Irma Stern: Still life with flowers and basket - SOLD

Irma Stern
Still life with flowers and basket - 1949
Oil on canvas
64 x 68,5 cm
Signed and dated upper right
Sold - 2009

Esmé Berman comments:
The dominant theme of Irma Stern’s prodigious oeuvre is fruitfulness;
its most consistent quality - vitality.

Berman’s accurate summation of Irma Stern’s art is no better illustrated than in her still life paintings, which comprise some of her most sensual images. Still life compositions allow artists to plan and arrange objects deliberately in accordance with their intent, in order to convey the emotion, atmosphere or message that inspires a particular work. To Stern, this was the part of her oeuvre in which she could orchestrate all the elements in the creative process and display her sense of colour and exuberance with the brilliance of her palette and her authoritative brushwork.

The theme of abundance and fruitfulness, presented by the flowers and fruit-bearing branches in the vase, is continued by more fruit on the table and in the basket. The backdrop of an African hand-painted cloth is not incidental, as this was a wedding gift to a niece of Stern who lived in South Africa.

Provenance:
Wedding gift to the artist’s niece, Bridget Fourie (née Stern), in 1949

Bibliography:
Esmé Berman, Art and Artists of South Africa, Cape Town, 1983, p 440
Marion Arnold, Irma Stern: A feast for the eye, Stellenbosch, 1995, pp 125 and 126

To view the Irma Stern web page click here
To view the Irma Stern biography click here