van Wouw, Anton

The establishment of a Western sculptural tradition in South Africa can largely be attributed to the work of Anton van Wouw. Besides the work of the 18th century German sculptor Anton Anreith, who worked at the Cape from 1783 until 1822, a Western European sculptural tradition had not been established in South Africa at the time of Van Wouw’s arrival (Duffey, 2008). After his emigration to South Africa, he quickly established himself as the foremost sculptor of both monumental public works and smaller bronze sculptures in his adopted country. Full biography