A Sphinx from Mars

Titled, A Sphinx from Mars by the South African artist Christo Coetzee (1929-2000).During 1978 Christo created this as a portrait of Armide who was a character from a ballet, Le Pavillon d'Armide based on a story by Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (1811-1872). During the early 1980’s, Coetzee added the movable perspex plates to create the Sphinx from Mars, to be part of his art series comprising of characters in combination with space and mythology. Two of Coetzee's other works, titled, Anubis and Betelgeuse Astronaut are also part of this series. Short biography. The Johannesburg born artist, Christo Coetzee pursued his art studies at the Slade School of Art in London as a complementary tuition exercise to his fine art degree qualification acquired from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg South Africa. Most of Coetzee's works are mainly colourful, stylized figurative images and still lifes. After completing his studies he moved to Europe on an Government Travelling Scholarship and become part of the Stadler Stable in Paris before moving to Finestrat in Spain. Later, Coetzee went to Japan where he was invited to join the Gutai Group, the first radical Art Group in post-war Japan. It was in Japan that Coetzee developed his later art style that ultimately classified him as South Africa's leading and prominent avant-garde artists. Coetzee received international recognition for his contribution to the avant-garde art movements known as Art Informel, Assemblage and Neo-Baroque in Paris, Spain and Japan during the 1950s and 1960s, an art style he perfected. He passed away at the age of 71 in 2000 in Tulbagh in the Cape and bequeathed his entire home and collection to the University of Pretoria.