An exhibition of paintings & prints by Grethe Hutt-Schonken /media/reviews/photos/thumbnail/256x256s/e8/2f/c0/6069-grethe-schonken22hr-72-1442493235.jpg New

The Cape Gallery presents an exhibition of artwork by the late Grethe Hutt-Schonken. Exposed to the modern art forms such as Op At, Pop Art & the more conservative influence of the Bauhaus, allowed young artists who could travel to Europe in the 1950’s & 1960’s a fresh view. Artists of the New Group in South Africa, Freida Lock, Maurice van Essche, Eleanor Esmonde-White and Peter Clarke embraced the European trends turning their back on the ‘Academic’ style of painting that was prevalent. Contemporary with many of the artists of the New Group, Grethe Schonken knew and collected some pieces of their work.  She painted large decorative works, setting stylized, symbolic figures in narrative friezes as did the Egyptian tomb painters. She immortalized the Herero people in their many petticoats and bright printed head scarves in prints pulled from stone lithographs.  She etched images of the Malay Quarter and the Cape Minstrels celebrating New Year. Her landscape paintings reflect her extensive travels through Africa and Europe. These are not formal studio works but have the freshness and impact that comes from direct and immediate contact with her subject.

Grethe Hutt-Schonken was born near the border of Lesotho. Encouraged as a young child by her father’s interest in anthropology and natural history, Grethe spent much of her life travelling through Africa, absorbing the native cultures of the people she encountered. On one occasion, her adventurous spirit led her through Africa from Uganda southward; using local means of transportation.

Grethe attended school in the Netherlands, later becoming a journalist and illustrator of children’s books. She studied art in London, Paris and Munich and spent the latter part of her life in America with her husband, economist and Nobel Prize winner, William. H. Hutt.

Grethe had many one-man shows, including exhibits in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Washington D.C., Texas A&M University, the University of Dallas and Palo Alto, California, and had her work accepted for international exchange exhibitions in West Germany, Yugoslavia, Australia, and for the Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil. Several of her works are in the permanent collection of the London County Council.