Artist Database

Harry Stratford (Strat) Caldecott was born in Kimberly in the Northern Cape in 1886 but grew up in Johannesburg. In 1912, he left South Africa for Paris, France, where he briefly studied at Academie Julian before enrolling at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the French artist Gabriel Ferrier. In Paris, he learned and absorbed the artistic movement of the time, which was French Impressionism. Caldecott spent over ten years studying, living, and working in Europe before returning to South Africa in 1923. He eventually settled in Cape Town and married fellow artist Florence Zerffi, with whom he frequently exhibited. Caldecott was associated with the Cape Impressionists and is recognized as the leading exponent of French Impressionism in the Cape.