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Below, I : Hidden Treasures Irma Stern. Her Books, Painted Book Covers and Bookplates

The Society of Bibliophiles in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa, 2000

ISBN 0620267275

Royal Octavo. The following biography is taken from Wikipedia. Irma Stern (1894-23 August 1966), was a major South African artist who achieved national and international recognition in her lifetime. She was the product of German-Jewish parents. Her father was interned in a concentration camp by the British during the South African War because of his pro-Boer leanings. The family returned to Germany after the war, where they travelled frequently. Travel was to play an important role in both Sterns life as well as her artistic output. In 1913 Stern studied art at the Weimar Academy, in 1914 she was at the Levin-Funcke Studio and from 1917 with Max Pechstein, a founder of the Novembergruppe. Stern was associated with the German Expressionist painters of this period. She held her first exhibition in Berlin in 1919. In 1920 she returned to Cape Town with her family where she was initially dismissed as an artist (one review from this period is titled "Art of Miss Irma Stern - Ugliness as a cult"). She eventually gained recognition as an artist from fellow South Africans in the 1940s. She held almost one hundred solo exhibitions during her lifetime in both South Africa and Europe. In 1926 she married Dr Johannes Prinz her former tutor, who subsequently became professor of German at the University of Cape Town. They were divorced in 1934. Stern was to travel extensively in her lifetime: in 1930 to Madeira, in 1937 and 1938 to Dakar, Senegal, 1939 Zanzibar, 1942 Congo, 1945 Zanzibar, 1946 Central Africa, 1952 Madeira, 1955 Congo, 1960 Spain and 1963 France. Irma Stern refused to either travel or exhibit in Germany during the period 1933 - 1945. Her expeditions resulted in a wealth of artistic creativity and energy as well as the publication of two illustrated journals; Congo (1943) and Zanzibar (1948). The Irma Stern Museum was established in 1971 in the house in which she lived for almost four decades. On the 8 May 2000 one of her works sold at Sotheby's South Africa in Johannesburg for an all time record of 1.7 million rand.This record was soon broken, when, in March 2007 Stern's work was sold for an all-time high of 6.6 million rand. "The books in the library of the South African artist Irma Stern played a major role in her life. They were of great significance to her even beyond their intellectual content. They provide a clue to the artist's personality and her approach to life, and deeply influenced her artistic expression. She embellished many of her books with bookplates and covers of her own creation.............". Hard Cover. Book Condition: Near Fine. Binding: Brown Boards. Jacket: Near Fine

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