Balancing his two passions, sculpture and surgery, oh so deftly

JORDAN MOSHE

His dual career journey is charted in his newly published book, The Sculpture of Dr Laurence Anthony Chait: An Autobiographical Journey.

“I was nine years old when I showed my mother a model of an elephant that I had made out of plasticine. She admired it and said that I was going to be a plastic surgeon or sculptor like Jack Penn – and that was that,” Chait tells the SA Jewish Report.

In 1973, Chait qualified as a plastic surgeon, specialising in cleft and palate surgery. His medical expertise has changed the lives of hundreds of people for the better.

Left untreated, a cleft lip or palate is a severe deformity which can affect everyday function, particularly speech. More than 350 of the procedures he has performed in the last 14 years have been on a pro bono basis.

It was during Chait’s medical internship in 1969 that he began experimenting with sculpture and creating various forms.

Chait believes that his artistic influence came from his father, a GP who enjoyed painting. Describing his father as a “tortured artist”, Chait says he stay up until 4am, devoting his patience and time to his art. “It took him four years to complete one painting because of the attention he paid to its detail. It drove me nuts; I just wanted to see him finish it.”

Chait admits that he was a terrible painter, and found his artistic expression lay in sculpting because it could be self-taught and learned by experience. “No one told me that I had to do this or must not do that. When I sculpted, it didn’t matter to me if people liked what I created or not. I started with abstract forms and moved on to realistic ones as I started receiving commissions for different people, but to me the sculpture was always art.”

It was in 1975 that Chait first exhibited his work. The few pieces on display were small, concrete ones, and they were all sold by the time the exhibition was over.

As time passed, Chait received commissions which would see him bring iconic figures into artistic existence. Two of these are at the Johannesburg Zoo: Max the gorilla and Jock of the Bushveld. His bust of famed English architect Herbert Baker is in the beautiful grounds of Northwards House in Parktown. It was commissioned by the then Transvaal Institute of Architects, which used to have its offices here and was erected in 1992 to commemorate the centenary of Baker’s arrival in South Africa. Other creations are on display at Wits University, at various company headquarters and at Jewish installations. Chait’s pieces have earned him considerable renown, and have been auctioned off on several occasions, ending up in esteemed locations both here and overseas.

Art consultant Suzie Copperthwaite said Chait’s sculptures are popular at auctions. “A number of works by Chait have been offered and sold at auction in South Africa, as well as in African-themed sales at Bonhams in London. In April 2009, a bronze edition mounted on a marble base, titled Sunday in the Park Series IV, sold for R40 949 on Bonhams’ Africa Now Auction.”

She explains that it is not just the price a work fetches that shows its value, but also if art dealers buy it to sell on. “A secondary market is important to the career of any artist as it speaks of desirability and ultimately, longevity. Values aside, only a fraction of professional artists develop and realise collectors’ resale markets for their work, and Chait is one of them.”

Chait humbly talks of his work being eclectic. “The range is so very diverse. But every single piece was fun to make and drew on both abstract and realistic concepts. Art was a release for me, and I was never concerned that it would detract from my professional life as a surgeon.”

In fact, Chait found that certain aspects of his profession were mirrored in his artistic pursuit. “I like to say that sculpting is my career and surgery is my hobby, but there are many ways in which the two overlap.Both require a vision, one that has a particular goal at its end. Art and medicine are inextricably interlinked.

“They differ in that a sculpture will stay the way it is carved, while changes made to living tissue may not unfold as planned. However, they share form similarities. It is unfortunate that you can throw out a sculpture that doesn’t turn out the way you want, but can’t do the same with plastic surgery!”

The diversity of sculpting is well documented in the many photographs of Chait’s works that appear in his book. From more realistic forms to abstract figures, Chait’s works are drawn from different sources of inspiration and made of various materials.

“Realistic art is more constrained, while abstract gives one creative licence,” explains Chait. “But they are all forms of creation and each piece is unique. I find abstract art with no form whatsoever, such as pieces of random pipes and metal parts, boring. As soon as discernible shapes are present, there is meaning in the piece.”

While he does sometimes have to think hard about a form that will work, Chait says he can draw inspiration from any interior or exterior source and pieces all elements together in his mind.

“The oxen figures which I’ve made were inspired by Johanna, our family maid who would sculpt such figures for us when I was a child. I believe that there is no such thing as a new shape, but while the ones I use may not be new, the art I create blends all of them into something which has not existed before.”

Turning to his medical practice, he says: “Medicine is an art and involves how you look at people. It is an art as much as it is a science. Pythagoras developed complex formulae while mixing medicines and contemplating the art of science.

“Unlike sculpting, plastic surgery is predictable up to a point, as scarring and such is beyond our control. A work of surgery must be pleasing to the individual – she or he needs to appreciate it.

“Art, however, has a larger audience and the end product can be liked or disliked by many people – and it’s of no greater consequence. You never finish a sculpture and say: ‘Sorry, we had a complication!’”

Although he is now 75 years old, Chait continues to work as a plastic surgeon and an artist. Paging through his book, Chait is astonished: “I look at the pictures and wonder when I did all of this,” he says. “Although I’ve created over 400 pieces, I have no clue where they all are today. What matters is that people are enjoying them somewhere. People still want art as much as they did in the past, and while the market may fluctuate, our South African art remains popular everywhere. South Africa has great artists, and we all need to keep the flag flying.”