Notes

Maggie Laubser’s paintings of harvesters are, not surprisingly, amongst her most sought-after works. From the earliest examples such as Harvesters in Belgium, in the collection of Iziko South African National Gallery, through to Oestyd in the Pretoria Art Museum, these paintings found in most major public and private collections are seen as seminal in the artist’s oeuvre because they provide insights into Laubser’s world view as well as into the radical departure she effected from the academic landscape tradition of her day.
According to Esmé Berman:
Undoubtedly, every subject that Maggie Laubser chose had been a peg on which to hang a colour-composition. Yet all her themes are unified by a single leitmotif: the harmony and mutual dependency of natural creation. Her devout love of nature ... sings through her entire oeuvre. ... She sees them all as facets of one harmonious creation, and this holistic outlook gives purpose to her art.¹
This painting of the family farm, Oortmanspost (spmetimes referred to as Oortmanspoort), near Klipheuvel in the Malmesbury District, captures the idyllic rural life that was integral to Laubser’s life and art. In 1969, reflecting on her career, the artist told Dr Jan Schutte: “Everything I know the farm has taught me – not study abroad”.²
A perfectly balanced composition emphasises the horizontal planes, lending a prevailing atmosphere of peace, stability and continuity. The diagonals of wheat sheaves, houses and road sweeping away into the distant hills, all executed with lively painterly textures, highlight the dynamism and vitality of farm life. Brilliant colour harmonies embody the joyousness of the harvest, reinforcing the benefits to be reaped from hard work, soil fertility and crop continuity on which the entire rural community is so dependent.

1. Berman, Esmé. (1975) The Story of South African Painting, Cape Town and Rotterdam: A A Balkema. Pages 63-64.
2. Van Rooyen, Johann. (1974) Maggie Laubser, Cape Town and Johannesburg: Struik Publishers. Page 16.

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by Mrs S van Niekerk

Sotheby Parke Bernet South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Johannesburg, 22 October 1974, lot 157, illustrated

Literature

Marais, Dalene. (1994) Maggie Laubser: her paintings, drawings and graphics, Johannesburg and Cape Town: Perskor. Illustrated on page 272, catalogue number 1051, with title Landscape with Harvester, Trees and Farm Homestead.