This wonderful Edwardian house of the Cape with Signal Hill as a backdrop overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. A home which knew the elites of anti-apartheid activists, illegal socialising with ‘non-European’ intellectuals such as Richard Reeves, Kenny Parker and artists such as Peter Clark.
"Jan Rabie (a Sestiger) and his painter wife Majorie Wallace moved in upstairs and we moved downstairs. I closed off the staircase giving them privacy, even though we shared the front door.
This was to be the beginning of a wonderful relationship. 6 Cheviot Place became the meeting place for writers and artists, in depth discussions, arguments and planning to promote art and literature for all South Africans. Apartheid was a major issue both for painters and writers - how to make use of the legislation to benefit everyone, yet not compromise ourselves. Sometimes I was criticized for this approach, but I could not see why, if certain funds were available for the arts, that I could not use these to benefit as many artists, irrespective of colour, as possible. I never agreed to any exhibition or competition that excluded other races. We all considered art to be above politics. What we were producing aimed at being timeless / universal and not of a given moment as politics are. Unfortunately for all of us, our political situation lasted more than a moment.
Of course the situation dominated much of our thinking. There were many ardent National Party supporters who would put the ideals of art above politics. Eventually art/ literature made them dissociate from party politics.
There is no doubt that the Sestigers ( a group of dissident Afrikaans writers) were founded at 6 Cheviot Place by Jan. The house was suspect. The phone was tapped etc. etc." Erik Laubscher
'Apart from being prominent artists, Erik and Claude were leaders of society in their own right. Their house in Green Point, with Marjorie Wallace and Jan Rabie upstairs, was a meeting place for a very wide circle of Cape Town artists, architects, writers and other luminaries.
« The Laubscher’s brought qualities of sophistication, confidence and nuance to the Cape Town art world, that reflected Erik’s studies in London, Paris and the US, and Claude’s in Geneva, Paris and New York'. Bruce Arnott- sculptor