To-day we have no time to stand and stare, but there is a burning vital
sensation we call red, and a deep and utter calm we call blue, and a wild
unreasoning optimism, and unleashing of desire we call yellow...This is what Harry Trevor wrote about colour in 1939. Almost entirely
forgotten for some twenty years, this radical painter and political thinker
has been rediscovered to be one of South Africa's most remarkable
expressionist.
Hayden Proud, curator of painting and sculpture at the South African
National Gallery (SANG) in a catalogue essay paying tribute to Trevor as
artist, author and intellectual, concludes:
that if measured against new interpretations, the early work of this
young Turk, non-conformist, idealist and pictorialist of inner turmoils,
would clearly seem to deserve much greater recognition than South African
art history has previously afforded him.
Before his self-imposed exile to England in 1947 Harry Trevor painted in
Cape Town and his home town Johannesburg. Without formal training he made
his mark on the artistic and intellectual scene in South Africa. Painting
in a style reminiscent of German Expressionism, Trevor confronted this
world with images of incredible energy and colour that defied the mores of
the day. During seven short years he produced an impressive body of work
that demonstrates the genius and talent that this exhibition will be
honouring.
Prof Neville Dubow, Michaelis Professor of Fine Art, University of Cape
Town, stated:
... this important exhibition will serve as a further challenge to a
new generation of South African artists to apply the standards of
intellectual rigour and artistic honesty to the problems of making art that
can speak to and for the new South Africa
The exhibition runs from 17 March to 15 May 2000 with gallery hours from
10:00 to 17:00 Tuesday to Sundays. Mondays the museum is closed
Stefan Hundt, curator of the Sanlam Art Collection, on (021)947-3359 / 083
457 2699 has more information.
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artslink
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