Blue Bird

Blue Bird is a painting by the South African artist Walter Whall Battiss (1906-1982). This work was a very late work by the artist that was donated by the then Principal of the University Prf DM Joubert. The most interesting part of the work is that the artist framed it smaller than the actual work and the small band of orange that can be seen at the top is the hair of a boy. Short biography: Walter Whall Battiss was born in 1906 in Somerset East in the Cape. During his lifetime Battiss was probably the most prolific South African artists working in all media from oils to prints to sculpture. Battiss trained at art at various institutions and in 1930 to 1932 studied a teachers training diploma at the Johannesburg Teachers Training College. He completed his BA fine arts at the University of South Africa in 1940. In 1936, he began his career as an art teacher at the Pretoria Boys High School, and became one of the most influential art teachers in South Africa. He studied South African rock art in detail, something that would inspire and guide his art subject for at least 20 years. He also travelled the globe and exotic islands such as Tahiti and the Seychelles and in 1973 published, "Fook Book I". The artist created Fook Island an imaginary place where he lived as King Fook, for this country the artist even created a history, a map, currency, postage stamps and many artworks representing this subjects. Walter Battiss passed away in Pretoria 1982.