Notes

By 1964 Irma Stern had been painting roses for decades. In 1937, when exhibiting at the Cooling Galleries in London, she is reported to have claimed that Jacob Epstein, on seeing a still life of roses by her, had exclaimed: "At last painter who can paint! You and I understand one another. Renoir's roses look like paper next to yours."¹ Arguably it could be said that roses were not always her metier, but here she was inspired - and she excels. She has combined a group of garden roses with bromeliads, a pink pencil-like flower (albeit a bent pencil with a tassel at the end), shade-loving winter-flowering perennials still to be found in the Museum garden today. It is the kind of plant which looks after itself in the cool shady garden of The Firs, as Irma's house was called in her day. This garden yielded magnificent magnolias and luscious vegetation as well as many other unusual flowers which featured frequently in her still life compositions. The great masters of the rose, Fantin-Latour and Mathew Smith are evoked here. Did she admire them, one wonders? The container is a Chinese stoneware martaban of the late 18th century, which is in the Museum collection. It is slightly unsteady, which creates a lilting dynamic feeling to the work as a whole. The drooping bromeliads and the tilting martaban form an ideal marriage, as do the colours, exquisite viridian green touches (unusual for Irma), together with the creamy custard pinks of the roses. The artist, "home alone" in her studio, and loving it. - Christopher Peter, Director, UCT, Irma Stern Museum

1. Neville Dubow. (1974) Irma Stern, Cape Town: C Struik Publishers. Page 18.