Head of Christ

Provenance

Acquired from the artist, and thence by descent.

Die Kunskamer, Cape Town, 1986.

Private Collection.

Literature

Charles Eglington (1967) Maud Sumner, Cape Town and Johannesburg: Purnell and Sons S A, illustrated in black and white on page 38 as plate 49.

Frieda Harmsen (1992) Maud Sumner: Painter and Poet, Pretoria: J L van Schaik, illustrated in black and white on page 90, cat. no. 86.

Notes

Sumner's life was shaped by two continents – South Africa and Europe equally forged her art and her world. She earned a degree in Literature at Oxford University in 1922, thereafter pursuing her artistic education in London and Paris. Although Johannesburg, her birthplace, remained a constant, it was Paris – with its rich, vibrant and cosmopolitan character – that drew her fully into the French art scene. There she studied at the Ateliers d'Art Sacré and Académie de la Grande Chaumière.

Her return to France from South Africa in the post-war years marked a pivotal turning point. As she reflects: "I felt as though I was looking through a window into a new and sparkling country."¹ The intimate vignettes of everyday life that had defined her earlier work gave way to abstraction and a bold renaissance of colour, alive with the energy of the avant-garde. Her approach to painting favoured highly geometric compositions, influenced by the Rayonnist movement.

In the present lot, religious and symbolist themes emerge. The bold colours, outlines and texture imbue the surface of the painting into a dynamic and dimensional composition reminiscent of the Le Nabis. In conjunction, the up-close and intimate portrait is immediate, transcending the traditional religious image to one of drama and emotional intimacy.

^1. Esmé Berman (1994) Art & Artists of South Africa, Halfway House: Southern Book Publishers, page 445.