Stephanie WATSON
1927 – 2000
Paintings, sculptures and graphics
Stephanie WATSON in 1973
Brief C.V.
Stephanie Blanche Elspeth St Monica née Harmer was born on 27th December 1927, in Livingstone, Zambia.
Stephanie with her mother Mollie somewhere in Central Africa
In about 1934, the family moved to South Africa.
In 1950, Stephanie married Keith Watson who had recently arrived from England - they had three daughters, Keithayn, Eve and Peta and lived on the East Rand in Springs and Benoni.
In the 1960s, Stephanie studied art at the Johannesburg School of Art (under Joyce Leonard, Mervyn Dewes and George Boys) and the Visual Arts Research Centre, Johannesburg.
Stephanie WATSON in her studio at Rynfield in 1975
She loved to travel and undertook numerous trips to various countries, such as those bordering South Africa, to Britain and Europe, to Israel, Egypt, Iran, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, India, and to coastal ports of Argentine, Uruguay and Brazil.
After her divorce in 1966, Stephanie Watson moved to Betty’s Bay in the Cape in mid-1976.
She was a member of the Artists Guild, Cape Town. From 1978 she lectured at the Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town; 1981-1983 she was a lecturer at the Strand Technical College; later she also taught at studios in Gordon’s Bay and Grabouw.
In September, 2000, Stephanie Watson died in Cape Town after a short illness.
Full C.V. and images from the family album
Please click on this link to see further details!
Selected Solo shows
Gallery 101, Johannesburg ("Subaqua") (Paintings and monotypes) - 2nd to 13th June, 1969
Stephanie Watson in her studio, 1969, working on her "Subaqua" series
Gallery 101, Rand Central, Johannesburg (“Underwater”) – 29th June, 1970
Gallery 101, Hyde Park, Johannesburg (20 hard-edge paintings “Impressions and Images of Sensations”) – 11th to 24th March, 1972 - catalogue
Gallery 21, Hyde Park, Johannesburg (“Recent acrylics and silkscreens”) (theme based on Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”) – 29th September to 18th October, 1973 (10th solo show) – illustrated catalogue and images of 10 paintings from the Hobbit Series shown then (PDF).
An acrylic from the "Hobbit Series", 1973 by Stephanie Watson (photo D76 © Melvyn Penn)
SA Association of Arts, Pretoria (Paintings and graphics) – 25th February to 9th March, 1974
Gallery 21, Fox Street, Johannesburg (18 paintings + 17 beach sculptures) – 10th to 28th April, 1979 - catalogue
Other Exhibitions were held at Walsh Marais Gallery, Durban (8th to 25th April, 1969) and the SA Association of Arts, Cape Town
Included in selected Group Shows
1966 SA Breweries Art Prize (exhibited 1966 SA National Gallery, Cape Town, Pretoria Art Museum, Johannesburg Civic Theatre and 1967 Durban Art Gallery) - cat. 100
1969 Quinquennial of South African Art
1971 Republic Festival Exhibition, Cape Town (“Art/Kuns SA 1971”)
1974 SA Association of Arts, Pretoria (25th February – 9th March, 1974)
1974 Gallery International, Cape Town (Editions 21 - New Graphics) - 9th to 21st September, 1974
1975 Gallery 21, London – South African Artists (March-May)
1977 The National Gallery of Rhodesia (“Exhibition of South African Art”) in Salisbury November/December 1977 and Bulawayo Art Gallery January/February, 1978
1977 SA Graphics – Canberra Week (touring Australia)
1978/1979/1980 “Art in South Africa” - USA / South Africa /Germany
1979 SA National Gallery, Cape Town (“S.A. Printmakers) (one of 57 artists)
1979 “Kunst aus Südafrika / Kunst aus Soweto” - Deutsche Afrika Stiftung (incl. Neuss, Mannheim), cat. 97
1979 Cape Town Biennial, SA National Gallery, Cape Town – September/October 1979, cat. 79
1981 Republic Festival Exhibition, Durban (4th May to 2nd June, 1981), p. 69, cat 374, ill.
Selected Graphics published by Editions 21, Johannesburg (15 silkscreens)
http://www.pelmama.org/Editions21-WATSON_Part1.htm (6 silkscreens)
SWAT 7401
http://www.pelmama.org/Editions21-WATSON_Part2.htm (5 silkscreens)
SWAT 7502
http://www.pelmama.org/Editions21-WATSON_Part3.htm (4 silkscreens)
SWAT 7506
A master set was donated to the Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein
The Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, and the SA National Gallery, Cape Town, also own a few of these silkscreens.
Stephanie Watson's graphics were shown by Gallery 21 Johannesburg at the Art 6’75 Basel Fair as well as at Gallery 21, London, between 1974 and 1976.
