Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966)
Still life with chrysanthemums and a pumpkin
signed 'Irma Stern' and dated '1937' (upper right)
oil on canvas
103 x 84.5 cm. (40½ x 33¼ in.)
Sold for £378,400 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • "Irma's love of the flowers she cultivated in her garden found direct expression in her large still lifes, all exuberant with a vital painterly energy. In some her flowers are hardly contained by the edge of the frame...In her still lifes, Stern eloquently integrated her exterior and interior worlds."

    On meeting Jacob Epstein on her visit to London in 1927, he remarked: "At last a painter who can paint comes to London. Do you know that nobody living can paint flowers better than you can - that the Renoir roses I just saw look like paper against your flowers".

    A similar composition, dated 1945, is in the collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, and is illustrated in P. Cullen et al. (eds.), Irma Stern: Expressions of a journey (Cape Town, 2003) pg. 165.

    Bibliography:
    Helene Smuts, At home with Irma Stern, (Cape Town, 2007).

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  • This lot is not subject to any export restrictions from SAHRA.

Category: Fine Art / South African Art


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