Clare Menck - Woman painting women
The title of the large work Woman contemplating her thirties / The yellow teapot (seen behind the artist in her portrait) summarises the contemplative exploration of mood and female psychology in this body of work consisting entirely of female nudes. ‘In this particular work, the warm glow of the startling red interior seen to the left in the doorway contrasts strikingly with the more sober greys and greens of the interior occupied by the nude. Significantly, she stands next to the old-fashioned painted kitchen dresser in the recess created by the corner of the room (and at the edge of the composition)
and covered largely by the shadow falling from the cupboard. Her entire attitude is one of wistfulness and pensiveness, perhaps regret, if that is not too strong an emotion, and she clearly occupies a different space, yet well aware of the warmth of the glowing interior next door and the erotic content hereby suggested’.
Menck’s series of swimmers originated from a visit by the artist to the Florisbad archeological precinct outside Bloemfontein. This is the place where the world-famous Florisbad Man (skull) was discovered in the 1930s, an important step in the worldwide race to figure out the evolutionary jigsawpuzzle of the origins of humankind. The actual site was subsequently turned into an interior swimming pool on account of the naturally warm spring well at its source and was last used as a holiday resort and spa in the 1970s.
The whole place has the uncanny derelict feel of a typical South African holiday resort (“Whites Only”) from that time. It has been abandoned and become obsolete – completely unchanged to date bar the activities of a few lone archeologists continuing important research – as if the clock was stopped. Swimming in the exact place where the famous head was found, with the warm mineral water bubbling up from the natural fountains in the bed of sand below, was a particularly poignant experience that moved Menck to encapsulate it in this series of self-portraits (one including the artist’s daughter). The personal tradition of the artist to continually paint selfportraits throughout her life, gives these works a special place in Menck’s output.
