Walter Whall Battiss

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Walter Whall Battiss (Anderson) (1906 - 1982)

Birthdate:
Birthplace: 4 Bathurst Street, Somerset East, South Africa
Death: August 20, 1982 (76)
Port Shepstone, South Africa (Heart Attack)
Immediate Family:

Son of Walter Battiss and Louise Sara Price
Husband of Grace Battiss
Father of Giles Walter Battiss and Private User
Brother of Alfred George Battiss and Doreen Louise Battiss

Occupation: Artist
Managed by: Private User
Last Updated:
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Immediate Family

About Walter Whall Battiss

Walter Whall Battiss is generally considered to be the foremost South African abstract painter and also known as the creator of the quirky “Fook Island” concept.

1917 – his family moves to Koffiefontein and his interest in archaeology and rock art begins.

1919 – Walter’s family moves to Fauresmith where he completes his education.

1923 – He matriculates.

1924 – Walter takes a job as a clerk in the Rustenburg Magistrates court. He spends his spare time painting.

1933 – Walter receives his teaching diploma and begins teaching at the Park School in Turffontein, Johannesburg.

1936 – He is appointed Art Master at Pretoria Boys School. Here he worked for the next 30 years, with interruptions here and there.

Walter was a founding member of The New Group.

1938 – He visits Europe for the first time and meets Abbé Henri Breuil.

1939 – Walter publishes his first book “The Amazing Bushmen”

1940 – Walter marries Grace Anderson, a renowned art-educationalist. At this point his previously realistic style of painting begins to take on a more symbolic character.

1944 – He has an exhibition of copies of rock paintings and becomes the first South African artist to represent rock art from a purely aesthetic point of view.

1948 – Walter ventures into the Namib Desert where he lives among the Bushmen for a period. He wins the bronze medal and diploma for painting and woodcuts at the International Olympiad Exhibition.

1949 – He has his first meeting with Pablo Picasso and Gino Severini while exhibiting at the International Art Club in Turin, Italy.

1952 – Walter is invited to lecture at the University of London.

1953 – He is appointed Principal of the Pretoria Art Center and becomes known as “The Bushman Painter”. He starts experimenting with colored woodcuts.

1954 – Walter is elected a Member of the Executive Commission of the International Association of Plastic Arts as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and he prints his first serigraph.

1956 – He is awarded the Pro Arte Medal by the University of Pretoria.

1958 – He returns to Pretoria Boys High School to teach.

1960 – Walter is elected a Fellow of the International Institute of Art and Letters.

1962 – He begins exhibiting canvases using palette-knife colours.

1964 – Walter is awarded the Medal of Honor of South African Akademie.

1965 – He is appointed Professor of Fine Arts at UNISA as well as being elected an Honorary Member of the Academy of Florence.

1966 – 1968 Walter makes several trips to Greece. This starts the influence of islands on his creative thinking.

1971 – Walter resigns as Professor of Fine Arts at UNISA.

1972 – He visits the Seychelles and becomes infatuated by the unspoiled nature and simple island life.

1973 – He is awarded an Honorary D. Litt. et Phil. from UNISA and the idea of the “Fook Island” concept starts.

1974 – 1975 The Fook Island concept really starts coming to the fore during his travels to America, the Middle East and Europe.

1975 – His wife, Grace passes away. Walter and Norman Catherine holds the first “Fook Island” exhibition.

1976 – Walter begins to travel frequently and the “Fook Island” concept really starts flourishing. He produces and designs stamps, currency and publications for the “Fook Island” concept.

1980 – He designs 4 stamps for the Botswana postal service.

1981 – the Walter Battiss museum opens in his birth-place, Somerset East.

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Walter Whall Battiss's Timeline

1906
January 6, 1906
4 Bathurst Street, Somerset East, South Africa
1938
October 12, 1938
1982
August 20, 1982
Age 76
Port Shepstone, South Africa
1982
Age 75