Fig. 273. Boy Bending Over, 1962
Fig. 293. Man Dancing, 
Fig. 312. Stretching Nude, 1997
Fig. 321. Man Swinging Stick, 2010
Jack Lugg is known mainly as a painter with a
colourful, uniquely independent style, often with an
injection of humour or caricature in his renderings
of the rural areas around East London. His
sculptures, however, are not as well-known, despite
the fact that many consider these to be superior to
his paintings. During the years of his art training,
Lugg’s focus was on painting. Nevertheless, he was
exposed to the influence of important sculptors
and experimented with sculpture from a young
age. One of Jack’s earliest known sculptures was
created as a teenager. A totem-like male figure
carved out of wood, it is about a metre in height
and an African influence is evident in the simplicity
and exaggeration of form.
(Excerpt, The House that Jack Built, p.270)
Finally, Upward Spiral (2013) (Fig. 295) is a rare,
completely abstract work by Jack Lugg. It has
been made from a found object, a piece of bark
that Lugg picked up on a beach in Plettenberg
Bay. This is his last sculpture, and it completely
breaks away from Lugg’s adherence to traditional
techniques and materials. Like a final gesture
of freedom, it concludes a life of never-ending
creativity and total dedication to the tasks which
fate had assigned him.
(Excerpt, The House that Jack Built, p.286)
Fig. 318. Hand Puppet 1 — Gallant Soldier, 2010
48 x 2 x 7 cm, Wood, Jack Lugg Art Gallery CC
Fig. 295. Upward Spiral, 2013
19 x 19 x 17 cm, Bark, Jack Lugg Art Gallery CC 