Notes

The drawing Red Figure, 1999, forms part of Albert Adams’s Prisoners or Incarceration series, a particularly poignant group of works in which he delves deeply into the visible and invisible aspects of imprisonment and repression and which serves as the underlying vector of his social and political commentary. Adams found the spiritual and creative capacity to empathise with the vulnerable and defenceless of this world and to bring their plight to our consciousness. In Red Figure he confronts the invisible but powerful shackles of apartheid South Africa, the upside-down figure spewing out a rainbow over an exposed red and diminished figure, but also humanity and civilised values that have literally been upended. Life in South Africa for the young Adams offered much confusion, frustration and pain and brought about a life-long underlying indignation against injustice. He was a contemporary of Peter Clarke and they met at Livingstone High School, Claremont, Cape Town in 1944 and remained friends for life. Adams’s talent was recognised at an early age and, having been denied entrance to Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town because of the colour of his skin, was encouraged by émigré friends of Irma Stern to apply to art colleges overseas. In 1953 he commenced his studies at the Slade School of Fine Art in London where, in 1956, he won the Slade Summer Composition award and a Bavarian State scholarship. He furthered his studies at the University of Munich in Germany, and significantly, attended the summer master classes of Oskar Kokoschka in Salzburg. Throughout his career his training and exposure to some of the great artists, thinkers and writers of the twentieth century provided the solid foundation from which he could forge his own style. In 1979 he was appointed as a lecturer at the City University, London, where he taught for eighteen years and throughout his life he continued to exhibit internationally and in the country of his birth.¹

1. Sources: Marilyn Martin (2019) Curatorial Statement, Albert Adams: An Invincible Spirit, in association with SMAC Gallery; Elza Miles (2019) An Invincible Spirit: Albert Adams and his Art, Cape Town: SMAC Gallery.

Exhibited

Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, Albert Adams in Black and White, 19 to 21 February 2016.

SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, The Bonds of Memory, 9 April to 21 May 2016.

Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch, Albert Adams (1929-2006): A Fractured History, May to October 2017.

Wits Art Museum, An Invincible Spirit: Albert Adams and his Art, 1 April 2019 to 25 May 2019.

Literature

Elza Miles (2019) An Invincible Spirit: Albert Adams and his Art, Cape Town: SMAC Gallery. Illustrated in colour on pages 122 and 167.