Notes

After her first exhibition in Cape Town in 1925 was met with great scepticism by critics and the general public, Laubser retreated to the family farm in Oortmanspost. She had just returned from her travels in Germany where she had been exposed to the work of Marc, a member of Der Blaue Reiter, as well as Nolde, Schmidt-Rottloff and Pechstein, all of whom had been members of Die Brücke in Dresden. Life on the farm inspired her anew: 'At the back of the farmhouse there was a large dam and every evening I used to watch the cows coming to drink, and the coloured women with babies on their backs to fill their buckets. Near the dam the geese were kept. How many a time, when they were hatching, out of curiosity, did I not approach their nests? There was a whirring and flapping of wings with a hoarse cry, and if I had come too near, I am sure they would have attacked me'.¹

¹ See transcript for 'I Remember' feature in SABC Bulletin, 24 June 1963.

Provenance

Purchased from Frieda van Schalkwyk, Pretoria art dealer, in 1990