Maud Frances Eyston Sumner (South African, 1902-1985)


Namib Dunes signed 'SUMNER' (lower right)oil on canvas 79.5 x 98.5cm (31 5/16 x 38 3/4in).
|ProvenanceThe collection of Dame Janet Suzman, DBE.After matriculating from Roedean School in Johannesburg, Maud Sumner moved to Britain to study English Literature at the University of Oxford. The plan was that Sumner was to pursue a teaching career following her graduation. But the young woman's artistic inclinations proved stronger than her father's fears about the instability of a painter's life. She enrolled at the Westminster School of Art, continuing her education at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris in 1926. She remained here for four years, despite her family's request that she return to South Africa. Sumner first encountered the desert when she visited Israel in 1953. Fascinated by the vast, plain scenery she went on to travel to the Namib Desert in 1965. It was during this trip that her style underwent an evolution; moving away from solid forms, her paintings became increasingly abstract and loosely defined. The desert landscape of Namib Dunes is communicated in broad gestural strokes. The artist captures the solitude and quiet tranquility of the desert through the limited palette of pale yellows, creams and browns. BibliographyE. Berman, Art & Artists of South Africa, (A A Balkema, 1983), pp.444.