# Alexis Preller artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/alexis-preller/
Profile generated: 2026-05-11T04:07:42.406Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1911-09-06
- Death date: 1975-12-13
- Nationality: South African
- Movements: South African Modernism
- Common media: oil painting

## About Alexis Preller

Alexis Preller (1911–1975) was a South African painter whose work occupies a distinctive place in twentieth-century South African art. Born on 6 September 1911, he studied at the Westminster School of Art in London, graduating in 1934, and later at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris in 1937. Preller developed a personal visual language that drew on European modernist influences while engaging deeply with African landscape, myth, and figurative traditions. His paintings are held in major South African public collections and have been the subject of retrospective exhibitions. Preller remained active until his death on 13 December 1975. Collectors encounter his work primarily through the South African art market, where he is regarded as one of the country's significant modern painters.

## Common works and media

Preller is primarily known as a painter working in oil on canvas or board. His subjects range from figurative compositions and portraits to mythological and allegorical scenes, often influenced by South African landscapes and cultural motifs. Collectors may also encounter works on paper, including drawings and studies. Prints and reproductions associated with exhibitions of his work occasionally appear on the secondary market.

## Market and appraisal context

Alexis Preller's paintings appear regularly in the South African auction market, where he is considered a name artist. Key factors that influence appraisal include the work's date, size, medium, subject matter, provenance, exhibition history, and condition. Works with documented exhibition records or those from recognized periods of his career tend to attract stronger interest. Attribution should be confirmed through expert examination, as Preller's stylistic range evolved considerably over his four-decade career.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. The information on this page is drawn from library authority files, museum records, and published reference sources cited above.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2834637
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Preller
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500022836
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/36699308/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2007079457
- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/64719