death_date death_place birth_place training nationality field birth_date article_title name bgcolour
13 december 1975 pretoria , south africa pretoria , south africa westminster school of art académie de la grande chaumière south african painting 6 september 1911 alexis preller
 alexis preller # 6495ed
alexis preller

alexis preller -lrb- 6 september 1911 -- 13 december 1975 -rrb- was a south african painter .
he trained at the westminster school of art from which he graduated in 1934 and later at the académie de la grande chaumière in paris -lrb- 1937 -rrb- .
he was especially influenced by vincent van gogh and paul gauguin and visited european galleries and museums to study these artists ' works .
elements of gauguin can be seen in his paintings on south african subjects such as the `` garden of eden '' -lrb- 1937 -rrb- .
over time , he developed his own style and his works showed an array of elements from nature , african masks and other african art .
one finds this overlay of his personal style on african themes most illuminatingly expressed in works such as `` basuto allegory '' -lrb- 1947 -rrb- .
travels in europe and north africa gave further expression to his output which became influenced by the frescoes of piero della francesca and egyptian murals .
one sees this influence in works such as `` hieratic women '' -lrb- 1956 -rrb- .
preller 's later unique style isolated him from the artistic movements of the 20th century , nor did he fit into any conventional style of the old school .
although highly regarded in his native pretoria , this was not initially the case elsewhere in south africa - an exhibition of his works in cape town in the late 1960s was coolly received by art critics there .
recognition for his work has grown since then , and the opening of the most recent major exhibition , africa , the sun and the shadows of his works at johannesburg 's standard bank gallery on 13 october 2009 was strongly attended .
