Notes

“In the early 1950s Irma Stern also made an extraordinary group of female figurines, some of which are also illustrated in The Cape Times photograph… Several of them were started on the wheel and then manipulated while the clay was still damp. They were glazed in a variety of colours from white to different shades of brown and then fired. While most clearly represent a standing female figure, they are all highly abstracted. In particular, the head of each figure has been squashed between the artist’s fingers and thumbs producing a summary, pinched effect that directs attention to the figures’ body, notably the huge hips. As abstracted vertical forms, the figurines have a distinct archaic quality and the emphasis on the lower parts of the torso suggests they had some form of fertility function.”¹

¹Michael Godby (2021) Irma Stern Nudes, 1916-1965, Cape Town: Primavera Publishing, pages 102 and 104.

Provenance

The Shill Collection. 

Literature

Michael Godby (2021) Irma Stern Nudes, 1916-1965, Cape Town: Primavera Publishing, illustrated in a photograph published in The Cape Times, of an exhibition Stern held at the South African Association of Arts in January 1954, page 102, figure 6:8.