Arab Priest

Arab Priest achieved the record as the most expensive South African painting sold at auction: it fetched over £3 million (R39 million) in 2011. It was bought by the Qatar Museum which has loaned it to the Javett Centre for this exhibition. Stern’s fascination with Muslim culture extended from exposure to it in Cape Town, to immersion in it on her Zanzibar trip. Many works from her travels reflect this fascination, which now risks being seen as an example of ‘ORIENTALISM’ (the exoticising of eastern subject matter by western artists).

Indeed, the work is destined for the planned Orientalist Museum in Doha as an example of a work of art representing a Muslim subject by a major white South African artist. Apart from this critical consideration, the work itself is an excellent example of Stern’s ability with EXPRESSIONIST brushwork and colour palette in her oil painting. The cool whites and subtle shadings of the imam’s face, headdress and robes evoke not only his personality and the immediate context of the painting, but the rhythm of a way of life as Stern imagined it.

Artwork courtesy of Qatar Museums.