Maurice Van Essche
Maurice van Essche came to Africa as part of a Belgian government-sponsored painting expedition to the Congo in 1939. With the occupation of Belgium by the Germans in 1940, he then came to South Africa. After his arrival he lived briefly in Cape Town and then taught at the Wits Technical College Art School in Johannesburg from 1943 to 1945. He joined the New Group and founded the Continental School of Art in Cape Town in 1946. He was later to become a lecturer at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. His influence and authority on the local art establishment was far-reaching and he bolstered the modern movement in South Africa. Read More…
