South Africa
1934 / 1946
THE EARLY DAYS
Born in 1927 Tulbagh in the Western Cape, South Africa, son of Hilda and Dr Bernard Laubscher, Erik began drawing at the age of seven inspired by the mountains surrounding him. He was later to be top of art classes at Queens College (Eastern Cape). His parents encouraged him to study architecture. But when he moved to Cape Town at the age of twenty, he chose to study art under Maurice Van Essche a well-known Belgian painter before going to London. He admitted having learnt a lot from van Essche and during this period got to know Cape Impressionist artists such as Irma Stern, Cecil Higgs, David Botha and Wren Sargent.
London
1947 / 1948
FRANK SLATER
STILL LIVES & FIGURE COMPOSITIONS
Portrait classes with Frank Slater - 1947
« Observe each shape and area, and then relate subsequent shapes to the preceding »….these teachings of portraitist Frank Slater served Erik throughout his teaching career.
At the age of 20 he studied under Frank Slater specializing in portrait drawing but regretted somewhat not having pursued the academic technique of portrait painting with Slater as he was seeking a more dynamic environment .
The Anglo-French Art Centre - 1948
‘Ideas of the South African light were forgotten. For what may be obvious reasons, I identified myself with the post war subdued colours. Everything was drab, yet exciting. A new visual and emotional experience… '
Erik joined the Anglo French Art Centre directed by Alfred Rozelaar Green where he found the teaching methods and interaction more inspiring. Illustrious French artists of The School of Paris such as Venard, Clavé, and Adler lectured and held exhibitions there. Other lectures were given by Jean Lurcat as well as Dr Ruamann, a restorer from the National Gallery‘…' I had earlier tried to paint a landscape near the Thames, but gave up. I could not come to terms with the strange light and smallness. Yet some months later, as a result of Venard’s technical and colour influence, I painted a depressing barren landscape of Camden Hill on a bleak winter's morning day’.
'1948 was the year when my painting took on several important directions influenced by the techniques of Venard and Jankel Adler's as well as certain cubist theories. I began reading Job in the Bible. There was some kind of affinity. I produced a large pencil drawing and then attempted to trace it onto a canvas of the same size. It did not work. So using the head and hands of Job in what was probably one of the few works where Picasso’s style was used, I simplified my drawing to a painting expressing the anguish of Job’s suffering and his questioning as to why he should be subjected to such suffering?’
Erik was attracted to both the technique of drawing with a soft pencil into the layers of paint and the general atmosphere of their works.
Paris
1950
THE ACADEMY
OF FERNAND LEGER
ECOLE DE PARIS
The laying of the foundations of his own distinctive style…
The ‘Ecole de Paris’ was virtually synonymous with the concept of ‘Modern Art’ and especially with ‘Abstract Art’ in all it’s forms e.g. Nicolas de Staël, Roger Bissière and Jean Bazaine of which Fernand Léger (Industrial Cubism or Purism) was another icon.
Paris was an extraordinary experience for the painter. He first lived in a room on the prestigious Place du Trocadero. After being teased by fellow students about living in such a smart residential area, he moved to the Rue de Seine to find himself in the heart of exhibitions, art material shops and jazz all of which which he found extraordinarily stimulating …St Germain des Près was a hive of intellectual movements and jazz characterising the Rive Gauche at that time.
He continued to paint still lifes there but started introducing figures as subject matter with The Card Player and Two Women Waiting for which the subject was inspired by the scene he saw in Cape Town. The influence of Bernard Buffet’s sharp forms is obvious but moreover these works announced the birth of his own distinctive style and identity as an artist…
This laid the foundation for the simplicity, colour, directness, composition and monumentality which he applied to his work for the rest of his career very much inspired by the teachings of Leger but without ever imitating him. It was thanks to Leger that he became fully aware of what was required for painting regarding composition and concept. Thus Laubscher completely found himself and met his French wife, Claude Bouscharain, a student in the same school.
Cape Town
1951- 2013
FIGURES
AND STILL LIFES
THE EUPHORBIAS
selected for the Venice Biennale 1956
HARBOUR SCENES
On his return to Cape Town in 1951, he found the South African art scene mostly dominated by Post Impressionism, mild Cubism and German Impressionism.
