Cook's Bay Tahiti

A silkscreen titled, Cook’s Bay Tahiti by the South African artist Walter Battiss (1906-1982) dated 25 August 1978. This print was bequeathed to the UNiversity of Pretoria's art collection privately by Elizabeth Rautenbach in 2001. Battiss visits Tahiti in 1978 and creates a series of Silk screens on the landscapes of Tahiti. 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.