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Higgs, Cecil

Born: 1900 - Thaba ‘Nchu District,

Orange Free State
Died: 1986 - Cape Town

A painter of marine life, seascapes, landscape,still life and from 1935 figures, particularly nudes.  From 1946 the theme of the sea ran through her paintings.  Painted many pictures of cats. 

Worked in oil, watercolour and from 1948 in mixed media.  Numerous drawings in ink, crayon, pencil, charcoal and chalk. A number of monotypes from 1958.

Studies: c1919 Grahamstown Schoolof Art;1920-33 Byam Shaw Art School and Goldsmith’s College of Art, London,

the Royal Academy Schools under Walter Sickert (1860-1942),the Walter Sickert School, Camden Town, various Paris studios including l’Academie de la Grande Chaumiere

and under Andre L’hote (1885-1962).

Profile: 1971-74 unable to paint in oil due

toa shoulder injury, she worked in mixed media. 

1939 a member of the New Group;

1948 a member of the International Arts Club in SA.  Illustrated Stellenbosch Days  by Nora Henshilwood,

1951, A A Balkema, Cape Town and Kelp Coast, 1976,

David Philip, Cape Town, Leonardo The Florentine by Leon Rousseau,

1962, Oxford University Press, Cape Town, Magdalene Retief by Uys Krige, 

1940, Unie Volkspelers, Cape Town,

2nd revised edition and Nerina van Drakenstein

byA C Bouman,

1937, HAUM, Cape Town. 

1900-20 lived in Orange Free State;

1920-33 in London and Paris;

1933-35 in the Orange Free State;

1935-46 in Stellenbosch;

1946 in Green Point, Cape Town;

1947-62 in Sea Point, Cape Town;

1962-63 in Mouille Point, Cape Town;

from 1964at Onrust, Cape Province. 

1939 visited Paris and London;

in 1952 the Wild Coast and in

1965 England, France, The Netherlands and Italy.

Exhibitions: Participated in group exhibitions from 1920 in England with

the London Group and the New English

Art Club and in SA from 1929; She has also exhibited in Yugoslavia, Italy, Zimbabwe and Brazil; 1936 University of Stellenbosch, first

of numerous solo exhibitions held in SA; 1938 Stellenbosch, joint exhibition with Rene Graetz, Maggie Laubser and Lippy Lipshitz; 1940 first of several joint exhibitions with Lippy Lipshitz and John Dronsfield; 1948 Tate Gallery, London, SA

Art Exhibition; 1953 National Museum, Bloemfontein, exhibition; 1956 and 1960 Quadrennial Exhibitions; 1968 Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg, Durban Art Gallery and SA National Gallery, Cape Town, joint exhibition with John Dronsfield and Lippy Lipshitz; 1975 SA National Gallery, Cape Town, William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley, Pretoria Art Museum, Durban Art Gallery, Prestige Retrospective Exhibition; 1978 SAAA Gallery, Cape Town, Retrospective Exhibition; 1980 Wolpe Gallery,

Cape Town, 80th Anniversary Exhibition. 

Award: 1963 Medal of Honour for Painting, SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.   

Represented: Durban Art Gallery; Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet; Johannesburg Art Gallery; King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth; National Museum, Bloemfontein; Pretoria Art Museum; Rand Afrikaans University; Sandton Municipal Collection; SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns; SA National Gallery, Cape Town; Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg; University of the Orange Free State; University of Pretoria; University of South Africa; University of Stellenbosch; University of Witwatersrand; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley


References: Victor Holloway, Cecil Higgs, 1974,

C Struik, Cape Town; Collectors’ Guide; PSA; Our Art 2; Art SA; SAA; 20C SA Art; SAP&S; Oxford Companion to Art (under SA); SAP&D; SESA SSAP; BSAK 1&2; SA Art; Oxford Companion to C20 Art (under SA); 3Cs’ AASA; LSAA; Die Huisgenoot 3 January 1941; SA Art News 18th May 1961; Lantern June 1966; SA Panorama June 1971; Artlook July 1972; SA Oorsig 3 September 1976; De Arte April 1983 and September 1983; Gallery Winter 1984; De Kat September 1986; Prestige Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue, 1975

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