Strauss & co - 26 September 2011, Cape Town

130 painted in 1934 featured many family members and included an image of the artist carrying a large blank canvas and dressed in the same striped scarf in which she appears here. With the Elvery family behind her in this portrait, she has chosen not only to contextualise herself within her Irish ancestry and her South African family but is also reflecting on the cultural milieu that gave rise to her development as an artist. In a letter dated August 10th 1950 Kay states “I got so inspired with all the good old days painting – with its craftsmanship & real painting & modelling, that I started one of myself – meaning it to be old fashioned & like a photograph”. 1 Another letter dated 14th August includes some reflections on painting, “Good observation alone must be of some value, & to be able to put it down, an added value ... good solid honest straightforward work can have a lot ... some intensity of purpose it is that seems to count most” [underlined by the artist]. 2 Kay’s unsparing criticism and humour are evident in her comments, as inscribed on the back of one of her photographs of the finished painting, “eyes a bit enlarged by glasses – possibly too far apart? not (sic) an overstatement – must one overstate? Over to you –“. 3 The artist clearly invites viewers to reach their own conclusions. Can her superb draughtsmanship, her mastery of paint, her ability to capture a likeness or her skill in conveying multiple meanings be faulted? You be the judge. 1. MarjorieR eynolds, “Everything you do is a portrait of yourself” Dorothy Kay: A Biography , privately published, 1989, page 227. 2. Ibid, pages 228-229. 3. Ibid page 231.