oil on canvas board

Artwork date: 1935
Signature details: signed; signed twice, dated, inscribed with the title twice and ‘Bonnefoi E. Tvl. S. Africa’ on the reverse
Exhibited: Adler Fielding Gallery, Johannesburg, The Everard Group, 1967. Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, The Everard Group, 1967. Everard Read, Johannesburg, The Everard Group: Then & Now. A dialogue through painting, curated by Mary-Jane Darroll, 12–29 October
Literature: Anonymous. (1967). The Everard Group. Catalogue. Johannesburg: Adler Fielding Gallery, illustrated, catalogue number 51, unpaginated. Anonymous. (1982). The Everard Group. Catalogue. Pietermaritzburg: Tatham Art Gallery. Crump, A. (2006). The Everard Group. Then & Now. A dialogue through painting. Johannesburg: Everard Read, illustrated on p.20. Harmsen, F. (1980). The Women of Bonnefoi: The story of the Everard Group. Pretoria: JL van Schaik, illustrated on p.173. Werth AJ. (1967). Die Everard-Groep/ The Everard Group: Retrospective Exhibition. Catalogue. Pretoria Art Museum, catalogue number 69, unpaginated.

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25.5 x 33.5 cm

Notes:

The Everard Group of women painters initially included two sisters Edith King (1870-1962) and Bertha Everard (born King), (1873-1965) and the two daughters of Bertha, Ruth Everard Haden (1904-1992) and Rosamund Everard-Steenkamp (1907-1946).From an early age both daughters were exposed to the art world as Bertha took them to England in 1921 where they completed their education. Ruth was enrolled at the Slade School of Art whilst Rosamund, who also painted, entered the Conservatoire of Music in Paris. All three family members exhibited work at the 1924 Paris Salon.Early Modernist influences on the Group were introduced in England by the Bloomsbury artists as well as the work of Paul Nash but when the family moved to France, they were greatly inspired and influenced by the work produced by the Ecole de Paris, Derain, Matisse, Cézanne and André Lhote.In 1926 Rosamund Everard returned to South Africa to the family farm Bonnefoi in the Carolina district of the eastern Transvaal mainly to farm, although painting and music remained important influences in her life as the title of this painting suggests. However, an ever increasing interest in aviation took her back to England where she qualified as a pilot to become a well-known flying instructor in the eastern Transvaal on her return.With her rich colour sensibility and robust, monumental strokes, the artist captured here the vast panoramic expanse of the undulating eastern Transvaal landscape, possibly influenced by her views on this landscape from the air. Similar painterly resilience and boldness of line and composition are apparent in The Road to Barberton which was exhibited at the Empire Exhibition in 1936.This painting is regarded as a key work in Rosamund Everard-Steenkamp’s oeuvre and was exhibited in 1967 at the Adler Fielding Gallery in Johannesburg with other members of The Everard Group. It was also included on the major Retrospective Exhibition of The Everard Group in 1967 at the Pretoria Art Museum. In 2006 Fugue in Colour was again on show at a major exhibiton of work by the Everard Group at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg.

Eunice Basson

Sources:

Anonymous. (1967). The Everard Group. Catalogue. Johannesburg: Adler Fielding Gallery, illustrated as no. 51, unpaginated.

Anonymous. (1982). The Everard Group. Catalogue. Pietermaritzburg: Tatham Art Gallery.

Crump, A. (2006). The Everard Group. Then & Now. A dialogue through painting. Johannesburg: Everard Read, illustrated on p. 20.

Harmsen, F. (1980). The Women of Bonnefoi: The story of the Everard Group. Pretoria: JL van Schaik, illustrated on p. 173.

Werth AJ. (1967). Die Everard-Groep/ The Everard Group: Retrospective Exhibition. Catalogue. Pretoria Art Museum, no 69, unpaginated.

Adler Fielding Gallery, Johannesburg, The Everard Group, 1967.

Pretoria Art Museum, The Everard Group, 1967.

Everard Read, Johannesburg, The Everard Group: Then & Now. A dialogue through painting. Curated by Mary-Jane Darroll, 12-29 October 2006.