Welgemeend August Art Month 2018

9 IRMA STERN 1894-1966 White Lilies signed and dated 1936 oil on canvas 67,5 x 64,5 cm NOTES: White Lilies was included in Irma Stern’s solo exhibition at the Argus Gallery in March 1941, where it was identified as among the best works. The unnamed reviewer notes that previous exhibitions by the artist had “aroused the strongest emotions in many of the spectators” and adds: But times change and public taste becomes more sophisticated, and in these days an Irma Stern exhibition arouses so little critical antagonism that you would almost think she had become an “old master” in the full flush of her career. Further on we read: Her present exhibition is as full of interest as ever and it contains, perhaps, even more variety. Landscapes, seascapes, still life and portraits – the large room is vivid with colour and full of her own strong, vigorous personality. The pictures glow with the painter’s vitality. Under the sub-heading, A LOVELY WORK, the reviewer asserts: Some of the still life paintings, particularly “White Lilies” (34) are among the best things she has done in this manner ... i i ‘Pictures by Irma Stern: A Vigorous and Vital Personality’, The Cape Argus , Monday March 24, 1941, page 11.