The Stellenbosch University Museum is holding an exhibition focusing on artists or collections from the University Museum’s archive.
The first is an exhibition of works by Oskar Kokoschka (1886 -1980). Kokoschka was an Austrian artist best known for his expressionistic paintings, particularly portraits and landscapes. This is a series of lithographs that Kokoschka produced after a trip to Morocco in 1965. Kokoschka’s work is typical of early 20th century German Expressionism and he is ranked among the greatest modern artists of the Austrian school.
The second is an exhibition of artworks by Nel Erasmus (1928- ), one of South Africa’s earliest abstract artists.
She studied Fine Arts at Wits and in the early 1950s spent time in France and was influenced by post-war abstraction in Paris.
She studied at the Academie Ranson, Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Sorbonne and exhibited her work for the first time in Paris in 1955. Her first solo exhibition in South Africa was in 1957 and she has since received critical acclaim for her work in more than 30 solo exhibitions.
Last is an exhibition from the University’s Johannes Meintjes Collection. Meintjes (1923-1980) studied painting under Florence Zerffi and was also a prolific author – he wrote novels, essays and plays including historical material about South Africa. His wife Ronell, who died in 1996, left some 80 paintings to the Stellenbosch University Museum. Meintjes had a close affinity with Maggie Laubser – as a young man he wrote her a fan letter after which they developed a life-long friendship.
He published a book on Maggie Laubser when he was just 21 years old, after completing a BA degree at the University of Cape Town. The University Museum is located at 52 Ryneveld Street, and is open from Monday to Saturday, at 9am to 4.30pm.
