South African Artist Irma Stern by Lillian Gray

Irma Stern is still considered to be South Africa’s foremost artist in terms of public recognition and the record prices that her works fetch at an auction. At first, misunderstood for her highly individual and Modernist style by the conservative and shockable public of Cape Town, she gradually won acceptance and eventually acclaim. Her strong interest in portraying black people was also a point of public controversy, especially in the 1930s. Deeper scrutiny of this aspect of her work has occurred in the past 15 years in the light of developments in feminist and gender studies, and the new post-colonial discourses.

Many of Stern’s paintings of people from other cultures are concerned primarily with the culture rather than the individual. The essence of the person studied becomes a generalisation for the society because, although the painting is created from contact with particular models, Stern interprets according to a mental construct about the culture of origin. Thus many of her portraits are ambivalent, presenting both stereotypical and individual characteristics.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:40 Her early life
2:53 Moving to Germany
3:58 Influence of German Expressionism
4:22 Returning to Cape Town
6:05 Developing her German Expressionism
7:28 Traveling in Africa
10:26 Her death
12:56 Theft of her artworks
13:52 Some of her famous paintings
16:00 What did she paint?
16:42 Her artworks
17:33 How she created
19:21 Where did she create
19:53 Why did she create
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