Irma Stern

After studying in Germany in the 1910s, Irma Stern returned to South Africa and pioneered the acceptance of German expressionism in the country. Initially derided for her innovative style, she gained widespread recognition after the Empire Exhibition of 1936. She excelled in the genres of portraiture and still life, but worked diversely. A prolific artist, she travelled extensively throughout Africa to research and paint. Her golden period is bookended by her visits to Zanzibar (in 1939 and again in 1945). She published two travelogues, Congo (1945) and Zanzibar (1948). In the 1950s she gained international recognition, representing South Africa in four editions of the Venice Biennale. Highly decorated throughout her career, in 1961 she received the Guggenheim Award. Since her death, Stern has been the subject of many books and exhibitions. They include three new monographs in the 2020s alone, as well as exhibitions devoted to her nudes (Irma Stern Museum, 2021) and Zanzibar period (Norval Foundation, 2021). Her international stature has grown since the Qatar Museums Authority purchased Arab Priest (1945) in 2011. In 2024, her work appeared in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale, and in 2025 the Brücke Museum is presenting the first museum survey of Stern’s work in Berlin, the city of her youth.