Art Brokerage: Nelson Mandela is the first black president of South Africa, and a Nobel Laureate. In 2002 Nelson Mandela started to draw and it was announced that his lithographs were to be launched a few months later. Mr Mandela had been invited to participate in a programme which would have him drawing a series of works whose sales could achieve great results. The work themselves are amazing - fresh, bright, well drawn, iconic symbols of the struggle in South Africa and the triumph over the tyranny of the apartheid years. In May 2002, he began a series of sketches with the subject Robben Island. In the company of a skilled photographer, Grant Warren, he revisited the island, scene of some of his most painful years with its cruel repressive regime. Images of his cell, Table Mountain from the beach, the lighthouse, church, quarry, guard towers and many other scenes were photographed. Nelson Mandela completed over 20 sketches that include images he found meaningful, both symbolically and emotionally, during the period of his incarceration on the island. The works were completed in a series of colour separations, first the strong black crayon lines providing the guide, then he selected colourful shades for each image. It is interesting to note that he completed no final original piece, only a series of separations which, when overlaid, create the final picture. The five editions were signed individually by Mr Mandela - each of the pieces with a generous and carefully drawn signature. His artist’s motivations written in his characteristic neat handwriting, offer an insight into the thoughts behind the colour images he created.