Lovers ,1954
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Note : The 1950s was a period of consolidation rather than innovation for Irma Stern. While the spontaneity and impetuosity1 of her brush strokes continued to divide critics, she was nonetheless accepted as a pioneer2 artist in official circles. Stern represented South Africa at the VeniceBiennale throughout the decade. In between solo shows in South Africa and abroad, she also managed to travel widely, notably to Madeira (1950) and Congo (1955), where she produced harbour scenes and portraits. Stern turned sixty in the year she painted Lovers. The linear form of her echoed figures eschews her usual expressionist distortion3 in favour of a schematic depiction that is reminiscent of Picasso, one of only a few contemporary artists Stern did not disregard. The two figures create a unified face. This is accentuated by what appears to be a white veil on the left figure that also covers the head of the second figure. In 1968, the art historian Heather Martienssen wrote a penetrating essay about Stern's late career work: By 1954 she had reached the age of sixty, the time at which, with few exceptions, an artist begins to show a decline in vigour, though this is off set in the case of the more distinguished artists by other qualities resulting from experience: insight, elegance, sureness of touch, economy of technique, and integration of the visual theme (which may accompany increasing complexity of design).4 All these indicators of merit are visible in this unusual painting by Stern.
1. FL Alexander. (1962) Art in South Africa, Cape Town: A. A. Balkema. Page 362. Walter Battiss. (1951) ‘Painting in the Union of South Africa’, South African Scene, Vol. 1. Page 193. Neville Dubow. (1974) Irma Stern, Cape Town: Struik. Page 164. Heather Martienssen. (1968) ‘The Art of Irma Stern’, Lantern, Vol. 18. Page 31
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