Selected Graphics published by Stephanie WATSON
8 additional silkscreens from the Collection of the family (click on this link to view PDF)
Stephanie Watson was also commissioned for a series of silkscreens for a Hotel Group in South Africa - these were printed by Adrian Victor de Villiers and Mel Burger in her studio.
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Symbols of Stephanie Watson’s “Southern Africa Today” series explained
Included in Public Collections
SA National Gallery, Cape Town
"Gold Mine, South Africa", 1972 - acrylic on canvas - 90x75 cm - Acq. ID 72/34 (col. image © Iziko/SANG not available)
Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein (PELMAMA Permanent Art Collection)
„The Shire II.“, 1973 (The Hobbit Series) – oil/board – 121x121 cm
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Pietersburg Art Museum, Polokwane
No image available!
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Schlesinger Collection at WAM Witwatersrand Art Museum, Johannesburg
"The death of Mordor", 1973 - oil/board - 123x123 cm
Presented in 1979 by Schlesinger Organisation to Wits Art Museum - ref. S/73/12
Other Selected Paintings
“It’s you”, 1994 – mixed media/oil on canvas – 76x76 cm
On auction at Ashbey’s Cape Town – 12th April, 2008 – Lot 262
“Stop it, enough is enough”, undated – mixed media/oil on canvas – 91x91 cm
On auction at Ashbey’s Cape Town – 12th April, 2008 – Lot 261
“Dodging bullets”, 1988 – oil/canvas – 90x91 cm
On auction at Stephan Welz / Sotheby’s, Cape Town – 16th October, 2007 – Lot 238
On auction at Ashbey’s Cape Town – 4th December, 2008 – Lot 330
“Reflections”, 1979 – oil/calico/board – 60x44.5 cm
Auctioned by Stephan Welz & Co., Cape Town – 5th October, 2010 – Lot 184 and previously on 16th October, 2007 – Lot 239
"The Progenitors" - date n/a - 92x91.5 cm
Auctioned by Sotheby's, White Hills, Sandton - 21st February, 1983, Lot 220 (orig. Les Art International Coll.)
“Apologies to M&W as consciousness goes” - undated – mixed media on canvas – 91x91 cm – Cape Town Biennial 1979 cat. 79
See additional paintings by Stephanie Watson on this link!
"Beach and Sea", 1995 - acrylic - 75x58 cm - Priv. Coll. Eve Watson
Selected Publications
ARTLOOK 16, Johannesburg – March, 1968 p. 12/13
ARTLOOK 31, Johannesburg – June, 1969, p. 4
ARTLOOK 47, Johannesburg - October 1970, ill. pp. 20/21
Click on image to view 3 paintings from the "Underwater" 1970 exhibition at Gallery 101 as illustrated in ARTLOOK 47!
“Cape Town Biennial 1979”– SA National Gallery, Cape Town – September/October 1979, cat. 79, ill.
Republic Festival Art Exhibition 1981 Durban - May/June, 1981, cat. 374, 375, ill.
“Three Centuries of South African Art” (Fransen) (A.D. Donker), 1982, p. 350 – ISBN 0 86852 012 8
“Art & Artists of South Africa” (Berman) (Balkema), 1983 – pp. 191, 193, 516, 517, 518, 519
“The Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors” (Ogilvie) (Everard Read), 1988 – p. 736
“Artists’ Palette” (Ladan / Doyle) (Ladan & Doyle), 1991, ill. p. 186 – ISBN 0-620-15955-3
“Printmaking in a transforming South Africa” (Hobbs/Rankin) (David Philip Publ.), 1997, p. 136 – ISBN 0 86487 334 9
Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein – catalogue of Donation from the PELMAMA PERMANENT ART COLLECTION – pp. 6, 9, 43, 44, 45
Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria – catalogue of Donation from the PELMAMA PERMANENT ART COLLECTION
Selected press reviews
Sunday Express, Johannesburg – 5th July, 1970
The Star, Johannesburg – 7th July, 1970
Vaderland, Johannesburg – 9th July, 1970
Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg – 20th March, 1972
Sandton Chronicle, Sandton – End September, 1973 (“Gandals calling Shadow Sax” ill.)
SA Association of Arts, Pretoria “Art Calendar March, 1974” – exhibition review, ill.
Sandton Chronicle, Sandton – March, 1975 (portrait of artist)
Sandton Chronicle, Sandton – Mid-April, 1975, 2 works ill. + p.4
"At the Watson Exhibition" - click on image for better view!
The Star, Johannesburg – 28th April, 1975
The Star, Johannesburg - 19th January, 1976 - ill.
Pretoria Art Museum News Letter June 1992 – ill. on cover
Die Burger, Cape Town – 22nd August, 1991
Die Burger, Cape Town – 16th March, 1993
Last updated 14th July, 2013