Muhammad Ali’s drawing of SA i

Former heavyweight boxing champion US Muhammad Ali is seen on March 29, 1982 in his home at Freemont Place outside Los Angeles, California. Image: STR / PRESSENS BILD / AFP.

Muhammad Ali’s drawing of SA is going under the hammer in New York

Muhammad Ali hoped to use his drawing of South Africa to speak out against apartheid in Namibia and South Africa.

Muhammad Ali’s drawing of SA i

Former heavyweight boxing champion US Muhammad Ali is seen on March 29, 1982 in his home at Freemont Place outside Los Angeles, California. Image: STR / PRESSENS BILD / AFP.

A drawing of South Africa by the former United States boxer Muhammad Ali is going under the hammer in New York.

Muhammad Ali | Let My People Go Artwork

According to SA People and Bonhams, Ali’s painting titled Let My People Go of 1978 was unveiled at the United Nations on 13 April 1979 for the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid.

Ali hoped to use his artwork to speak out against apartheid in Namibia and South Africa.

According to Bonhams, in presenting his painting, Ali read a poem, which read: “Spread the word around the world, Tell both friend and foe, I’m fighting for freedom for South Africa, So, Let my people go.

Ali’s painting was made into a set of limited edition serigraphs and first-day cover to be sold by the World Federation of United Nations Associations. The original painting, showing a “white man whipping a black man” was considered too politically inflammatory and the white man was removed for the purposes of the official UN edition.

The artwork is said to be valued between €34 000 to €52 000 (about R500 000 to R900 000).

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)
Let My People Go, 1978, by Muhammad Ali. Image: Bonhams

Bonhams says that  Ali was an artist all his life. First nurtured by his father Cassius Clay Snr, a professional artist, he continued to paint and draw informally as he grew up, eventually enlisting in art lessons from sports artist LeRoy Neiman. Ali commonly drew and painted those subjects closest to his heart: boxing, civil rights, world peace and humanitarianism.

The Let My People Go painting is among a 24-piece collection that is going up for auction in the “TCM Presents…It’s a Knockout!” sale in New York next week. The artwork for sale comes from the collection of Rodney Hilton Brown, who worked with Ali on his art, Reuters reports further. Other artwork from Ali – who died in 2016 at age 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease – include America: The Big Jail from 1967, and War in America.