Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966)


A Spanish coastal town signed and dated 'Irma Stern 1961' (lower right)oil on canvas92 x 73cm (36 1/4 x 28 3/4in).
|ProvenanceA private collection.Stern's health deteriorated rapidly in the 1960s. She was unable to travel extensively as she had in her youth, restricting herself to European destinations with salubrious climates. She visited Spain in 1960, and again in 1961 for an extended painting trip. The warmth and colour of the landscape and its inhabitants appear to have worked their magic on the artist, inspiring a surge of creativity. Stern wrote a number of letters to her friend, Freda Feldman, during her three month sojourn in Alicante, in which she waxes lyrical about the beauty of the natural landscape and wonderful weather:"Palms grow - dates even get ripe - the sea is blue and the sun shines hard. We are having almond and peach trees in full flower and it is only 12th Feb - the rest of Europe is in snow and fog and ice - that is why we are here such a long time...we live in a very good hotel opposite the harbour - we have a sea view from two large windows - I have a sitting room turned into studio...We drive out all the days and I come back and paint in the studio." (letter to Freda Feldman dated February 1961)It is likely that Stern painted this view of the harbour from her sitting room turned studio in the hotel.In the same letter, Stern describes how well her works had been received by the local population. It appears that it was not merely her depictions of the port and surrounding landscape that were newsworthy; the artist herself was a point of interest:"...the local press has lately discovered me and simply put articles out 'La Picasso' - the multi-millionairess etc, all through the Spanish press - I had to hold a broadcast in English which was then at once translated into Spanish...So you see - where I go to - I still cause a bit of an uproar." Stern was so productive during the trip that she was able to hold an exhibition of her new paintings at Gallery 101 in Johannesburg when she returned later that year. These paintings were characterised by their luminous colours, the paint thinly applied in broad gestural strokes. Marion Arnold comments that in these late works from the 1960s, Stern's brush touches the canvas lightly: "forms are identified but seldom consolidated".BibliographyM. Arnold, A Feast for the Eye, (Cape Town, 1995), pp.21-22.M. Berman, Remembering Irma: Irma Stern, a Memoir with Letters, (Cape Town, 2003), pp.142-143.