gouache on paper

Artwork date: 1946
Signature details: signed and dated

(1)

63.5 x 50.5 cm

Notes:

Irma Stern undertook ambitious journeys through the Congo in 1942 and in 1946, providing her with “enough material and stimulus for a flood of creative work that marked her maturity and the high point of her career” (Dubow 1974:18). Spending many months there gave her sufficient time to set up studio and get to know the locals as she describes in her book Congo:

A finely slit bamboo shutter rolls up and reveals the dazzlingly ornamented walls of my studio. The little verandah is filled with inquisitive people – women with soft brown bodies bringing me oranges and ‘coeur de boeuf’ – a green fruit covered with thorns (Stern 1943:5).

In Congolese Woman, Stern captures the encounter with such rapid and assured brushstrokes that we feel, in an almost tactile way, the very sensual delight she took in this beautiful woman arrayed in her exquisite attire, her head magnificently framed in a soft scarf and simple necklace that echoes the neckline of her boldly patterned dress.

Her costume reflects both social history and politics – her dress is made from pagne, a cut length of colourful wax print cotton fabric, originally copied from Indonesian designs and techniques and manufactured in Holland for trade back to Africa.

Large textile companies such as Vlisco established factories in the Congo to keep up with demand. Characterised by bright colours and batik-inspired designs, costly wax print became popular in the 20th century as the daily wear of married women of relative wealth and status. Women fashioned the fabrics into long skirts, typically worn with a corresponding headscarf and the pagne, or wrapper, could be either formal or informal, ranging from simply draped fabric to a fully tailored outfit.

The luminous beauty of this woman was captured during Irma’s happiest and most productive period when, free of the restrictive Cape colonial society, she could follow her heart to Central Africa. There, unaccompanied and focussed on her work, she embodied a degree of modernism and liberation far ahead of her time.

Congolese Woman is one of a significant body of works depicting Congolese figures and faces, of which many can be viewed in the permanent collections of museums such as Iziko South African National Gallery and the University of Cape Town’s Irma Stern Museum.

Emma Bedford

Sources

Dubow, N. (1974). Irma Stern. Cape Town: C Struik Publishers.

Stern, I. (1943) Congo. Pretoria: Van Schaik.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Carol Kaufmann for information included in this essay.