Notes

In the summer of 1947, Irma Stern visited Europe for the first time after a decade's absence. She exhibited at Wildenstein in Paris, as well as in Brussels, London and Rotterdam. Stern returned again in 1948, her itinerary including a stopover in Venice, where she attended the Venice Biennale. The visit resulted in the production of a number of Venetian scenes, including the canvas works Venice Lagoon, Piazza San Marco and The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice. This lot, a study of an arched pedestrian bridge in the San Marco district, shifts the view tentatively inwards, towards the everyday domesticity of Venice. Stern, who had already fine-tuned her expressive brush style and bold handling of colour, adopts a confidently restrained approach here to offer a scene that is observational rather than interpretive. It was a descriptive way of painting Stern had honed on her trip to Madeira in 1931. Stern's visit to Venice resulted in a noteworthy outcome. The monthly bulletin Jewish Affairs in 1956 reported: "It was she who was instrumental in South Africa being invited to take part in one of the most famous of all art exhibitions, the Biennale in Venice. In 1948 the Italian Minister in the Union admired her work and suggested that she show it at the Biennale." Two years later, South Africa debuted with a national exhibit in the Foreign Halls of the Venice Biennale's central pavilion. Stern was among the invited artists. She would return to Venice to exhibit at the Biennale again in 1952, 1954 and 1958.

1. GH Cooper. (1956), 'Irma Stern,' in Jewish Affairs, September, volume 11, page 32

Provenance

Stephan Welz & Co in Association with Sotheby's, Johannesburg, 6 November 1989, lot 352, with the title Canal, Venice