Lily SACHS
1914 - 2003
Sculptures in wood, bronze, concrete and marble - Photography
Lily SACHS in 1966
Brief biography
Born on 7th December, 1914 in Johannesburg, educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Potchefstroom. Studied painting at the Witwatersrand Technical College Art School under Maurice van Essche, at the University of the Witwatersrand under Willem de Sanderes Hendrikz and Prof Heather Martienssen, in Paris at La Grande Chaumière, the Académie Julian and with André Lhote in 1947, and on her return to South Africa sculpture under Moses Kottler.
Lily Sachs also studied photography and won the Beret Award given by the Johannesburg Photographic Society for her photographic study of the sculptor Edoardo Villa, as well as several awards in London for work hung in several salons.
Lily Sachs was the daughter of Harry Finn, Potchefstroom; she was married to Teddy Sachs, vice-chairman of the Johannesburg Repertory Players (Reps) Theatre, Johannesburg, they had two daughters, Valerie and Gail. They lived on 3rd Ave., Lower Houghton, Johannesburg.
Lily Sachs died on 12th January, 2003.
Exhibitions
Gallery 101, Johannesburg - 1st solo show on 14th February, 1966 (30 sculptures in wood, bronze, marble) (opened by Manfred Hermer)
Has exhibited her sculptures in many group exhibitions.
Participated in
Republic Festival Exhibition Pretoria 1966 – SA Association of Arts, Pretoria – cat 241 "Mother and child" bronze + cat 242 "Sitting figure" bronze
Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg (“Sculpture SA 1900 – 1967”) on 12th September, 1967:
Cat. 85 Mother & Child – red ivory wood – R500; Cat. 86 Torso – Wood – R350; Cat. 87 Seated Figure – bronze – R350
15th Transvaal Academy 1969, Johannesburg
3 sculptures (listed p 30) of catalogue: Cat. 116 African Figure – stinkwood – R900; Cat. 117 Torso – wild olive wood – R400; Cat. 118 Sitting figure – concrete – R500
Gallery 101, Rand Central, Johannesburg (“Top South African Artists”) group exhibition opened by Prof. Ernst van Heerden on 10th February, 1969
Gallery 101 Hollard Street, Johannesburg (“Second Exhibition of Transvaal Sculptors”) - 17th February, 1972
Public and Other Commissions
Bust - portrait of Leonard Schach, 1952
Alexander Theatre, Johannesburg – a sculptured relief panel of three musicians
Please click on image for better view of relief panel of three musicians at back next to staircase!
Close-up of Lily SACHS panel in concrete of 3 lute players (img GLH+ Architects 2015)
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Hillbrow Summit Club, Johannesburg – 4 twelve foot athletic figures in concrete on the façade
View of 4 relief panels on Johannesburg's Hillbrow Summit Club in better times
Please click on image for close-up view of 3 panels!
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Reinsurance House, Johannesburg – 22 four foot bronze panels of South African animals in the circular staircase of the original building
"A more delicate aspect of her talent is the staircase at Reinsurance House which consists of 22 four foot panels of South African animals done in bronze which took nearly a year to complete" (SA Jewish Times, Johannesburg - 18th February, 1966) - building stripped, whereabouts of panels unknown
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Edura Building, Commissioner Street, Johannesburg – panel of sculpture on a mining theme for a 30’ pool
"Model for fountain outside "Edura" - panel of bronze figures depicting a mining scene against concrete background, jets of water at left"
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Town Square, Lichtenburg – a 2.5m H column with 4 female figures in high relief for a fountain, from 1961
Lily Sachs between 2 of the 4 panels for Lichtenburg (img. Southern African Jewish Times, Johannesburg - 11th May, 1962)
Publications and Web references
South African Artists 1900-1962 (Harold Jeppe) (Afrikaanse Pers Boekhandel), 1963, p. 135
ARTLOOK 3, Johannesburg – 1967 Vol I No III – January – p 16 "Mother and Child" sold for R500 - ill.
ARTLOOK 28, Johannesburg – 1969 – March – p7 "Head" in stinkwood 41 cm, ill.
Lily Sachs "Head" in stinkwood - 41cm H - illustrated in ARTLOOK 28, March 1969, p. 7
De Arte - UNISA, Pretoria - 1967 May, Vol. 1, p 61 ("sculpture of dignity and simplicity" in Year's review for Johannesburg)
"Development of Form and Meaning in the Sculpture of Edoardo Villa” by E.M. von Maltitz (thesis MA in History of Art, RAU, Nov 1982) (publ. 1988) p. 37 – “Lily Sachs was a fellow-sculptor and good amateur photographer who recorded most of Villa’s works at that time”
"Art & Artists of South Africa" (Berman) (Balkema), 1983, pp. 344, 517 – ISBN 0 86961 144 5
"The Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors including Namibia" (Ogilvie) (Everard Read), 1988, pp. 574 - ISBN 0 620 12663 9
"Images of Wood - aspects of the history of sculpture in 20th Century South Africa (Johannesburg Art Gallery) (Rankin), 1989 - ISBN 0-620-13867-X (mentioned p. 17)
Public Collections
Willem Annendale Kunsgalery, Lichtenburg / Ditsobotla
Selected works in the Lily SACHS family collection
"Head" in terrazzo stone - meas. n/a
Oher works in the family Collection in South Africa - please click on this link!
"Three figures in garden" in concrete - meas. abt. 80x50x30 cm
Two works in the family Collection in Australia - please click on this link!
Other Selected images
"African Concert" bronze on wood - Private Coll.
Lily Sachs slide archive from Gallery 101, Johannesburg
Sculptures in wood pre-1966
Lily SACHS applying finishing off touches to her small panel "Marching Africans" in bronze on wood
"Mother and Child", "Spanish Dancer" (garden figure) and "The Couple" by Lily SACHS - all pre-1966
Selected works on auction
"Mother and Child" - wood - 89 cm H - signed L.S. - on auction Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - 28th March, 2017 - Lot 404
"Kneeling figure" bronze - ed. n/a - signed L.S. - 38cm H - auctioned by Old Johannesburg Warehouse Auctioneers, January, 2017 - Lot A040
Selected Reviews and Publications
Cape Times, Cape Town - 23rd January, 1953 ill
SA Jewish Times, Johannesburg - 4th March, 1955 ill
Sunday Times, Johannesburg - 21st January, 1962 ill
SA Jewish Times, Johannesburg - 11th May, 1962 ill (The human angle) ill
SA Jewish Times, Johannesburg - September, 1965 ill
Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg – 12th February, 1966 ill
Sunday Times, Johannesburg – 13th February, 1966 ill (Busy sculptress holds a “one-man” show)
Die Transvaler, Johannesburg – 14th February, 1966 ill
Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg – 16th February, 1966 (“Art for the outdoors …”)
The Star, Johannesburg – 17th February, 1966 ill
SA Jewish Times, Johannesburg – 18th February, 1966 (interview by Lulu Lipworth) ill
The Star, Johannesburg – 19th February, 1966
Die Vaderland, Johannesburg – 21st February, 1966
Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg "Connoisseurs Catalogue" - 23rd February, 1966 - listed
Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg "Connoisseurs Catalogue" - 27th July, 1966 - listed
Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg - auction cat. SA1702 - 28th/29th March, 2017 - Lot 404 listed p81, ill on p.120
Signature
Lily SACHS signed her bronzes with her initials
Note
The above data was gathered mainly from the Pretoria Art Museum archives, the archives of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, Johannesburg , the archives of The Haenggi Foundation Inc., Basel, in 2017 and the Lily SACHS family.
Updated on 15th March, 2017