In honour of Women’s Month, the powerful influence and legacy of women in art and the sociopolitical complexity of femme experiences at large, Sanlam Art Collection presents Her… – an exhibition of painting, sculpture and printing that celebrates the role of women artists in the shaping of visual art in South Africa.

Exhibiting in Cape Town at the Sanlam Art Gallery from 4 August to 22 October, the exhibition features work from 58 of South African artists from the early twentieth century to present:

1. Wendy Anziska
2. Kate Arthur
3. Ilona Anderson
4. Marion Arnold
5. Patricia Pierce Atkinson
6. Deborah Bell
7. Hanneke Benade
8. Elza Botha
9. Claude Bouscharain
10. Peggy Delport
11. Nerine Desmond
12. Merle De Jager
13. Nerine Desmond
14. Nel Erasmus
15. Ethna Frankenfeldt
16. Anthea Delmotte
17. Mary-Rose Dold
18. Bertha Everard
19. Ruth Everard
20. Eleanore Esmonde White
21. Leor Farber
22. Emily Fern
23. Bronwen Findlay
24. Faiza Galdhari
25. Erica Hibbert
26. Cecil Higgs
27. Penny George
28. Pauline Gutter
29. Judith Gluckman
30. Heather Gourley-Conyngham
31. Gina Heyer
32. Phillippa Hobbs
33. Karen Jarozynska
34. Dorothy Kay
35. Maggie Laubser
36. Noria Mabasa
37. Lyness Magwaza
38. Judith Mason
39. Clare Menck
40. Bommie Ntschalintschali
41. Freida Ollemans
42. Sofie Peters
43. Marianne Podlashuc
44. Nina Romm
45. Helen Sebidi
46. Adela Seton-Tait
47. Penny Siopis
48. Pippa Skotnes
49. Tina Smith
50. Nita Spilhaus
51. Marie van Reenen Stander
52. Irma Stern
53. Maud Sumner
54. Alice Tenant
55. Diane Victor
56. Barbara Wildenboer
57. Judy Woodborne
58. Florence Zerffi

Curator Stefan Hundt says that by far some of the greatest contributors to the development of South African art over the past century have been women. “Looking at artists such as Irma Stern, Pippa Skotnes, Helen Sebidi and more, we can see that women artists were innovative and daring at time when the dominating patriarchy saw little value in the visual arts.  As museum directors, gallerists and art historians such as the late Marilyn Martin, Linda Givon and Dr Marion Arnold, to name a few, South African women have done an incredible job and still do so today, not only here but also on the international stage. They deserve to be recognised and celebrated.”

Expect textured tellings of what it’s like to be of the female body, the woman’s mind, the divine feminine – from domestic life and motherhood to discrimination, inequality, gendered beauty standards and violence.

Viewing is open to the public on weekdays between 09:00 – 16:30 at The Sanlam Art Gallery in Bellville, Cape Town. Guided tours with the curator and seeing works in storage can be arranged by appointment. For more information, visit blog.sanlam.co.za.

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You can wear them, eat off them, hang them or even stick them on your wall: certified images of works by artist Walter Battiss, also known as the first inhabitant of the fictitious Fook Island. 

They say if you visited his Pretoria home back in the day, and the Fookian flag was flying high in the garden, you could take it that King Ferd the Third of Fook Island was home, and ready to receive fellow Fookian citizens. Just ask Janet Suzman and Linda Givon, they’ll tell you all about it. 

Fook Island was only one of this celebrated South African artist’s extraordinary flights of fantasy, a manifestation of his insatiable curiosity and life philosophy. His meeting with Picasso in 1949 affected his style; around 1955, references of Ndebele beadwork became evident in his work; and his travels in the 1960s into Africa, the Middle East and Europe are all said to have led to his wild island imaginings. 

