Dumile Feni-Mhlaba (Zwelidumile Mxgazi) (South African, 1942-1991)Head
bronze
52 x 18.5 x 26cm (20 1/2 x 7 5/16 x 10 1/4in) (not including base)注脚Provenance
Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1974.
Collection of Anthony Quinn.
Acquired by a private collector in London, 2013.


This impressive bronze was purchased by the celebrated American actor, Anthony Quinn, in the mid-1970s. Quinn was himself an enthusiastic painter and sculptor, and had close relationships with many of the foremost artists of the day. Dumile moved from South Africa to London earlier in the decade, in response to the Apartheid regime's increasing restrictions on black artists.

Dumile came to Quinn's attention following a successful exhibition at the prestigious Grosvenor Gallery. The actor commissioned a number of works from Dumile directly, but the artist was unfazed by his patron's fame. When Quinn chased the pieces, his response was tongue in cheek, requesting more funds "for inspiration".

This bronze was cast between 1970 and 1975 by the Fiorini Foundry in London in an edition of six, before the terracotta mould was destroyed. Another (stamped 2/6) was displayed at the Johannesburg Art Gallery's 1988 exhibition, The Neglected Tradition: Towards a New History of South African Art (p.46 cat. no.20 illustrated). Another edition, in the Bruce Campbell Smith Collection (not stamped), was exhibited in the Dumile Feni Retrospective at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1988 (p.29 illustrated) as well as the seminal show at Iziko SA National Gallery, Revisions: Expanding the Narrative of South African Art (p.178 cat. no.140, illustrated).