Walter Battiss’s erotic artworks were an outcry against the prudish establishment that was prevalent in South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. These works might read as playful and humorous today, but they were not viewed in that way by the South African public when they were fist exhibited. An exhibition of Battiss’s Orgy silkscreen prints and other erotic drawings was closed down by the police after complaints from the public in the mid 1970s.

Battiss was deeply committed to the concept of personal freedom and despised nothing more than censorship. In March 1968, he came to the defence of a young artist Chris van der Berg, whose exhibition was cancelled by its sponsor Saambou Nasionale Bouvereninging in Pretoria a day before its opening. Battiss responded vehemently in The Sunday Times saying: ‘It is deplorable that the work of such a fine artist should be removed from exhibition simply because a few people objected to several nudes in the paintings. It is a disgrace. The time has come for a public outcry. We cannot stand by and allow the works of our artists, writers and sculptors to be censored by people who know nothing of the rudiments of art.’

Rebelling against this repressive social climate in South Africa and inspired by his visits to Greece, a strong erotic and sexual element arose in the many prints he created in the last decade of his life.

Battiss met many international artists during his extensive travels abroad and the artist he admired the most and who remained a constant source of inspiration was Pablo Picasso. There is a strong erotic element that permeates Picasso’s works, particularly his etchings from Suite 347, published in 1968, which were a source of inspiration for Battiss’s erotic prints made in the 1970s.

Battiss travelled to Greece, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Fiji and other islands around the world and, in the 1970s, he created his imaginary Fook Island, a utopia that fused elements of the islands he had visited. He conceptualised an entire society located on the make-believe island, including maps, sketches of inhabitants, taxonomies of local plants, and even currency, stamps, and driver’s licenses, which he created and exhibited with other artists. Although not intended as a straightforward political statement, Fook Island can be interpreted as an alternate reality compared to South Africa’s apartheid state.

Walter Battiss’s erotic artworks were an outcry against the prudish establishment that was prevalent in South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. These works might read as playful and humorous today, but they were not viewed in that way by the South African public when they were fist exhibited. An exhibition of Battiss’s Orgy silkscreen prints and other erotic drawings was closed down by the police after complaints from the public in the mid 1970s.

Battiss was deeply committed to the concept of personal freedom and despised nothing more than censorship. In March 1968, he came to the defence of a young artist Chris van der Berg, whose exhibition was cancelled by its sponsor Saambou Nasionale Bouvereninging in Pretoria a day before its opening. Battiss responded vehemently in The Sunday Times saying: ‘It is deplorable that the work of such a fine artist should be removed from exhibition simply because a few people objected to several nudes in the paintings. It is a disgrace. The time has come for a public outcry. We cannot stand by and allow the works of our artists, writers and sculptors to be censored by people who know nothing of the rudiments of art.’

Rebelling against this repressive social climate in South Africa and inspired by his visits to Greece, a strong erotic and sexual element arose in the many prints he created in the last decade of his life.

Battiss met many international artists during his extensive travels abroad and the artist he admired the most and who remained a constant source of inspiration was Pablo Picasso. There is a strong erotic element that permeates Picasso’s works, particularly his etchings from Suite 347, published in 1968, which were a source of inspiration for Battiss’s erotic prints made in the 1970s.

Battiss travelled to Greece, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Fiji and other islands around the world and, in the 1970s, he created his imaginary Fook Island, a utopia that fused elements of the islands he had visited. He conceptualised an entire society located on the make-believe island, including maps, sketches of inhabitants, taxonomies of local plants, and even currency, stamps, and driver’s licenses, which he created and exhibited with other artists. Although not intended as a straightforward political statement, Fook Island can be interpreted as an alternate reality compared to South Africa’s apartheid state.