Notes

The late Sonia Lapin (née Kalmanson) (1922–2018) grew up in New York City, but after marrying Joseph Lapin (1921–1999) in 1971, lived for the rest of her life in Houghton, Johannesburg. The couple travelled widely and collected fine art and jewellery.

Irma Stern was fascinated by Malay culture in Cape Town. She was taken by the flower and fruit sellers on the Parade outside the City Hall, and admired the colourful and varied bridal dresses at Malay weddings. She travelled widely further north in Africa, visiting Senegal in 1937, 1938 and 1946, and the island of Zanzibar in 1939 and 1945. Many of her portraits and figure studies, including the present Lot, are imbued with the history and culture of those countries. Stern mentions the wonderfully colourful dresses of the women on Zanzibar in her travelogue, Zanzibar (1948), commenting on the rich textures and gold trimmings of their garments. The identity of the sitter in this portrait is not known, but her pink headscarf and cerise dress bring that evocative text to mind.

A subtle dynamism pervades this lovely portrait: the contrast in colour between the pinks in the foreground and the greens in the background activates the whole picture plane, and in the semi-circular rhythm created by the headscarf draped around the sitter’s neck and in the folds of the dress around the breasts and the waist, Stern animates a static, seated pose in a very interesting and lively manner.

Provenance