CV
•1927 (3 February) Born in Tulbagh, Western Cape
•1932 Family moves to Queenstown
•1935 Family moves to Port Elisabeth
•1941 Enrols at Queens College, Queenstown
•1945 Completes Matric
•1946 Accepted at London School of Architecture, but but decides to study with Maurice van Esche in Cape Town. •1947 Solo exhibition at Garlick’s gallery, Port Elisabeth. Studies in London under portraitist Frank Slate, RA.
•1948 Studies at the Anglo-French Art Centre, London.
•1949 Exhibits 2 paintings for the Young Contemporaries exhibition in London; returns to SA for 6 months; solo exhibitions at Fogarty’s Bookshop Port Elisabeth and ID Booksellers Cape Town.
•1950 Studies in Paris at the Académie Montmartre; solo exhibition at Bar Vert, Paris; painting called Montmartre is accepted for the Salon d'Automne and is published in renowned art magazine ' Beaux Arts'.
Meets artist and future wife Claude Bouscharain; solo exhibition at S.A. Association of Arts Argus gallery.
•1951 Moves into no 6 Cheviot Place; joint exhibition with Paul du Toit at S.A. Association; teaches with Alfred Krentz in Stellenbosch; participates in a group show during the Van Riebeeck festival.
•1953 takes over the Continental (renamed Contemporary) School of Art; solo exhibition at Gallery Vincent, Pretoria; joins and exhibits with the New Group.
•1954 Two paintings selected for Venice Biennale
•1955 Contemporary School of Art has to close; starts working as a colour consultant for G. C. Shave, then for Sam
Newman; joins W Cape committee and national executive S.A. Association of Art. Co-founder (with Marjorie Wallace) of the Cape Salon.
•1956 Work selected for Venice Biennale.
•1957 Work selected for S.A. entry to Sáo Paolo Biennale; solo exhibition in Geneva.
•1958 Withdraws entry for Venice Biennale; mural commission for Oranjezicht House.
•1959 With Albert Newall, helps arrange non-governmental entry to Sáo Paolo Biennale, his own work included; solo exhibition at S.A. Association and at Edrich in Stellenbosch.
•1960 Joins Nationale Boekhandel to head artists’ material department.
•1961 Chairman S.A. Association of Arts ( Western Cape); consultant for Plascon Paints; first Johannesburg solo exhibition at Gallery 101.
•1962 Contributes to Cape Salon exhibition at the S.A. Association.
•1963 Solo exhibitions at Lidchi gallery Cape Town and Johannesburg.
•1964 Controversy over Sidney Harpley’s Jan Smuts statue; changes from oils to acrylics; successful solo exhibition at Strand Galleries.
•1965 Founder member of the Artist’s Gallery; National vice - president of the South African Association of Arts; solo exhibition at the S.A. Association.
•1966 Awarded Carnegie grant and undertakes study tour of the United States.
•1967 Solo exhibition at Wolpe gallery Cape Town.
•1968 One of 7 artists to participate in SA exhibition Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; founder committee member
Friends of the South African National Gallery.
•1969 Director Cape Town Art centre; commission for tapestry Nico Malan Theatre ( today called Artscape).
•1970 Committee member National Art Teachers Association; first retrospective exhibition University of Stellenbosch; founder and first principal of Ruth Prowse Art centre.
•1971 Convener Republic festival exhibition; co-selector Sáo Paulo Biennale; mural commission Jan Smuts airport
Johannesburg; reverts to oil paints.
•1972 Awarded Cape Arts Medal by S. A. Association of Arts.
•1973 Trip to Namibia; art critic To the Point; solo exhibition S. A. Association of Arts.
•1975 Ruth Prowse Art centre becomes Ruth Prowse School of Art.
•1976 Receives commission for 4 mosaic panels at the new Tygerberg Hospital.
•1977 Tour of Europe; visits Namaqualand; mosaic panel Knysna Shopping Centre; commission for 2 murals at the
Medical Faculty, University of Stellenbosch.
•1978 Joint exhibition (with June te Water at S.A. Association, sold out; trustee Michaelis Collection; trips to Koue
Bokkeveld.1978 - Appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Michaelis Collection Cape Town.
•1979 Co-founder of the Artists’ Guild.
•1980 Chairman of the Artists’ Guild.
•1981 Republic Festival, Durban; member of Schutte Commission; solo exhibition at University of Stellenbosch.
•1982 member of selection panel of the first cape Triennial.
•1983 Joint exhibition (with Maureen Langley) at Gallery International Cape Town.
•1985 Participates in exhibition Kuns in die Kaap at Rand Afrikaans University.
•1987 Trustee S.A. National Gallery.
•1988 Solo exhibition at S.A. Association; work represented on New Group exhibition, S.A. National Gallery.
•1990 With Claude Bouscharain exhibits at Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg; awarded Medal of Honour by Akademie For Wetenskap et Kuns.
•1993 Solo exhibition Stellenbosch.
•1994 Retrospective exhibition University of Stellenbosch; Cape Tercentenary Foundation Award of Honour.
•1996 Retires as principal Ruth Prowse Art centre.
•1997 Painting acquired for Constitutional Court building.
•1998 Featured artist Oudtshoorn Festival; participates in exhibition Lewende Kunstenaars 70+, Belleville.
•2003 Solo exhibition of recent work at Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town.
•2004 Joint exhibition (with Jakobus Klopper and Walter Meyer) at Johans Borman Fine Art gallery, Cape Town.
•2007 Work represented in exhibition Is there Still Life? at Iziko Michaelis Collection.
•2008 Work represented in exhibition Abstract South African Art from the Isolation Years: Part 2 at SMAC Art
Gallery, Stellenbosch.
