Artists

Claude Bouscharain is recognised for her compelling and enigmatic compositions. Born in France, she first studied child-psychology at the Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Geneva before moving to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to study art. She later also studied at the Art Students League of New York and the Académie de Montmartre in Paris under Fernand Léger. At Léger’s studio she met Erik Laubscher whom she married and accompanied to South Africa in 1951.

Bouscharain acknowledged the influence of Henri Matisse and Léger in her work but through her wholly original interpretation of the surface plane and the inclusion of personal allegories within her compositions, she set herself apart from many of her contemporaries. Her recognisable ‘epic’ style of painting (1966–1981), executed in vibrant, smoothly applied acrylics, is what she is best known for.

She has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Cape Town and elsewhere in South Africa, as well as in Belgium, Zimbabwe, Australia, Namibia and, in 2002, at the Cité International des Arts in Paris. She is the subject of a monograph by Bruce Arnott (Struik, 1977) and is represented in various collections including IZIKO National Gallery, Pretoria Art Museum and the Hester Rupert Art Museum.

Claude Bouscharain and Erik Laubscher were central to the vibrant art life in Cape Town. Their home at 6 Cheviot Place, Green Point, was an artistic hub: a place to meet, form lasting bonds with peers and discuss art, life, and rave against the dictates of a conservative society.