Notes

Throughout Erik Laubscher’s career as an artist, he returned time and again to the scenery of the Swartland region with which he appears to share an unbreakable bond.

In Swartland the ploughed fields are reduced to the simplest shapes and colours, each area clearly delineated in a style that Laubscher calls ‘hard edge’.¹ In 1964, prompted by a Plascon paint technologist, Laubscher changed from oils to acrylics.

In an interview with Stephen Gray he said: “With oils I found the predominance of texture defeating the way I wanted to convey objective space (delete safe), they flatten the painting too much. Acrylics are water soluble, you can work much quicker with them, and much more smoothly. Acrylics may be used more subtly too.”²

In this work Laubscher has refined the landscape to its very essence through his use of colour, tone and form. What materialises is a state of orderly intensity brought about through the use of visual discourse that results in a compositional harmony.

¹ This style was first coined by the critic Jules Langsner in reference to Abstract Expressionism.
² Fransen, Hans. Erik Laubscher: A life in Art. SMAC Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, 2009, page 95

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist in 1978 after the work had been exhibited at the Ruth Prowse Art Centre, Cape Town

Private Collection