Sylvestre Kaballa (1920-?)
Untitled, 1946
Oil and gouache on paper
Signed on the bottom right
44,5 x 55,5 cm
Provenance:
- Former Jamotte colonial collection
- Pierre Loos collection, Belgium
- Purchased from the latter by the current owner
- Private collection, Paris
The buyer will be provided with an authenticity certificate from Mr. Pierre Loos
Note: This work by Kaballa, one of the first painters in Pierre Romain Desfossés' studio in Elisabethville (known today as Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo) was purchased late in the year 1946 by Mr. André Jamotte, geological engineer, advisor in the Katanga special committee and teacher at the Mons Polytechnical faculty (Belgium), directly from the Pierre Romain-Desfossés studio.
Mr. Jamotte returned to Belgium in early 1947 and lost his life on June 22nd 1951 in the Robertsfield aerial catastrophe. It was purchased from his daughter in August 2015, who had accompanied him when the work was bought in 1946 and confirmed the date.
This work, which we can therefore date back to 1946, shows an aquatic scene in which large sheatfish calmly move amongst other species of colored fishes and white flowers.
The work was never shown and thus kept its vibrant colors. It is one of the first known works by Kaballa, and one of the first accurately dated works from the Hangar studio.
