Red Pipe ,1958
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Note : Laubser’s career coincides with, and illustrates well, the conservative and colonial nature of the South African art world in the early and middle parts of the 20th century. Most privileged white artists would, like her, have taken a European trip to expand their art education and be exposed to the concepts, techniques and themes of Western art. In Laubser’s case, these were her exposure to portraiture in London and, later, to Expressionism in Germany in the 1920s. These influences led her to a certain type of stylistic innovation which caused a very negative reaction in a South African art world more used to conventional realism in its artists. Laubser’s subsequent withdrawal to the countryside and a simpler farming life, despite her continued involvement in the ‘official’ art world, would give rise to some of her best work as an expressionist pastoralist, in many still lifes, portraits and innovative landcapes.Portraiture was indeed a well-established aspect of Laubser’s practice, along with the many land- and seascapes she painted throughout her life. Though she drew her subjects mostly from farmworkers and local people, this assured work from the 1950s, while still exhibiting her command of colour techniques and brushwork, also offers an unusual subject – an elegant, modern, liberated, pipe smoking woman.
James Sey
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