Willie Grobler

A bust titled Willie Grobler, a cousin and close friend of the South African sculptor Fanie Eloff. Eloff created the sculpture of a younger version of his friend in 1942. The story told about Grobler is that an Austrian composer Franz Lehar kidnapped Grobler in 1920 whilst he was living with Eloff in Paris. Eloff then flew his Gypsy Moth plane to Vienna to save Grobler. Grobler was the model for most of Eloff's male figures. Short Biography: The sculptor, better known as Fanie, was born in 1885 in Pretoria South Africa. In 1910 his father sent him to France to study mining – after spending a couple of months in Paris he decided to rather study art. This had his father livid and he was cut off financially. In 1912, at the 130th Salon exhibition at the Grand Palais de Champs-Elysees in Paris, Fanie was the only sculptor to compete against the world-famous French sculptor, Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917). When Rodin took part in a competition all the sculptors of Paris withdrew their entries as they complained that they simply could not win against such as formidable artist. This did not deter Eloff, who was also the grandson of the Late President Paul Kruger (of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek), he entered the competition with this work titled 'The Boxer'. Eloff walked away with the prize and received much praise for this feat. Not only did he win the prize, he also sent a newspaper clipping home to his mother, who in turn showed it to his father. Eloff’s Father was rather impressed and decided that the boy had artistic talent, and he reinstated his financial aid to his son. After this Eloffed moved between South Africa and France and became famous for his figures of ballet dancers and sportsmen. Eloff had to flee Paris with the advent of the Second World War (1939-1945) and permanently returned to South Africa. He dies in Pretoria in 1947 during emergency surgery.