Maggie Laubser
| Maggie Laubser | |
|---|---|
Self Portrait (1928), 475 x 340 mm
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| Born |
Maria Magdalena Laubser 14 April 1886 Bloublommetjieskloof Malmesbury district Cape Province, South Africa |
| Died | 17 May 1973 (aged 87) Altyd Lig, Strand Western Cape, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Education | Slade School, London |
| Known for | Painting, Drawing, Printmaking |
| Notable work |
Harvesters in Belgium (1921/22) Oestyd (Harvest time) (1932) Annie of the Royal Bafokeng (1945) |
| Movement | Expressionism, Fauvism |
| Awards | 1946: Medal of Honour for Painting by Suid Afrika Akademie 1959: Honorary member Suid Afrika Akademie 1968: Medal of Honour SAAA (Cape Region) |
| Patron(s) | Jan Hendrik Arnold Balwé M. L. du Toit |
Maria Magdalena Laubser, known as Maggie Laubser (pronunciation: /ˈmæɡi/ /laʊbˈʃæ/) (14 April 1886 – 17 May 1973) was a South African painter and printmaker. She is generally considered, along with Irma Stern, to be responsible for the introduction of Expressionism to South Africa. Her work was initially met with derision by critics but has gained wide acceptance, and now she is regarded as an exemplary and quintessentially South African artist.
Maria Magdalena Laubser was born on the wheat farm Bloublommetjieskloof near Malmesbury in the Swartland, a productive agricultural area in South Africa. She was the eldest of six children of Gerhardus Petrus Christiaan Laubser and Johanna Catharina Laubser (née Holm). Laubser's youth was dominated by the rural and pastoral and she delighted in this carefree existence.
After attending the farm school Rocklands, she left for boarding school at Bloemhof Seminary, Stellenbosch, where she was introduced to the art of drawing. She returned to the farm in 1901, and during a visit to Cape Town she met Beatrice Hazel, a realistic romantic style painter, who introduced her to Edward Roworth, giving impetus to her desire to study painting.
In 1903 she convinced her parents to let her go to Cape Town once a week for singing lessons. The difficulty of travel and the low opinion her mother had of her mezzo-soprano voice discouraged her, but it was at this stage that she started painting on her own.
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