Figures in Boats (recto); Three Figures (verso)

Provenance

Advocate Ruth Kuper Collection.

Advocate Ruth Kuper SC (1934-2026) was born in Johannesburg and lived there for all of her life. Ruth was one of the first women advocates in South Africa. She had a long and distinguished career in family law. She was the daughter of the late judge Simon Kuper, Justice of the Supreme court, and Mrs Gertrude Kuper (nee Hesselson). Gertrude achieved her master’s degree in mathematics. She was in the first group of women students to ever attend the University of the Witwatersrand when it became Co-ed in 1922.

Ruth’s love for art was inherited from her mother. Gertrude had a keen eye for emerging artists and would occasionally visit auction sales in Johannesburg in the 1940’s to 1960’s, delightedly bringing home her finds. After being widowed in the early 1960’s, Gertrude came to live with her daughter. The beautiful art that once adorned the Kuper’s lower Houghton home came to hang on the walls of Ruth’s beautiful art deco flat in Gleneagles, Killarney, joining the wonderful pieces that Ruth had started to collect.

Judge Simon and Mrs Gertrude Kuper (left) Adv Ruth Kuper (right)