatersrand enlarge		Jachin and Boaz oil on panel, 110cm x 95cm, 1983, Private Collection enlarge
Revelations oil on canvas, 102cm x 85cm, 1983, Collection of the University of South Africa enlarge		Couple in an Interior oil on canvas, 100cm x 72cm, 1981, Collection of Rhodes University enlarge
Tears of Camões I pencil and pastel on card, 95cm x 70cm, 1999, Private Collection enlarge		Tears of Camões II pencil and pastel on card, 95cm x 70cm, 1999, Private Collection enlarge
The Orientalists oil on canvas, 110cm x 98cm, 2005, Private Collection enlarge		Tree of Memory oil on canvas, 120cm x 90cm, 2001, Collection of the Artist enlarge
Night Journey oil on canvas, 95cm x 80cm, 1992, Private Collection enlarge		Mapscreen oil on canvas, 95cm x 80cm, 2003, Private Collection enlarge
Heart and Hand oil on canvas, 115cm x 110cm, 2001, Collection of the Artist enlarge		The green parrot oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, 2004, Private Collection, Cape Town enlarge
T'kama-Adamastor oil on canvas, 8,64m x 3,26m, 1999, William Cullen Library, University of the Witwatersrand enlarge
back to top