François Krige, New Group
François Krige was born in July 1913, in Uniondale in the Klein Karoo, South Africa. He was the fourth of six children; his brother Uys was a celebrated writer. He studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, in 1927. He exhibited three works in the annual South African exhibition in 1933, before leaving for Europe in 1934 to further his studies under Daniel Vázquez Díaz at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, in 1935. Thereafter he enrolled on an etching course at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts at the Royal Academy, Antwerp.
He then returned to South Africa, settling in Johannesburg. Some of his works were selected for the Empire Exhibition – held in Johannesburg that year – an exhibition held once every four years, always in a different city of the British colonial empire. He also became a member of The New Group, founded in 1937, which had a significant impact on the South African art scene.
In 1941 Krige became an official Wartime Artist, together with South African artists Neville Lewis and Geoffrey Long. He followed the war where South Africans were involved; travelling to Libya, Egypt, Syria and Italy. After the war in 1949 he received the Gold Medal from the ‘South African Academy for Science and Art’ – an honour which most artists receive much later in their careers. Krige made study trips to Lesotho, around the Cape Peninsula and up the West Coast, whilst he remained a member of, and exhibited with, the New Group until 1954, but was rarely involved in its activities - choosing to maintain a level of privacy in his life and work. He also made study trips to Botswana and Namibia, living amongst and sketching the Bushmen. Apart from his war work, his focus remained on traditional categories such as portraiture, still-life and landscape. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Krige revisited his subject matter of a number of his earlier sketches and memories of the war years.
Krige generally chose to avoid exhibitions and involvement in groups, and chose Montagu for its quiet and largely isolated atmosphere, as well as the surrounding dramatic landscape which had always fascinated him. According Breyten Breytenbach, “It is often said that Françoise Krige was a retiring person, discreet and unostentatious. Indeed, if we look at how seldom he exhibited and how reluctantly he sold many of his works, it is clear that he shunned the public role or posture.” Despite his reluctance to participate in exhibitions, Krige showed some of his work at the Association of Arts in both Cape Town and Pretoria. His work formed part of a travelling exhibition of graphic art around West Germany in 1978 and 1979. A number of his war works were shown at the South African National Museum of Military History in 1980. Krige maintained a similar style of painting throughout his life, occasionally experimenting but always returning to the Post-Impressionist technique and conventions he had adopted in the early stages of his career. According to Fox (2000:130), “It is Krige’s serene communion with his subject, his reverence for it, that touches us, as well as his humanism, which emanates from the work”. These enduring qualities, along with his superb draughtsmanship, make Krige a respected figure in the South African art world.
In 1990 Krige took his last trip to Europe with his wife, visiting a Van Gogh retrospective in Amsterdam and galleries in London, but they decided to end the trip early due to his dwindling health. He continued to paint until 1993. In the last year of his life a television programme was made about him and a book of his drawings was published. Krige passed away on 19 February 1994, after a painful battle with cancer.
He then returned to South Africa, settling in Johannesburg. Some of his works were selected for the Empire Exhibition – held in Johannesburg that year – an exhibition held once every four years, always in a different city of the British colonial empire. He also became a member of The New Group, founded in 1937, which had a significant impact on the South African art scene.
In 1941 Krige became an official Wartime Artist, together with South African artists Neville Lewis and Geoffrey Long. He followed the war where South Africans were involved; travelling to Libya, Egypt, Syria and Italy. After the war in 1949 he received the Gold Medal from the ‘South African Academy for Science and Art’ – an honour which most artists receive much later in their careers. Krige made study trips to Lesotho, around the Cape Peninsula and up the West Coast, whilst he remained a member of, and exhibited with, the New Group until 1954, but was rarely involved in its activities - choosing to maintain a level of privacy in his life and work. He also made study trips to Botswana and Namibia, living amongst and sketching the Bushmen. Apart from his war work, his focus remained on traditional categories such as portraiture, still-life and landscape. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Krige revisited his subject matter of a number of his earlier sketches and memories of the war years.
Krige generally chose to avoid exhibitions and involvement in groups, and chose Montagu for its quiet and largely isolated atmosphere, as well as the surrounding dramatic landscape which had always fascinated him. According Breyten Breytenbach, “It is often said that Françoise Krige was a retiring person, discreet and unostentatious. Indeed, if we look at how seldom he exhibited and how reluctantly he sold many of his works, it is clear that he shunned the public role or posture.” Despite his reluctance to participate in exhibitions, Krige showed some of his work at the Association of Arts in both Cape Town and Pretoria. His work formed part of a travelling exhibition of graphic art around West Germany in 1978 and 1979. A number of his war works were shown at the South African National Museum of Military History in 1980. Krige maintained a similar style of painting throughout his life, occasionally experimenting but always returning to the Post-Impressionist technique and conventions he had adopted in the early stages of his career. According to Fox (2000:130), “It is Krige’s serene communion with his subject, his reverence for it, that touches us, as well as his humanism, which emanates from the work”. These enduring qualities, along with his superb draughtsmanship, make Krige a respected figure in the South African art world.
In 1990 Krige took his last trip to Europe with his wife, visiting a Van Gogh retrospective in Amsterdam and galleries in London, but they decided to end the trip early due to his dwindling health. He continued to paint until 1993. In the last year of his life a television programme was made about him and a book of his drawings was published. Krige passed away on 19 February 1994, after a painful battle with cancer.