MAUD SUMNER - Eglington

Very large hardcover with dust jacket in good to very good condition. Inscription in ink in front. Dust jacket has small tear or four at edges, see picture.  R45 postage in SA. Maud Sumner was born in Johannesburg in 1902 to English parents who had travelled to South Africa to create a life and a family. As a young girl, Sumner had a strict Catholic upbringing, and was taught French from an early age which would become vital knowledge in her life. In 1922, her father agreed to send her to Oxford to receive academic training in spite of her wishes to become an artist. Following this, Sumner decided to study art which she did in Paris under the tutelage of Maurice Denis, who became one of the most influential people in her life as an artist (Eglington, 1967:3-10).

Returning to South Africa during World War II, Sumner continued creating similar portraits and still-life images to what she had been accustomed to creating in Europe. After the War, Sumner returned to Europe and it was there that her work began to evolve due to the introduction and development of Cubism and later her discovery of Abstract Expressionism which would greatly influence her later works of vast and open landscapes (Alexander & Cohen, 1990: 82). Sumner eventually proceeded to move from her abstract landscapes which were composed of vibrant and saturated planes of colour, to a more realistic approach whilst representing South African scenery.

“View of St. Augustines” picks up on Sumner’s early Modernist contact, and through the understanding of her medium with regards to range and limitations, as well as her incredible use and understanding of colour, the painting exudes a wonderful atmosphere. This work also lends itself to exploring Sumner’s conceptual understanding of her subject matter, whereby the work accurately and sensitively depicts the experience of a scene as it is in everyday life (Eglington, 1967: 47). Sumner’s Catholic upbringing also becomes evident in this work with the church becoming the focal point both visually and through the title of the work. Through the combination of characteristically understanding her medium and evoking an emotional response to the subject matter, as in this painting, Maud Sumner has become not only a South African art sensation but an international one.