Another Triumph of Painting

The doomsday cry of the ‘death of painting’ has been heard periodically over the centuries, first in the wake of the invention of photography in the mid-19th century, and more recently,in the context of the so-called dematerialisation of art in the late-1960s, favour falling to Conceptual, Performance, and Installation Art movements at that time. Post-modernism of the early 1980s has seen the pendulum swinging back to painting. The Saatchi Gallery celebrated its resurrection in a series of landmark exhibitions, collectively called, The Triumph of Painting. 

Wendy Vincent and Geoffrey Armstrong share the renewed interest in the art of oil painting. They are part of a compelling and eclectic group of painters who have emerged internationally since the 1990s. The meaning of the term may not be as clear as it once was, but painting still entails the covering of a surface with pigments. Experimenting with new materials, techniques and processes, such as done by Vincent and Armstrong, the modern-day painter amply demonstrates the diversity and resources of painting and its vital contribution to the contemporary art scene.

Wendy Vincent is better known for her graphic work, having printed with legendary master printer Egon Guenther and teaching printmaking at Wits Technikon. Her painting is a synthesis of the natural and the abstract, executed in a phenomenal colour palette.

Geoffrey Armstrong is better known as a sculptor, evident in the magnificent wooden sculptural forms on exhibition, emanating organically out of felled tree trunks. Equally noteworthy, the collaborative paintings on which both Vincent and Armstrong worked.

A master painter and printmaker, Wendy Vincent was a pioneer in South Africa in the field of stone and lithography. From 1958 -1971 she studied at the Durban and Witwatersrand Technikons before continuing her training in New York and Paris. Spending her childhood on a farm, she drew and planted outdoors from the age of 10. Her paintings are about nature. Her work has been exhibited throughout South Africa, in Europe, Australia and the UK. In the US, Vincent’s work is part of public collections in the Philadelphia U.S.A Museum, the New York Library and the Washington, S.A. Embassy Collection. Prestigious publications that have reproduced Vincent’s work include Esmé Berman’s Art and the Artists of South Africa, Freda Harmsen’s Looking at South African Art and the 1982 Engravings for De Luxe Edition of Olive Schreiner’s The Hunter. For the past 25 years, Vincent has retreated from the public art scene and devoted herself to creating a sprawling indigenous rock garden with her life partner, artist, Geoffrey Armstrong, while continuing to. (Source: Latitudes)

Sculptor and painter, Geoffrey Armstrong was born in Vereeniging, South Africa and studied at the Johannesburg School of Art. His first solo exhibition was held at the Lidchi Art Gallery in Johannesburg in 1964, while he was still a student. His paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in South Africa and the UK and can be found in numerous private collections, including the Johannesburg Art Gallery, South African Breweries, Anglo American, Sasol, Warsaw National Gallery and the Johannesburg Stock exchange. For the past 25 years, he has been transforming the Magalies Rock Garden into a work of art with his partner, artist Wendy Vincent. All the wooden furniture in the house has been carved and crafted by Armstrong and the property itself is dotted with his commanding wood, stone and rock masterpieces. (Source: Latitudes)

Talk and Exhibition Viewing

Join us on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 at 10:00 for 10:30 for a talk on the exhibition “Another Triumph of Painting” by Senior Art Specialist, Wilhelm van Rensburg.