A major exhibition of his work was held at the Association of Arts in 1951 (Cape Town) and received this review from Dean Anderson:
‘The work on view justifies his early promise …..it is in his use of bold and resonant colour where Mr Laubscher scores his most notable achievements . It is this determination to work on a large scale and the capacity to absorb the influence of contemporary masters without being mesmerised by their personal idiosyncrasies or sacrificing his own personal personality which will make the future progress of this young artist well worth watching’.
Mastery of abstract colour and monumental forms emerge…
Erik spent much of his childhood surrounded by euphorbia trees in Bushmans River in the Eastern Cape where he spent many family holidays. They were part of his childhood landscape and fascinated him.
‘My memories of my stay in Port Elizabeth are full of exciting events, lots of fun, particularly when we started going to Boesmans River, just over 100km to the north. A beautiful river area covered in dense euphorbia forests filled with monkeys. At night the calls of Bush Babies continually pierced the great silences. It was magical then until they built the bridge which was to upset the flow of the river and opened the area to development, thus destroying the great Euphorbia forests and ecological beauty of the area’.
' The writhing and twisted branches and knotted trunks …suggest an atmosphere of perpetual drama '. Dean Anderson
In the early fifties, he produced a series of pencil drawings of the euphorbias. He found that they lacked depth and strength so he decided to burn wood to make his own charcoal and fixative by mixing orange shellac and methylated spirits which darkened the paper thereby obtaining the depth and strength he was seeking.
These studies lead to a series of major paintings interpreting the euphorbias in 1955.
He painted with smoother less spiky edges and Léger’s influence regarding composition, form, colour and space, become apparent as well a as passion for landscapes found its beginnings.
The artist wondered if his use of aggressive shapes and compositions was his subconscious way of expressing his frustration and anger in relation with the cruel political environment caused by apartheid?
’A continuing rope-dance on the shaky fence between abstraction and reality …A survey of the large oils on view proves that the die is now cast in favour of a stylised realism with strong Cubist elements’.
The writhing tubular organic shapes of the euphorbias become tubular mechanical shapes close to those of the machine age cubism of Léger. These dominate the paintings with the presence of clouds, sky and sea as the only natural elements on the flat abstract colour planes. An occasional human presence creates a feeling of emptiness and desolation, a preoccupation of the Existentialist era.
… 'I do not know what to admire more: the simple composition of black masses which suggest a view through harsh steel constructions such as bridges or cranes, or the haunting effect of utter emptiness and desolation which makes this canvas a true human document.' Matthys Bokhorst 1959 Cape Times
Cape Town
1958/1967
ABSTRACT LANDSCAPES,
HARD EDGE AND ACRYLICS
CARNEGIE GRANT -USA
1966
'The work of 1958…is the most impressive of the work shown to date'.
'The predilection shown by Erik Laubscher, as by many of our younger painters today, for the austerities of the completely non-representational expression, has not a universal appeal…But there is no doubt that it imposes a discipline of thought and a stimulus of intuitive invention which is valuable even for an artist who attempts it only as a temporary measure.
Whether Mr Laubscher decides to maintain it indefinitely is a matter which will be decided between himself and his demons. At any rate, in the meantime, he avoids most dextrously that bogy that lurks behind the easel of every artist working in the ‘abstract’ tradition - the unforgivable threat of boring the public'.
Deane Anderson May 1959 Cape Argus
Erik openly admits that he cannot paint if he is not enthralled by the forms, contrasting elements and atmosphere that he perceives before him. These are the elements of his composition. In composition emotion is transformed into logic. It is on the canvas and with his colour palette that he arranges his inner perceptions.
In 1961 Erik starts working as a colour consultant for Plascon Paints, his business trips allowed him to travel through the Western Cape: ‘Had I not had such an opportunity to study these regions in all their various seasons, times of day, I would never have acquired the knowledge and understanding I now enjoy of the landscape. Not only its characteristics, but its spatial and monumental qualities and its diversity of elements both contrasting and harmonious. This development eventually led to Hard Edge’. Even when doing abstract murals or tapestries the landscape formed the basis for designs.'…
'He learnt to read the structure of these elements and the space they constituted, and then to translate these into a flat surface by simplifying their forms and freeing or intensifying his colours to enhance their visual and expressive effects'. Hans Fransen ‘A Life in Art’ SMAC.
These landscapes would nourish his inspiration for the rest of his life…
A Master of colour
A major technical advance for him was in 1964 when he took up acrylics replacing standard oils.
