Irma Stern

Acquired in Cape Town by the father of the present owner in the early 1950s

The canvas is not lined. UV examination reveals a thin layer of milky varnish preventing the UV light from fully penetrating, however there do not appear to be any traces of visible retouching. The impasto is thick and rich, and some small spots of paint loss are visible, above the mask's right eye, to the green pigment towards the upper left corner, and a small spot of impasto loss to the bowl. This work would benefit form a light clean. This work is in overall good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

We are grateful to Christopher Peter, Curator of the Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, for his assistance with the cataloguing of this work.

This sensual and eclectic still life sees the artist at her most inspired; it is quintessential Stern, infused with drama and executed with an elegant and masterful control. The components appear to be thrust together, but Stern does so with real panache, forming a striking overall visual rhythm. The deep reds of the Amaryllis create an off centre focal point, closely observed by the startled mask, and brought together by the sinuous lines of tulip stems, abandoned in their full blown maturity. The background is formed by the walls of the artist's yellow studio and is a brilliant foil to the red and inky purple of the flowers. Indeed, this masterful use of yellowy greens is a Stern trademark. Underpinning the composition, an open book sits upon a rough bit of drapery, together with a turquoise glazed Chinese bowl and a string of beads – the same Egyptian beads which are part of the Irma Stern Museum collection, as are the Thai mask and the Chinese bowl.

Masks were of deep interest to Stern. Twinned with her own rich visual imagination, they take on a mystical, animated form when included in her compositions. Marion Arnold confirms this, noting that ‘None of Stern’s still lifes are products of objective detachment and cool analysis’ (M. Arnold, Irma Stern: A Feast for the Eye, Vlaeberg, 1995, p. 126). Here we see an example of a carved wooden mask from Thailand, notable for its headdress of flowers and leaves which together form an elaborate and opulent frame to the face. Stern’s collection of masks comprised mainly Congolese items which were gathered on her extraordinary and epic journeys to the Congo in 1942 and 1946.  In addition to the above, four fine examples of Swiss carnival masks known as ‘Tschäggättä’ added to the richness and diversity of her collection. The acquisition and subsequent depiction of these objects was an important process for Stern, for whilst many of her paintings are the result of hasty experiments on the move, Arnold reminds us that ‘the interior spaces of her home and the sanctuary that was her studio were as important to her as the world at large’ (ibid., p. 125).