text: maggie laubser maria magdalena laubser , known as maggie laubser ( 14 april 1886 – 17 may 1973 ) was a south african painter and printmaker . she is generally considered , along with irma stern , to be responsible for the introduction of expressionism to south africa . her work was initially met with derision by critics but has gained wide acceptance , and now she is regarded as an exemplary and quintessentially south african artist . early life and education maria magdalena laubser was born on the wheat farm near malmesbury in the swartland , a productive agricultural area in south africa . she was the eldest of six children of petrus christiaan laubser and johanna catharina laubser ( née holm ) . laubser 's youth was dominated by the rural and pastoral and she delighted in this carefree existence . after attending the farm school , she left for boarding school at seminary , stellenbosch , where she was introduced to the art of drawing . she returned to the farm in 1901 , and during a visit to cape town she met beatrice hazel , a realistic romantic style painter , who introduced her to edward roworth , giving impetus to her desire to study painting . in 1903 she convinced her parents to let her go to cape town once a week for singing lessons . the difficulty of travel and the low opinion her mother had of her mezzo - soprano voice discouraged her , but it was at this stage that she started painting on her own . she studied painting under roworth in cape town for two months of 1903 , during which time she received a silver medal for her work . by 1907 she had become proficient enough to be elected to the south african society of artists ( ) and , in 1909 , she was represented at the annual exhibition of the and the fine arts association of cape town . by 1910 , she had her own studio in strand street , cape town . during a 1912 visit to her nephew , gert coetzee , in pretoria , she took up employment as a governess on a farm owned by the family in district , transvaal , where she also taught art and needlework . while on vacation in durban with a friend , sophie fisher , she befriended jan hendrik arnold balwé ( consul for the netherlands in durban 1903 - 1913 ) , a shipping - line owner who offered to finance her and her sister hannah 's studies abroad . holland and england laubser and her sister left for europe on 4 october 1913 , initially living in an artists ' colony at laren , noord - holland in an area called het . she met ita mees , a concert pianist and frederik van , author and poet . she also befriended laura knight and frans , both painters . in the last years of his life , anton mauve ( 1838 – 1888 ) , who was an important influence on vincent van gogh , lived in laren . maggie worked in the studio he established there . at the outbreak of world war i she went to london . she initially stayed in huntingdonshire and then , in october 1914 , moved to a london hotel and registered at the slade school of art for the period october 1914 to march 1919 . henry tonks , walter westley russell and ambrose mcevoy taught her drawing , while philip wilson steer lectured her in painting . it seems that she never painted during her time at the slade , instead concentrating her efforts on drawing of portraiture and figure studies . maggie returned to south africa briefly in 1915 to visit the new family farm at , near in the cape province and again in march 1919 , after her studies were concluded . early career and travels belgium , june 1919 to september 1920 she left london on 6 june 1919 for belgium , staying at antwerp and the villa chenes in the lei in . she befriended arnold balwé , son of her patron , who studied at the academy . she might have accompanied balwé as an occasional student , as is evidenced by a number of nude studies sketched during this period . there is also some evidence that she came into contact with the art of die brücke and der blaue reiter during a stay in munich in 1919 . italy , october 1920 to august 1921 she travelled with balwé to italy in august / september 1920 and lived and worked at torri del and san on the garda lake . during this time the couple was supported financially by balwé 's father and this gave them freedom to work on paintings for possible exhibitions instead of sale . a large number of signed and dated works from this period give some support to this . j. h. a. balwé had been ill towards the end of 1920 , and arnold balwé and maggie accompanied him to bad kissingen in mid - april 1921 , where he died in april or may of that year . after balwé 's death laubser 's meanders took her to venice , where she visited the doge 's palace ( june / july 1921 ) , then to milan and , on 18 august 1921 , back to germany . on 19 september 1921 she arrived in cape town on the union - castle line . germany , november 1922 to november 1924 laubser was issued with a visa by the german consulate in cape town on 16 november 1922 and was installed at kurfürstendamm 40 , berlin by 1 january 1923 . her address had apparently changed to kurfürstendamm 43 , berlin by 23 january 1923 . she looked up irma stern and they undertook a trip to the baltic sea at for three weeks in july 1923 . after trips to weimar and bavaria