Gregoire Boonzaier was born in Newlands, Cape Town in 1909. He was the son of the political cartoonist, DC Boonzaier and benefited from the close contact with his fathers artist friends who included Pieter Wenning, Nita Spilhaus and Moses Kottler, the sculptor. Gregoire was in fact given his first paint box by Kottler in 1922, and received an easel from Nita Spilhaus in 1926. DC Boonzaier was strongly opposed to formal art training and Gregoire forwarded his initial studies through association with these early Cape Impressionist painters.
Full Biography