HOW THE CON ARTISTS TRIED TO CLEAR THEIR NAME
FOLLOWING a recent article published by the Sunday Times of London which was defamatory, full of inaccuracies, unsubstantiated accusations and innuendo about a former South African who has sold paintings by an apparently “fake” South African artist to well-known British collections, International Collectors and via Auction Houses, evidence has reached the Paarl Post that the female artist, poet and Anti Apartheid Activist, Helen Anne Petrie (1932-2006), had indeed mainly lived and worked in Fish Hoek, South Africa. There are places for biased information in newspapers ? they’re called the opinion pages and advertisements. For those concerned with journalistic integrity, the increasingly blurry line between the business interests of newspapers and their editorial decisions is disturbing. When editorial integrity is compromised for the sake of boosting readership, the reader is the real loser. A professional journalist’s impartiality is paramount. The job is reporting news made by others, and not creating it.
FOLLOWING a recent article published by the Sunday Times of London which was defamatory, full of inaccuracies, unsubstantiated accusations and innuendo about a former South African who has sold paintings by an apparently “fake” South African artist to well-known British collections, International Collectors and via Auction Houses, evidence has reached the Paarl Post that the female artist, poet and Anti Apartheid Activist, Helen Anne Petrie (1932-2006), had indeed mainly lived and worked in Fish Hoek, South Africa.
The United Kingdom Press Complaints Commission is presently investigating the inacurate,allegations of the article, Case No 093340, Mr.Strutt is being represented by Attorney Penelope E Meyer.
Mr. Glenn Strutt, a respected art dealer in the USA and Europe (Who does NOT have a criminal Record , neither a record of “shady business”, as incorrectly reported), has provided irrevocable documentary proof that neither Bonhams nor the Royal Collection were duped, as was feared, when they purchased paintings from him in Britain.
Among the many documents provided were the catalogues of an exhibition of the SA Association of Arts’ annual exhibition in Cape Town in November 1967.
Two paintings by the artist, then 35 years old, are listed. In the same year she also exhibited at the Fish Hoek Arts Festival.
Reports in the newspaper, Fish Hoek Echo, refer to paintings exhibited by the artist as a member of St Margaret’s Art Society in 1966.
Anne had a privileged education and completed High School with excellent results, merits and awards; and went on to study further.
During this tertiary period, Anne made 2 trips to Europe touring the leading galleries. She was so eager to learn about Art, that at the end of her visits she had taken down some 2,300 pages of handwritten notes.
Florence was her favourite city, then Rome, she noted. Returning to South Africa she began painting her first oils, and with tuition soon began to lay the foundation of what was to mature into her own, distinctive style. Anne felt that at the time, the taste of small art-public was extremely backward and that there were too few discerning collectors and buyers, particularly in South Africa which was at that point still a British colony.
Anne did however exhibit in South Africa twice in 1967, the most important exhibition being from 30th October till 11th November at the South African Association of Artists Annual Exhibition at 63 Burg Street, Cape Town. A leading Art Critic of the day, Johan van Rooyen stated her 3 works entitled respectively Indian Girl, Bantu Boy and Late Afternoon, Kommetjie “should be hailed as proving the standard that is expected at an exhibition of this calibre”, which included works by fellow artists I.Roworth, S.Butler, V.Volschenk and L. Mears.
In 1967 Mr. Albert Wert (Then Curator of the Pretoria Art Museum) together with Matthys Bokhorst (Director of the South African National Gallery) enquired as to whether Anne would be willing to participate in the SANLAM Art Collection Exhibition, which at that point contained in excess of 166 works of art.
She declined to participate as the collection “did not possess that degree of inner unity it would have had if the collection had from the beginning been built up for the purpose of exhibition”. She further suspected that the main intention of the SANLAM Collection was to build up a mere collection of attractive South African paintings and sketches to be left hanging in the offices of directors and staff alike.
Yet shy, introvert, emotionally imbalanced and disillusioned at the politics which clearly favoured predominantly male, Afrikaans artists as opposed to English-speaking females like herself, she stopped exhibiting at most major galleries and vehemently declined many invitations to sell her Art after that.
Anne noted in her personal diary in 1972 that 2 major schools of thought were apparent in the South African art world. One where artists identified with various aspects of their social, political, geographical and environmental conditions; the other with very close ties with international trends, often be related to Colonialism and the Empire.
This duality appeared to be the natural result of a “Nation” shaping and divorcing itself from its’ old rural and colonial character. During the 1970’s 80’s and 1990’s Anne never tried to idealise her subjects. She always strove for the accurate representation of everyday, apparently casual or overlooked subjects.
At the end of her life, Anne had amongst her closest friends and fellow artists, mainly local Cape Coloured and Malay inhabitants. These were the people with whom Anne felt she could really be herself: a plain, genuine woman who seldom made preparatory cause of her impulsive nature.
Anne Petrie, the woman, the benefactor, the pacifist, the friend… The TRUE Matriarch of South African Female Artists.
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