Until recently, works by His Royal Fookness were a priceless luxury. Happily, things have changed. Thanks to the Walter Battiss Company, founded by Eduard du Plessis, fans can now eat cake off stylish ceramic plates by Mervyn Gers, hang master digital prints on walls, or even wallpaper them, all with certified images of his work. And the choice is wide: images of early prints, drawings, silkscreens and oil paintings are all available. 

What’s more, fashion designer Stefania Morland picked up on the Fookian vibe and wowed the crowds at Cape Town Fashion Week last year with her range of Walter Battiss-printed dresses, skirts and tops. They looked so good, we’re sure the king would’ve approved.

Q&A with Eduard du Plessis

You are the founder of the Walter Battiss Company. Why the decision to print his works on everyday items, like plates?

We greatly admire his work. It lends itself to be interpreted in many creative ways. This is not a unique concept. Other international artists’ work is marketed like this too, making it more accessible to the public. Part of the proceeds will go to the Walter Battiss Art Museum in Somerset East, the town of his birth.

What sort of products can we look forward to from the Walter Battiss Company?

His art is particularly suited to textile design. Back in 1948, Battiss was pleased when his prints were used on linen. This inspired us to look into textile design, and next season we will launch another textile as well as a crockery range. The first designs will be available in November.

What do the art experts think about the idea?

Stefan Hundt, curator of the Sanlam Art Collection, is very positive about it. Not all art lovers can spend between R18000 and R60000 on a Battiss silkscreen; R3800 is more do-able. Andrew Lamprecht, artist, curator and senior lecturer at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, likes that Battiss’s work is available to the younger generation in a new and fresh way.

The latest range from the Walter Battiss Company will be launched at the Design Indaba Expo from Friday 28 February to Sunday 2 March.

All items can also be ordered from walterbattiss.co.za 

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The R100 000 prize drew 1 783 entries, which were all adjudicated by an independent panel comprising Hayden Proud, curator for historical painting and sculptures at the Iziko SA National Gallery in Cape Town; Vulindlela Nyoni, a lecturer in printmaking at the University of Stellenbosch; and artist and teacher Susanne du Toit, who recently scooped the prestigious 2013 BP Portrait Award in the United Kingdom. Stefan Hundt, head of SPI’s art advisory service and convener of the judging panel, commended the judges for their “exceptional dedication in making a very difficult decision, given the large number of entries received”.

Stefan further explained the final decision: “Heather’s portrait was chosen for her exceptional skill, the subject choice, the sincerity of the relationship between artist and subject, and the fact that her interpretation challenged convention and pushed beyond the normal and the accepted.”

Born in Durban in 1956, Heather lives in Hilton in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. She has worked as an art teacher and painter since graduating with a BA Fine Arts from the University of Natal in 1978 and a Higher Education Diploma in 1980 from the University of South Africa. Her paintings focus primarily on the human form.

Daniël Kriel, CEO of SPI, said the outstanding quality and standard of the entries received was testament to the range and depth of talent South Africa had to offer. “Portraiture in South Africa has had a rich, and at times controversial, history that reflects the country’s social and political evolution. It is within this context that we are proud to partner with the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery to celebrate and showcase the best of original portraiture in South Africa.” 

He said art is a passion for many of SPI’s clients, and is of increasing investment interest. “We feel particularly connected to the platform of portraiture, since it resonates with SPI’s vision and aims. Our expertise lies in wealth management, where we nurture and value close personal relationships with our clients. In the same way, there are few things more intimate than the relationship between the artist and the subject in a portrait.”

View our online exhibition of all 40 finalists here.

The national touring exhibition can be seen at the at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery in Durbanville until Sunday 8 October; the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery from 24 October to 13 November; Stephan Welz & Co at the Alphen Estate in Constantia, Cape Town, from 26 November to 10 January 2014; and the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts during April 2014. For more information: www.spiportraitaward.co.za

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Read our Q&A with Paul Emsley.

The first official portrait of Kate Middleton, painted by Paul Emsley, has created quite a stir. Stefan Hundt, head of Sanlam Private Investments’ Art Advisory Service, gave us his very considered perspective.

