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Shaft Collar during Construction at a Gold Mine in the Orange Free State

Terence Cuneo (1907-1996)

Price
£9,500
Signed
Signed and dated 'May 1951'
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
25 x 30 inches
Provenance
Commissioned from the artist by the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa;
John Laing & Son Ltd
Literature
Terence Cuneo, 'Behind the Canvas', The Artist, 1952, Pages 53-56
Exhibited
'A Century of British Art: 1945-2010', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, October-November 2021, No 317

Shaft Collar during Construction at a Gold Mine in the Orange Free State
As explained in introductions to his series of articles,
'Behind the Canvas, published in the magazine, The Artist, in 1952, Terence Cuneo made two trips to Africa in 1951 in response to commissions. During the second, he worked on seven paintings for the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa, including the highly dramatic one included here, which depicts the construction of a shaft at Jeanette Gold Mine in the northern Orange Free State. A caption in The Artist describes the situation as follows:

'The scene 4 400 ft below the surface of a gold mine in the Orange Tree State. Native boys are 'lashing' the rocks to the centre of the shaft to allow the grabs to pick it up and discharge it into the buckets where it is disposed of on the surface.' (page 54)

Development of Jeanette Gold Mine began in 1951, but was suspended in 1955 prior to production, as a result of unfavourable market conditions, technical difficulties associated with Khaki Shale and the prospect of significantly better mining opportunities elsewhere in the Welkom Goldfield. In 2001, it became the collaborative property of African Rainbow Minerals Gold and Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd, which merged two years later, in 2003. Then, in 2008, it was sold, untouched, to Taung Gold International Ltd. It is currently the subject of a feasibility study.

'I floundered about the shaft trying to find a composition for my picture. Water from rock "seepage" poured off my helmet, the shriek of compressed air deafened me, and barged as I was by natives, I only just missed getting caught up in the grab. After twenty minutes of this I had enough data and was more than ready to come up. I found the shift-boss and gave him the prearranged signal – a tug on his coat. He nodded, looked round the shaft and shrugged. There was no bucket! It was then that I really became aware of those 4,400 feet of rock overhead. When a bucket appeared I made a bee-line for it, but as we waited to move upwards three small rocks hit me on the helmet in quick succession. I thought, "This is it, and waited for the next one to flatten me. However, after a vicious jerk, we were soon soaring up.
(Terence Cuneo, 'Behind the Canvas', The Artist, 1952, page 56)

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