The Artist'S Studio ,
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Note : Alexander Rose-Innes arrived in Cape Town in 1956 when the city was ‘without doubt, the artistic capital of South Africa. Many of the leading artists lived and worked in the Cape. The art market was buoyant and the quality of works exhibited high, as was the public awareness of art and artists.’1 Matthys Bokhorst, curator of the Michaelis Collection and later to become Director of the South African National Gallery from 1962 until 1973, befriended the artist and encouraged him to continue painting and exhibiting his work. In 1962 Rose-Innes exhibited at the South African Association of Arts Gallery with Gregoire Boonzaier, Ruth Prowse, David Botha, Carl Büchner, Nerine Desmond and Frank Spears and became associated with the Cape Impressionist tradition.
Several solo exhibitions in South Africa and Belgium followed, and his work was included in numerous national and international exhibitions. In 1986, he was honoured by the University of Pretoria with a retrospective exhibition of his work and a medal for his contribution to the arts in South Africa. This painting of his studio offers a rare insight into the artist’s working space, rendered in the painterly style for which he became known and admired. As Esmé Berman observes, ‘the absence of strong colour notes, together with the use of close-up views, contributes to a sense of intimacy in his work. The subtle gradation of tone and the creamy thickness of paint application are prominent characteristics of his technique.’2
Emma Bedford
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