That the Kate Middleton portrait should elicit such a flurry of media is not surprising, after all it is of a “royal celebrity”. And that it should evoke such responses shows that the power of the painted portrait remains present, despite the overwhelming photographic exposure of the princess.

The artist, Paul Emsley – who has deep roots in South Africa – is being roundly criticised by professional and armchair art critics alike. There seems no end to the vitriol surrounding this portrait directed against Emsley, Middleton and the royal family. Not having seen the painting nor the person in the flesh, so to speak, I am not inclined to speak out about the quality of the work. For one, the portrait is very large in scale and looking at the picture dramatically reduced to fit on a computer screen means that one cannot be sure of anything. This emphasises the point that there is really no substitute for experiencing a painting in the real. No matter how much art history you study remotely from the physical object, the corporeal experience of the physical object diligently studied will always be a revelation for any serious art student.

We still have an inherent faith and expectation that the painted image will, and ought to, convey something more about the person than just a likeness – that, somehow, our experience of a painted portrait should contain more than just the visual titillation of the retina and the cognitive recognition of the image as representing a known face. Is this perhaps all just projection? Much of the criticism levelled against Emsley’s portrait of Kate, is that the painting lacks life and that it is so “ordinary” and placid in its execution that it fails to live up to the perceived life characteristics of the person portrayed. This complexity of the relationship between the painted perceived image and the image of the subject in the mind is inevitably fraught with subjectivity and influenced heavily by the deluge of existing imagery of Kate Middleton. It is therefore not surprising that Emsley’s painting of Kate has failed to meet the subjective expectations of so many people who have already developed an iconic image of her in their mind’s eye. No wonder we have to cope with so many poor, and at times, outrageously disingenuous portraits of Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

Being commissioned to paint the portrait of a celebrity has its attractions, besides the long-term enhancement of the artist’s reputation, there is also the privilege of spending some time privately with a person who enjoys a privileged status in society. The downside is that the artist has a slim chance of being successful in their portrayal. Vanity and the commissioned portrait always seem to be bedfellows. Usually it is only years after the initial public and critical disdain that the portrait of a prominent figure begins to enjoy public acclaim. Perhaps more often because of the person portrayed than the quality of the painting or sculpture. Paul Emsley had no easy task and perhaps in years to come this painting of Kate Middleton will become “loved”. For now it sets the measure by which any subsequent portrait will be compared.

As an integral part of Western visual culture, the portrait has evolved into a specialised practice and an aesthetic subject is no longer dependent on a commissioner for its existence. The active exhibition programme of the National Portrait Gallery in London is testament to the currency that the portrait holds as the museum both solicits, commissions and collects portraits. The annual BP Portrait awards is one such mechanism that solicits entries internationally and sustains the interest in portraiture in the United Kingdom and worldwide.

In South Africa portraiture, although only a small aspect of the broader art history of painting, has enjoyed sustained support over many years as traditions such as the painting of the University Vice-Chancellor and company chairman still continue within many organisations. A more public consciousness and awareness about portraiture and the diverse ways it can be approached has yet to develop. The last decade and a half of the new South Africa has been plagued with the ubiquitous and often sentimental homage to leadership through the brash oversized bronze or psychedelically afro-kitsch adorned head and shoulders paintings of the likes of Nelson Mandela, Gatscha Buthelezi or Desmond Tutu.

The recently launched Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) National Portrait Award offers a prize of R100 000 to spur emerging and established local artists to seriously consider the making of portraits. Be it a local celebrity, the granny around the corner or just themselves in two or three dimensions, each will present a unique challenge. Much like the British counterpart, the SPI Portrait Award will hopefully bring out the best that South African artists, both professional and amateur can produce, which no doubt will initiate a lively public debate about the winning portrait in August this year. For further information visit www.spiportraitaward.co.za

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Calling all artists: Fancy winning R100 000 for a portrait you have created? Then enter South Africa’s first National Portrait Award, launched by Sanlam Private Investments (SPI). As the media partner, VISI spoke to Stefan Hundt, head of the SPI Art Advisory Service and curator of the Sanlam Art Collection.

