​Contemporary South African Art

Born: 1906 Antwerp, Belgium
Died: 1977 Thonon, Lake Geneva, France
Resided in SA 1940-71

A painter of portraits, figures, landscapes, still life and genre scenes.  Worked in oil, gouache, watercolour and also drew. 

A lithographer.  Painted numerous series including “Tribal Life”, “The Karoo”, “Cape Fishermen”, “Clowns” and “Man in Africa”.

Studies: 1924 Brussels Academy of Fine Art, Belgium under James Ensor (1860-1949); 1925 worked in a stained glass studio; 1926 in the studio of a wallpaper manufacturer; 1933 under Henri Matisse (1869-1954) at Cimiez in the South of

France and in Paris. 

Profile: After 1926 worked as a freelance cartoonist.  1930 a member of La Jeune Peinture Belge Group;  1940 a member

of the New Group; 1946 a committee member of the SAAA; 1948 a founder member of the International Art Club SA; 1958 appointed Commissioner for SA at

the Venice Biennial; 1961 an executive committee member of the SA Council of Artists.  1964 appointed National Chairman of the Fine Arts Committee, SAAA.  1943-45 a lecturer at the Witwatersrand Technical College; 1946 Founder and first Principal

of the Continental School of Art, Dean Street, Gardens, Cape Town; 1952-53 a temporary lecturer, 1954-58 a lecturer, 1958-63 a senior lecturer, 1964-70 Professor and Director of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town and Dean of the Faculty of Arts.  In 1967 his painting entitled “Congo” (Zaire) was reproduced by E.Schweickerdt, Pretoria; “Coons Carnival”, a set of 10 linocuts was published by Koster, Cape Town.  Designed wallpaper.  1906-11 lived in Antwerp, Belgium; 1911-39 in Brussels, with visits to Paris; 1939-40 in

the Belgian Congo (Zaire), on a Government sponsored painting exhibition; 1940-71 lived in SA; 1971-77 in France, on the Swiss border. 

Exhibitions: 1927 Galerie la Cimaise, Brussels, first of numerous solo exhibitions held in Belgium and France; he continued to hold solo exhibitions in Belgium after moving to SA; participated in group exhibitions from 1930 in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Belgian Congo (Zaire), the UK, Italy, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Switzerland, the USA and from 1941 in SA; 1939 and 1955 Belgian Congo (Zaire), solo exhibitions; 1941 Argus Gallery, Cape Town, first of over 15 solo exhibitions held in SA; 1948 Tate Gallery, London, SA Art Exhibition; 1956 and 1960 Quadrennial Exhibitions; 1958 New York, USA, solo exhibition; 1968 Durban Art Gallery, exhibition of drawings; 1969 Petit Palais, Geneva, Switzerland, solo exhibition; 1974 SA National Gallery, Cape Town and Pretoria Art Museum, Retrospective Exhibition.

Awards: 1930 Silver Medal, International Exhibition, Antwerp, Belgium; 1951 title of “Chevalier de Leopold II” awarded by King Baudouin of Belgium; 1966 Medal of Honour, SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns; 1972 Title of “Officer of the Order of Leopold II” awarded by King Baudouin of Belgium.     

Represented: Bezalel Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel; Durban Art Gallery; Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet; Johannesburg Art Gallery; King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth; Museum of Graphic Art, Brussels, Belgium; Pretoria Art Museum; SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns; SA National Gallery, Cape Town; University of Natal; University of the Orange Free State; University of South Africa; University of the Witwatersrand; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley.

​

References: Carl Buchner, Van Essche, 1967, Tafelberg, Cape Town; Collectors’ Guide; Our Art 2; Art SA; SAA; 20C SA Art; SAP&S; SAP&D; SSAP; BSAK 1&2; Enc S’n A; Oxford Companion to 20C Art (under SA); 3Cs; AASA; LSAA; Artlook January 1969; SA Panorama September 1971; Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue, 1974, Pretoria Art Museum.