ARTLife

THE SOUTH AFRICAN

February 2010
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Where Art and Life meet

Mollie Townsend in her studio, Fish Hoek, Cape Town Photo: David Robinson

Mollie Townsend captures the light

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ARTLIFE - Where Art and Life Meet
Mollie Townsend: Fish Hoek’s Leading Light
By Veronica Wilkinson
The interior of Mollie
Townsend’s home speaks vol-
umes about her varied interests
where natural surfaces lend
warmth to the surroundings.
Her work hangs on the walls
and a scrapbook containing
a chronological record of her
professionally active career
is thoughtfully presented for
inspection. Here are reviews
and invitations from past
exhibitions, including the first
in Redhouse in 1949. Born in
Smithfield, Orange Free State
in 1921, she attended the Wyn-
berg Girls High School and in
her Matric year (1939) had art
lessons after school from Flor-
ence Zerffi in her studio. WW2
made art study overseas impos-
sible so Mollie joined the S.A
Nursing Service as a voluntary
Red Cross nurse. She married
during the War and with the
cessation of hostilities (1945)
and the return of her husband
in the South African Army
from overseas, settled in Cape
Town. Her husband’s civil
engineering work took them to
Northern Rhodesia (now Zam-
bia) and then to Bechuanaland
Protectorate (now Botswana).
By 1960 they had six children.
Mollie had many requests to
teach art and was invited to
design the country’s stamps
for 1965 and 1968 (Stanley
Gibbons 186-189 and 249-252)
She also wrote a biography
about her great-grandfather:
“James Stewart, Royal Scottish
Academician” (1968) printed
View of St. James from Boyes Drive, Oil on canvas
by the Botswana Government
Printer.
On their return to South
Africa in 1971 she attended
the Michaelis School of Fine
Art, UCT, as a mature student
and obtained a B.A (Fine Art)
degree in 1975 majoring in
sculpture. She considers herself
fortunate in having had Neville
Dubow as Professor of Art for
his encouragement and vision.
Since then she has exhibited in
solo and group shows in S.A.
and Europe. She visited Eu-
rope working at the Academie
de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris,
and made graphics during a
stay at the Cite International
des Arts, Paris.
In 1980 she was awarded a
medal by the Federation Inter-
nationale Culturelle Feminin in
Ancona, Italy, for an etching.
In 2005 her book ‘Light in
False Bay” was launched with
an exhibition of the paintings
at the Irma Stern Museum. In
this artist’s book she explores
the False Bay coastal region,
painting and researching some
elements of its history.
She generously shares her
documented plein air work
process while quotations from
great artists and authors ac-
quaint readers with her knowl-
edge. The personal notes and
sketches give us insight into
her personality even document-
ing incidents like a disrupted
painting session at Miller’s
Point when a roving troop of
baboons drove her to shelter
Mollie Townsend in her studio, Fish Hoek
in her car until they moved on.
An ever enquiring mind and an
acute eye for colour distinguish
this artist’s impressionist oeu-
vre. Her studio is spacious and
neat with wall space converted
to support canvases so that she
can paint directly onto their
surfaces without the clutter of
another easel.
During the early 1970s to early
eighties she completed a lot
of work alongside artists like
Sue Williamson at the Graphic
Workshop in Claremont.
Williamson’s recollection of
Mollie’s work is of “strong im-
ages, she always had energetic
and interesting ideas, narrative
played an important part in
her work and she often dealt
with local cultural subjects in
Fish Hoek beach and Hottentots Holland, Oil on canvas
Photo: David Robinson
ingenuous ways.”
Mollie Townsend is an artist
who regards light as the artist’s
tool. The direct manner she
employs in her work is a
refreshing reflection of her
straightforward grasp of a
visual language that surpasses
barriers in an analytic and
sensuous fluidity. I find that
the work teases the intellect
on some levels with lyrical
qualities that hint at her love of
music, another realm of emo-
tional resonance common to
human experience. In this field
too, her discipline is evident
as a pianist where little can be
accomplished without diligent
effort and perseverance. To
quote Peter Clarke, hers is art
both delightful and surprising.
 ARTLIFE - Where Art and Life Meet

Sunrise over False Bay, Oil on canvas

Buffels Bay with Hangklip on horizon, Oil on canvas

Daylight over False Bay, Oil on canvas

Jagged Rocks, Pringle Bay and Cape Point, Oil on canvas

Naval Cemetery at Seaforth, Simon’s Town, Oil on canvas

Noordhoek with cows, Oil on canvas

For more images and information about Mollie Townsend see her book: Light in False Bay. For orders call 021 7822084 ISBN- 0-620-33860-1
ARTLIFE - Where Art and Life Meet
What Moulds our Perspective
South Africans do well at Florence Biennial Art Exhibition
Out and about: Baardskeerdersbos Art Route January 2010
Local traffic jam en route
Letter to the Editor
Questioning our Legacy
Second prize at Florence Biennial Art Exhibition
At 47, I have just received international recognition for my art! I have no
words to explain how exciting this is. I am also so proud to have repre-
sented South Africa in Italy, in December, where I exhibited three of my
sculptures on the Florence Biennale. The show hosted over 2000 works
of art, with 650 artists representing 78 countries present. An international
panel of thirteen assigns recognitions and awards to the invited artists
and I was awarded 2nd place in the sculpture category.
I literally dragged the work to Florence, as I could not afford the courier
charges. With a backpack on my back, one on my front and 3 large
works to carry (they measure 1m in diameter and are about 40 cm wide,
without packaging) I was close to tears many times. The load could not
fit in a taxi, and so I had to catch trains and walk to the venue, eventually
dragging the work behind me. Bearing in mind one delight of Florence is
the fact that the streets are all cobbled this was a mission of note. I felt
B’bos artist in residence for January 2010: Claire Menck
Work by Claire Menck
The Wreath
like the farm girl who had arrived in the city for the first time!
The Biennale took place at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, Italy from
7 to 13 December 2009. This international event is organised under the
patronage of the President of the Italian Republic with the official endorse-
ment of the Ministry of Culture. The exhibition is recognised by the United
Nations as being part of their ‘Dialogue between Civilisations’ program
and its aim is to promote art as a universal language. Meeting the artists
and seeing the work on display was memorable. Of note is the fact that
of the 5 South African artists who took part, 3 of us got awards, (the other
two were 4 places). They were Natasha De Wet (work on paper)and
Talita Swarts (installation). You can find them both on www.artcoza.co.za
Sharle Matthews
Lands End III by Niel Jonker
 ARTLIFE - Where Art and Life Meet

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