What sort of response are you hoping for?

We hope for a large and diverse range of entries. Portraiture is not a simple thing, although it is quite significant. In South Africa, historically, artists such as Irma Stern and Maggie Laubser painted a number of portraits, largely because of our British colonial heritage. Britain places great importance on this style – it’s the only country with a National Portrait Gallery. Nonetheless, portraits are not the biggest seller in the market, probably because they carry such individualism. What we’re hoping to do with the SPI National Portait Award is to get people to engage with the concept of what a portrait is, rather than simply a likeness in head-and-shoulders format. For instance, the medium of sculpture can add interesting elements.

What makes a good portrait?

The first thing, for most people, is the traditional perspective of seeing a likeness; a relation between what’s on the canvas and the actual person. The next thing is that the artwork should represent the person beyond simply their physical appearance. Artists use various techniques for this, for instance the angle from which they portray the subject, the texture and the proportion. Various conventions and tropes have been developed over the centuries and the artist’s ability to manipulate them determines the success of the portrait. On the other hand, the artist can subvert those conventions, turning them upside down.

Who makes a good subject for a portrait?

I don’t think you can identify an ideal portrait subject, but the biggest problem is painting people who are famous. Most portraits of Nelson Mandela, for instance, are terrible. It’s a challenge to capture someone whose image is so well-known across the world because, to do it justice, you almost have to fight the popular perception of the person. Also, most Mandela portraits are done from secondary sources and photos, so they’re sentimental and imaginary. It’s difficult to do a portrait of a well-known person unless you can get them to sit in front of you. If you want to do it well, paint someone you know.

Do you have any advice for entrants?

Get cracking! The deadline is 19 August 2013.

The Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville, Cape Town, will hold an exhibition of the top 40 entries, which will then travel to galleries around South Africa.

For more information, entry forms and competition rules, go to www.spiportraitaward.co.za or call Monica Ross on 021 976 4691.

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Conceived in partnership with Durbanville’s Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, the winner of the award will be announced in August 2013. The winning work – as well as around 40 other outstanding entries – will tour South Africa in an exhibition presented in collaboration with the Sanlam Art Collection and VISI magazine.

Portraiture holds a significant place in Western art tradition and the award aims to shine the spotlight firmly on this evocative and celebrated genre that. South African artists are challenged to enter works that engage the context of past and contemporary art history, in the medium of their choice (excluding lens-based artwork, i.e. video, film, photography).

A panel of three judges will identify the winning portrait and select additional works for the national touring exhibition. All works will be judged anonymously so artists are requested not to sign their work. The panel will be convened by Stefan Hundt, head of the Sanlam Private Investments Art Advisory Service and curator of the Sanlam Art Collection.

Stefan says that South Africa has a rich and, at times, controversial legacy of portraiture influenced by its social and political history. “Accommodating the intentions of the commissioner and expectations of the subject requires the artist to invoke an extensive repertoire of skills and knowledge to fashion a work of substance that exceeds the minimum requirements of likeness and character.”

“We feel particularly connected to this new platform for art in South Africa,” says Daniël Kriel, CEO of SPI.  “We know art is a passion for many of our clients, and of increasing investment interest, and few things are more intimate or personal than a portrait.  A commissioned portrait can be the height of flattery, or the paragon of vanity, yet remains a defining testament to the person’s individuality.”

The SPI National Portrait Award 2013 is open to anyone resident in South Africa older than 21 years.  Entries should be received by 19 August 2013. The award ceremony will take place on 27 August 2013 at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, Durbanville, where the selected works will be on exhibition and open for public viewing from 28 August to 8 October 2013.

For more information on the competition, entry forms and competition rules: www.spiportraitaward.co.za

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