Irma Stern: Portrait of an Indian Woman

Irma Stern is one of South Africa's most famous woman painters, highly sought after by both the local and international art collectors market.  During her lifetime, there was almost 100 solo exhibitions of her work during in South Africa and Europe.  She had a very characteristic style and worked in a variety of media.  Her travels greatly influenced her work and she was especially fond of painting portraits and still lifes.  

This specific portrait was painted in 1934.  She loved painting portraits and were very inspired by different people in their 'natural environment'.  One of the things that set her apart from the European artists who liked painting the 'exotic', is that she always returned home again for inspiration.  In Cape Town where she lived, she spent a lot of time in the 'Malay Quarter' as it was called then, observing people.  She was inspired by the vibrancy she encountered there and it showed in her work.  You can read more about her life's work on this website: http://www.irmastern.co.za/

This specific painting is richly coloured as all her work, with the beautiful blue dress and yellow background dominating the image, and her face looking slightly paler against her dark hair.  Like often in her portraits, the lady has a quiet and somber type of expression, making me wonder what she is thinking about.  This richly coloured 40 x 50cm version of ours is quite a challenging one and has 27 colours.  Each box contains a stretched, printed and numbered canvas, paint, brushes and a page detailing the numbers for an extra reference.