François Krige The Old Harbour, Hermanus
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Literature : "While he lived on the Cape Peninsula, particularly during the decade following the war, Krige returned to the kind of fishing villages he had loved to frequent as a child growing up along the Onrus coast. Hundreds of his studies of fishing boats, hamlets and the traditional life style of Coloured fishermen from all over the Western Cape abound. We see old sailing craft, genre scenes of men repairing their nets, boat-builders at work on vessels and the wrecked carcasses of others washed up on the beach. Trek fishermen surf their boats home and drag in nets shimmering with fish; some sleep off the early morning voyage on the sand beside their craft, while others celebrate a good catch in the dingy local bar. We see the ubiquitous whitewashed cottages on high ground overlooking the ocean and shacks down at the waterline with bokkems (dried mullet) strung up to dry. Krige would often spend so much time in a fishing community that his presence went unnoticed and he was able to move among the locals recording their daily tasks in a uniquely insightful way, unmatched by any other South African artist. He was consciously capturing a lifestyle that he felt was threatened; indeed his beloved fishing harbour at Hermanus was soon to become extinct, replaced by a modern harbour and power-driven boats." Justin Fox (2000) The Life and Art of Francois Krige, Vlaeberg: Fernwood Press. Page 65.
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