Revisions

This well-documented work by Maggie Laubser (plate 15) is signed and dated 1925, and forms part of what is referred to as her ‘Oortmanspost phase’, which lasted from c.1924 to 1928. This period commenced with her return to South Africa in November of 1924 from the cosmopolitan artistic circles of Weimar Berlin to a life of seclusion on the farm Oortsmanspost near Klipheuvel, 45-odd kilometres from Cape Town. For Laubser it was a sudden step backwards from a vibrant European culture of formal experiment and free expression, to a hermetic colonial world where time had seemingly stopped and the local art world was mired in conservatism. Her first solo exhibition at the Argus Gallery in Cape Town in early 1925 provoked the outrage of local critics and the ridicule of many, including her associates in the SA Society of Artists, to which she had belonged since 1907. The exhibition was a financial disaster and she retreated to Oortsmanspost to a life of introspection and loneliness. Read More…

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