and another change of address from 5 to lodgings with a fräulein finck at von der heydt strasse 1 , south of the tiergarten , which she obtained with the help of her friend kate mädler , she settled down to the cultural life of berlin . she met members of the diplomatic corps , painted portraits and attended music concerts . she befriended pianists wilhelm busch and otto . it was in berlin , from 1922 to 1924 , that she came into contact with german expressionism and was encouraged by karl schmidt - rottluff . the works of emil nolde , max pechstein , franz marc and erich were available to her and clarified her ambitions . she singled out franz marc of der blaue reiter and nolde , schmidt - rottluff and pechstein of die brücke as significant to her personality , although she would claim not to have been influenced by them . the extent of their influence is evident in that she came closest to the german expressionist style during these years , in which she produced a series of ten lithographs called . on 14 august 1924 she made arrangements with allison bros. , london to ship her paintings to south africa . south african debut and critical reception in november 1924 , laubser returned to south africa and settled at , the family farm . she met sculptor moses and the cartoonist d. c. , who introduced her to his son gregoire , founding member of the new group , and renewed her friendship with painters ruth prowse and nita . she was asked to exhibit in cape town , and was cruelly disillusioned . her work , like that of irma stern , met with fierce criticism , most notably from bernard lewis of die burger and the cape times , who as late as 1931 was able to write of her work in a group show : " is there any normal , sane human being in all south africa who is able to appreciate as a work of art , to enjoy as a picture ... the one sent by maggie laubser ? " — bernard lewis in april 1929 she met p. and his wife , as well as a. c. celliers and koos botha , all of whom encouraged her to have a one man exhibition . her first solo exhibition was held in stellenbosch , with support from a. c. and con de villiers . during this time she also met martin du toit , who would become a fervent supporter , organising her first exhibition in the transvaal in 1931 . empire exhibition , johannesburg , 1936 on 3 may 1936 , laubser 's father died , leaving the farm to her brother , and establishing a trust fund for her mother . laubser would inherit the balance of the trust fund when her mother died on 20 november 1936 . although she was treated harshly by the press , laubser was elected to the selection panel of the prestigious british empire exhibition , the convener of which was m. l. du toit , without her parents living to see this acquiescence to her talents . the empire exhibition was a quadrennial exposition , which in 1936 was held in milner park , johannesburg , and it was representative of the best south africa had to offer . it was here that laubser would become familiar with alexis , who would attract the ire of the critics for his work at the first new group exhibition on 4 may 1938 . maggie laubser would also be a member of the new group , and present at the exhibition of 1938 . later years and legacy maggie laubser was active from as early as 1900 and continued working uninterrupted until her death in 1973 . the catalogue raisonné compiled by marais contains 1784 individual works . her predominant style of work is generally accepted by many authors to be expressionist , but there are also identifiable elements of fauvism at work , and a pastoralism that belie the german expressionist prototypes to which maggie was exposed . after the death of her parents she settled in cape town in 1937 , taking a studio in . in 1942 , she moved to the strand . she built a cottage there , called lig ( always bright ) , in 1947 . on 28 may 1946 prof. p. j. announced that loubser would receive the honorary medal of the academy of arts and science . in 1947 she received the oscar award for painting from die vaderland , a newspaper . in 1948 , membership of the south african academy for arts and science was awarded to her and the poet elisabeth . she continued painting and continued to evolve her style , and in 1959 she was presented with an honorary membership of the academy of art and science . the south african association of arts honoured her with a medal in 1968 , presented by prof. a. l. . the south african national gallery and the pretoria art museum combined to host a major retrospective exhibition of laubser 's works in 1969 . this was followed in 1987 by a retrospective of early works , again at the south african national gallery , which ran from 2 december 1987 to 31 january 1988 . maggie laubser died on 17 may 1973 at lig . there was an unfinished canvas on her easel . major collections maggie laubser 's works are included in a number of major collections : south african national gallery , cape town johannesburg art gallery , johannesburg pretoria art museum , pretoria durban art gallery , durban a. c. white gallery , bloemfontein hester rupert art museum , graaff - rupert museum , stellenbosch william humphreys art gallery , kimberley art collection , cape town