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• Auction House:
  W T Macalister
• Sale Name:
  40 Years of Leo Bensemann
• Sale Date:
  28 Mar 2012 ~ 6:30pm (NZDT)
• Lot #:
  1
• Lot Description:
  Leo Bensemann
  (1912-1986)
  The earliest dated ‘imaginary portrait', of a swarthy man wearinga fez (Otto, Portraits, p. 28, Simpson, Fantastica, p. 24), is dated in the top ri
  Oil on canvas
  485 x 335mm
  Signed and Dated 1936
• References:
  For a discussion of this attribution, which derives from a letter from Angus to Douglas Lilburn, see Simpson, Fantastica, p. 41. See Simpson, Fantastica, p. 24 for an account of Bensemann’s attending the Arts Ball dressed as Dracula
• Notes:
  The earliest dated 'imaginary portrait', of a swarthy man wearinga fez (Otto, Portraits, p. 28, Simpson, Fantastica, p. 24), is dated in the top right corner of the painting MCMXXXVI (1936). It isone of the very few imaginary portraits to be signed and dated, though whether anything can be read into this is uncertain. Didit signify that this was a painting he especially valued? Possibly,but not necessarily. Some of Bensemann's imaginary portraits areself-evidently inventions, such as Huntsman (1938) discussed below - no-one could mistake this for a portrait of an actual person - but in others the treatment of the subject is so realistic in manner that the possibility must be considered that the painting is of a 'real' personin costume. It is a known fact that in some portraits Bensemanndid dress his subjects in costume, as, for example, in his well-known1937 portrait of Rita Angus (now in Te Papa) dressed as Cleopatra (Otto, Portraits, p. 53, Simpson, Fantastica, p. 45).6 Bensemann's own liking for fancy dress is also well documented.7 Is it possible that this 1936 painting, known in the Bensemann family as 'TheTurk', is not 'imaginary' but the portrait of some friend dressed as a Turk either for a play, fancy dress, or simply as a model? The matter cannot be decided with certainty. The figure is painted against a reddish-brown neutral background, his long dark hair covered witha fez of traditional red colour (though it lacks the usual tassle, and the row of coloured dots at top and bottom are not conventional), wearing a green garment which looks suspiciously like a bathrobe, an identification which supports the possibility of costume.Whether real or imaginary the characterful figure has piercingblue eyes, dark eyebrows, distinctive deep vertical creases on the forehead, a prominent dimple in the chin, and a swarthy complexion with a '5 o'clock shadow' clearly evident. It is a distinctly exoticfigure compared to most New Zealand portraiture of the 1930s.
• Estimate:
  NZ$9,000 - 11,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.