•2009 Work represented in Art that Inspires at Johans Borman Fine Art gallery, Cape Town; achieves highest price at auction for a living South African artist during Stephan Welz and Co. in Association with Sotheby’s Fine Art
auction in Cape Town; work represented in exhibition Abstract South African Art from the Isolation Years: Part 3 at SMAC Art Gallery, Stellenbosch.
Major retrospective exhibition at SMAC Art Gallery, Stellenbosch.
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MAJOR COLLECTIONS
•Museums and Public Collections:
•Iziko S. A. National Gallery, Cape Town
•Pretoria Art Museum
•William Humphrey’s Art gallery, Kimberley
•Hester Rupert Art Museum, Graaff-Reinet
•Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein
•National Museum, Bloemfontein
•Rupert Family Art Gallery, Stellenbosch
•S. A. Constitutional Court
•Bloemfontein Art Gallery
•Sasol Museum
UNIVERSITY COLLECTIONS:
•University of Cape Town
•University of Stellenbosch
•University of the Orange Free State
•University of Pretoria
•University of the Witwatersrand
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS - South Africa:
•SABC Johannesburg
•Standard Bank, Johannesburg
•S.A. Reserve Bank, Cape Town
•Gencor, Johannesburg
•Stellenbosch Farmers Winery
•K. W. V. Paarl
•J. C. L. , Johannesburg
•Absa, Pretoria
•Norwich Union, Cape Town
•General Mining, transvaal
•First National Bank, Pretoria
•N. B. S., Cape Town
•CSIR, Pretoria
•Old Mutual, Cape Town
•Cape of Good Hope Bank, Cape Town
•Sanlam, Belleville
•Dimension data, Johannesburg
•B. O. E., Cape Town
•Sasol Art Museum, Stellenbosch
•Rembrandt Art Foundation, Stellenbosch
•SA Fine Worsted, Cape Town
•Cape of Good Hope Bank
•Investec, Johannesburg
•Santam
•Klein Karoo Kunstvees\BMD Knitting Mills, Cape Town
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PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
•1958 - Terrazzo mural for BON ESPERANCE BUILDING Beach Rd, Three Anchor Bay, Cape Town
•1970 - Tapestry for Nico Malan Theatre, Cape Town.
•1971 - Mural for Jan Smuts air terminal in Johannesburg International Airport
•1976 - 4 Mosaic panels for Tygerberg Hospital, Cape.
•1977 - Mosaic panel for Melville Shopping Center
•1977/78 - 2 mural panels for Medical Faculty Foyer, Tygerberg , Cape.
•1986 - Hirt & Carter calender (photographer Anthony Johnson).
•1987 - Tapestry for Norwich Union HQ Claremont, Cape Town.
•1987 - Contribution to S.A.Fine Worsted's calender.
•1997 - K.W.V. Calender (12reproductions).
•1998 - Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
•Alexander, F.L.: Art in South Africa. Cape Town, Balkema 1963 (though und.)
•Alexander, F.L.: Bedford E. and Cohen E.: Paris and South African Artists 1850-1956. Cape Town, S. A. National Gallery, 1988.
•Alexander, F.L. and Cohen E.: 150 South African Paintings - Past and Present. Cape Town Struikhof 1990.
•Arnott B. Claude Bouscharain . Cape Town/Johannesburg, 1977.
•Berman E.: the Story of South African Painting. Cape Town/Rotterdam, Balkema 1975.
•Berman E.: Art and Artists of South Africa. Cape Town/Rotterdam, Balkema 1983.
•Edwine S., Erik Laubscher. Retrospective Exhibition catalogue Sasol Art Gallery, Stellenbosch. 1994.
•Gray S., Erik Laubscher and Landscape (in: Lantern vol.19 No.3) 1970.
•Gray S., Erik Laubscher en sy Leefwêreld (in: Ons Kuns III). Pretoria 1971.
•Gray S., Our Art III. 1974.
•Harmsen, F. Art in South Africa - a short survey. London, 1972.
•Harmsen, F. Looking at South African Art. Pretoria, Van Schaik. 1985.
•Harmsen, F. The Women of Bonnefoi. Pretoria: Van Schaik 1980.
•University of Stellenbosch. Katalogus Oorsuguitstalling Erik Laubscher, Stellenbosch, 1994.
•MOVING in TIME and SPACE by Michael Stevenson & Annabel Rosholt - ( shifts between abstraction and representation in post-war South Africa) sponsored by Dimension Data .
•South African Artists - Harold Jeppe
•20th Century South African ART
•South African Painting & Sculpture 1970
•Bibliografie Suid-Afrikaanse Kunstenaars 1986
•Looking At South African Art 1985
•South African Artists 1900 to 1962
•Dictionary of South African Painters & Sculptors 1988
•150 South African Painters - Evelyn Cohen 7 Lucy Alexander. STRUIKHOF.
•Three Centuries - ART IN SOUTH AFRICA - Visual Arts, Architecture & Related Arts Dr. Hans Fransen
AWARDS and ACHIEVEMENTS
•1972 - Awarded Cape Arts Medal by the S.A.A.A. For services to art.
•1990 - Awarded the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns Besondere Erpenning vir Skilderkuns.
•1994 - Cape Tercentenary Foundation Award for outstanding contribution to the visual arts as Creative Artist and Teacher.
•2001 - Honorary Life President of the Ruth Prowse School of Art, “In Recognition of over Thirty years of Service to the Ruth Prowse School of Art and the Outstanding Contribution to the Arts and Art Community of South Africa”.
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VIDEOS
Strauss Auction House https://youtu.be/y6wXAeqHA_I
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