Irma Stern

Acquired directly from the artist circa 1950
Thence by descent to the present owner

The canvas is not lined and there are no signs of retouching visble under UV light. There appears to be a nailhead-sized paint loss in the red part of the head dress, and a pinhead-sized paint loss in the banana just above the centre of the composition. Apart from minor specks of abrasion to the lower right corner, this work is in very good condition. Colours: The hues in the sitters face are much softer and brighter, and the colours of the sitters dress are more navy blue in the original than in the printed catalogue. Overall, the reds and the greens are brighter in the original.
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Irma Stern's visual fascination for the image of African women as bearers, as caryatid figures, occurs frequently in her work, spanning her full career from the 1920s to the 1960s. The responsibility to provide, bear and support, borne by these women traditionally, inspired Irma to create images of effortless grace and elegance which form a number of her most arresting works. We, as viewers, are drawn into the rapport which the artist so obviously established with her subject. This uncanny relationship with her sitters is evident in most of Stern's portrait studies and is not confined to her African subject matter. It is like the skill possessed by a grand photographer, whose pact with his subject is conclusive and victorious.

These graceful providers have been depicted carrying firewood, poultry, water vessels and fruit. In this instance a branch of green bananas hoisted at a jaunty diagonal conveys an aura of optimism and triumph. The spotted head scarf, the generous earrings and the sparkling white and navy blue shawl glimpsed at the base of the picture, all add up to this convivial ambience. We question whether this was a successful visit to or from the market? Was she walking past the lonely house the artist was renting as a studio, on this, her second visit to the Congo in 1946. This visit was fraught with unhappiness, quite unlike the first visit in 1942 which was lyrically described by the artist in her Congo journal published in 1943. Challenging situations of all kinds appear to have been heroically overcome by the intense excitement of the experience.

Four years later things were different; the artist's emotional state combined with her perceptions of the social conditions prevailing in the Congo at the time, created a sense of melancholy. From the Kisenyi Guest house, Lake Kivu on 9th June 1946 Stern writes to her friends Richard and Freda Feldman in Johannesburg: 'All would be well – if I could only feel free and happy. The Congo this time has a creeping horror for me.' There are further details in this letter referring to discomfort of various kinds but then a sure triumph over despair by this ever-dedicated, disciplined artist is revealed in the penultimate paragraph:

'Today I have painted a picture of a girl carrying green bananas on her head. I think it is good. I think – because the light is so bad that I cannot control it. We are here very near the Equator and the light is frightful.'

The dull light is masterfully transformed by the artist's characteristic range of exquisite greens so typical of the Congo works of both visits and clearly evident here. Once again she has lost herself in her work and triumphed. Perhaps she saw herself as a bearer of gifts as we read references to this in her early illustrated Journal dated 1919, where she refers to 'the precious gift of golden light...' and references to 'the Blue One' who brought a piece of the sun 'down to the huts where beings live...'

References:
Mona Berman, Remembering Irma, Cape Town, 2003
Neville Dubow, Paradise - The Journal and Letters (1917-1933) of Irma Stern, Cape Town, 1991

We are grateful to Christopher Peter, Director of the UCT Irma Stern Museum, for providing this catalogue entry.