Trip to the USA. In 1966 an opportunity to consolidate his working ideas came his way. He and his wife were the first South African artists to be offered a Carnegie Grant for painting studies in the United States. He said:' Up until the last war American Artists flocked to Paris. They don't do this anymore. With the advent of Abstract Expressionism, of which the Americans are the leading exponents, Paris and Europe had no longer anything to offer them. It has made me aware of many things. I wouldn't say a new vision, but it has freed me from any previous dogma I might have had; it has shown me how to achieve certain things I have been wanting to achieve, but without getting away from my roots, which are South African..’
South Africa
1986/2001
ROCK FORMATIONS,
SAND, SKY ...CAMPING EXPEDITIONS
'The landscape deals with a dimension of space and distance only confined by the painting's frame.
A landscape painting is not only a picture of a scene that looks nice. It requires not only a knowledge of composition, form , colour and painting techniques, but an intimate knowledge of the physical characteristics of the region, it's colours, shapes and space'....
Erik Laubscher
In 1978 our friends Volker & Angela Miros introduced us to the exciting rock and other formations on their farm 'Groenfontein' in the Kouebokkeveld. We were to camp there many time with friends. The area served as inspiration for many paintings.
Once again the artist continues his incessant quest for new inspiration. His wonderful camping expeditions to Namibia, the Kouebokkeveld and other regions of the Cape Province enchant him with their mysterious rock formations, aridness and endless skies.
Often accompanied by artist friends such as Stanley Pinker, Marthinus Lagrange and of course his painter wife, Claude Bouscharain, The expeditions were highlighted with good wine, some spicy adventures and shared inspiration.
'The temperature was 40 C and the next day it rose to 46 C. My small gas fridge could’nt cope so I filled my portable shower with water, covered beer, wine, margarine etc. with wet towels and let water drip onto them, thus keeping perishables reasonably cool. The surroundings were absolutely arid. The sun reflected off the red ochre rocks rising on either side of the Orange River. Most of the next day was spent sitting in the river. After 2 days of the unbearable heat, particularly for the women, we packed up'. Erik Laubscher
Cape Province
1975 - 2013
New Challenges...
" Regions like the Kouebokkeveld and Namibia stimulated new directions and dimensions that gave my work a new impetus that April endured until May 1992, when I underwent a major life threatening operation.
April 2000 : « Recovery made me realise I had been given a second chance and that Life had new meanings. I was not interested in aggressive paintings - paintings depicting the power of nature yes, beauty as seen by me yes, political correctness — NO ".
I am finding it very difficult to depart from the landscape and it’s influence of spatial and monumental elements…
April 2000...
Walking early this morning on Table Mountain, trying to solve my dilemma, I suddenly remembered Zorba saying “ You think too much, you must have a little madness...”
There was the clue, I realised I have been too conscious of the subject and neglected the “ little madness " to use the subject as a vehicle for emotions, reactions and dimensions beyond reality, thus giving subjects that something which makes a work " Erik Laubscher
This period was punctuated by a 2 month trip to Paris at the Cité des Arts with wife and artist, Claude Bouscharain as well as a major retrospective exhibition held at the SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch in 2009 with the launch of "A Life in Art", a wonderful book published by SMAC gallery...
"Experiencing the landscape is a spiritual experience for Erik Laubscher. His paintings become the poetic language of his emotions – the experience of his reaction to the vastness and varying contrasts of the South African landscape. He transforms lines, shapes, colours and textures to unify them into ordered structures. In this way he identifies with the emotional force of the landscape in order to capture his experience of it in an image. The final result is a celebration of the magnitude and expansiveness of the land…
"He openly admits that he cannot paint if he is not enthralled by the forms, contrasting elements and atmosphere that he perceives before him. These are the elements of his composition. In composition emotion is transformed into logic. It is on the canvas and with his colour palette that he arranges his inner perceptions.
This year is the sixtieth year that Laubscher has been involved in depicting the South African landscape. Yet he remains a scout and an explorer of new perspectives that speak to him in new ways. In this way familiar scenes, specifically in the Overberg and Swartland, are the source of new discoveries. He is constantly refining his powers of observation. In recent decades he has returned repeatedly to the same scenes in an attempt to come closer to the intrinsic essence of his experience. This is what he embodies in composition". Landscape Exhibition opening speech by Amanda Botha http://www.johansborman.co.za/artist-biographies/laubscher-erik