(Reviewer: Arlene Segal, Vol. 66, No. 1, Pesach 2011)
L’Afrique is a gem of a book that resonates with the mood of the 1960s. It captures the excitement of intuitive art explorations taking place in Johannesburg, at Wits, in studios and schools and in private Galleries like Lawrence Adler and Egon Guenther.
It is significant that the vast undervalued reservoirs of cultural and religious art objects found in Africa demonstrated design principles sought after by emerging artists in Europe, many of whom, like Picasso and Braque, would become the innovative giants of the 20th Century.
Maria Stein-Lessing and Leopold Spiegel, who arrived as refugees from Germany in the 1930s, were prescient in understanding the relevance of the art objects they discovered locally and in extending their interest and research by collecting artworks from many different and often obscure sources in South African and beyond.Maria acquired a deep knowledge of art, architecture and anthropology through her rigorous academic studies, which culminating in a doctorate from Bonn University in 1934. This gave her the creative confidence to be her own person, an unusual attribute for a woman in the 1940s. As a teacher, her extraordinary talents were shared unstintingly with her students and her passion for her subject left no student unmoved.
My personal memories of Maria have been nostalgically recalled by the affectionate, accurate, amusing and serious references in this book made by my class mates, Judith Mason and Eric Fernie. Her eccentricity was legendary, as was her integrity. I believe she gave me the ability to ‘see’, an invaluable gift that has always guided my own work.
I only met Leopold once and found him very personable. From the tributes and anecdotes in the book, he emerges as an appreciative, enthusiastic partner and a fair match for the incomparable Maria.It is most fitting that their contribution to African Art is being recognised in this excellent publication.
L’Afrique is designed as a square, hard cover book that sits comfortably in the hand; the checkerboard cover illustrated with artworks hint at the delights of the content.
The book is filled with exquisite photographs of art and artifacts formatted with uncompromising visual attention to detail and produced with daring. The artworks are displayed on sheer white paper and the text on a beige background that also serves the evocative intimate family photographs.
An interesting collation of objects, artifacts, paintings and photographs find their synergy in the accompanying text,which is written by friends, artists, historians and critics who knew the couple. With subtlety, warmth and wit, the articles and tributes reveal Maria and Leopold in their context: the sadness of displacement partially compensated through love of family and friends, imaginative work, living in Africa and the joy of adventure and discovery of beautiful artworks that fulfilled their creative aspirations.
