Notes

One cannot but imagine that the execution of this work was an act of unbridled spontaneity by the artist.

Irma Stern's backyard hosted a black fig tree with the sweetest and most delicious fruit. The bounty of it must have been great in her day before it became the half-tree that was left by the end of the 20^th century, finally collapsing in the late 1990s.

Figs are redolent of the Mediterranean and ancient culture, all very appealing to Irma.

Her masterful use of green is evident here, the fan-like spontaneity of the composition has a feminine elegance, a flourish, almost a flamenco.

These figs would have been, on numerous occasions, the completion of one her sumptuous feast/dinners, where a sensual display of fruit on a brass platter was the climax.

Christopher Peter

Director, U.C.T. Irma Stern Museum