Boy with Bird

Boy with Bird is a painting by the South African artist Walter Whall Battiss (1906-1982). In 1950 the University of Pretoria held the first exhibition showing its art collection. The painting of a young boy, dressed in a yellow sweater and holding a blue bird was typical to Battiss style then. The University at this time already owned artworks by some of the best artists at the time, including Maggie Laubser and Gregoire Boonzaier. During the exhibition Walter Battiss donated his latest work 'Boy with bird' to the University of Pretoria. 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.