Francois Krige - Village scene - watercolour on paper
Frame: 47,5 cm X 57,5 cm
Sheet size: 23 cm X 34 cm
Francois Krige (1913 1994)
Francois Krige was born in July 1913, in Uniondale near Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo. He was the fourth of six children, and his was a well-known family; his father was a famous rugby player, his mother a renowned novelist, and his brother Uys a celebrated writer. In 1927 Krige began his studies at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. After two years he moved to Johannesburg where he continued to take art classes and to sketch and paint in Johannesburg. He exhibited three works in the annual South African exhibition in 1933, before leaving for Europe in 1934 to further his art studies. Kriges graphic art was influenced by the work of Rembrandt as well as etchings by Pieter Wenning, Frans Oerder and Hugo Naudé from his native country.
In 1936, after spending three years travelling, Krige decided to return to South Africa, settling in Johannesburg. A number of his works were selected for the Empire Exhibition held in Johannesburg that year an exhibition held once every four years, always in a different city of the British colonial empire. The New Group, which was founded in 1937, would have a significant impact on the South African art scene. Many of the artists who formed part of the group, including Frieda Lock, Lippy Lipschitz, Terence McCaw, Gregoire Boonzaier, Alexis Preller and Walter Battiss, had recently studied and travelled in Europe. He joined the New Group and exhibited with them in 1938 in Cape Town. In 1949 he received the Gold Medal from the Suid-Afrikaans Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns an honour which most artists receive much later in their careers.
Krige made study trips to Botswana and Namibia, living amongst and sketching the Bushmen in 1957, 1960, 1962, and again in 1968. His friendship with Walter Battiss may have had an influence on his interest in Bushman heritage and culture . Krige spent time with the !Kung in north-eastern Namibia, accompanying the Danish ethnographer Jens Bjerre to draw and paint the !Kung and their traditions.
In 1967, Krige moved from Cape Town to Montagu in the Karoo, where he would live until his death in 1994.
Source: johansborman.co.za/artist-biographies/krige-francois/
