Studied
Derbyshire School of Art.
Summary Biography
Lived for some years in Australia and the USA; reputed to have designed
stained-glass windows for Tiffany's, NY; 1896: she came to SA; was married
to the cartoonist, Charles Penstone, who established the periodical 'The
Owl'; worked as cartoonist to 'The Owl' and the 'Cape Times' under the
pseudonym 'Scalpel'.
1902: founder-member of SASA; Council-member 1902-13; very active in Cape
Town art-circles; exhibited watercolours and works in gesso; after death
of Charles Penstone she married George Crosland Robinson; thereafter she
was frequently referred to as Penstone-Robinson. 1917: included in Roworth's
essay on 'SA Landscape Painting' in Studio publication 'Art of the British
Empire Overseas' - her name erroneously printed as 'E' Penstone-Robinson:
("…has long been one of our leading watercolourists")
She and Crosland Robinson had a small cottage in Fish Hoek and a studio
in St George's Street, Cape Town; she worked mainly at the cottage; many
paintings of peninsular farms and buildings.
Exhibitions
1902: First SASA Exhibition, Cape Town, et seq; one-man exhibitions in
Cape Town.
1910-1919: Showed regularly in Jhb.
1924: SA Art, Empire Exhibition, Wembly.
1957: 'Founders of Painting at the Cape since 1857', SA National Gallery,
Cape Town.
Public Collections
SA National Gallery, Cape Town
Albany Museum, Grahamstown
Africana Museum, Johannesburg
Constance Penstone was one of the small coterie of 'doers' who organized
art-activities in Cape Town during the earliest years of the century.
She was professionally employed as a cartoonist, painting watercolours
for her own satisfaction.
Between 1900 and 1910 she was referred to regularly in the Cape press
for her energetic movement in art-circles and for exhibitions of her work.
Her water-colours were criticized for their 'prettiness', but her works
in gesso, (few of which still exist), were commended: "Mrs Penstone
probably stands alone in SA, in a matter of successful results, and almost
alone as a worker in that method" - 'Cape Argus' 14 November 1904.
(Other artists who exhibited work in the gesso medium included Denis Santry
and Pickford Marriot of PE).
Later in her career Constance Penstone gave up cartooning and concentrated
on watercolour. Cape Farmyard is fairly typical of her subject matter
and style. The original bears out another early press comment - "she
is an optimist in colour". While not artistically inventive, her
visual accounts were competent and pleasant; her descriptive inclinations
led her to record many scenes of the Cape environment, particularly the
coastline. In 1905 she showed a series of paintings of buildings in Simonstown
at Darter's Gallery, Cape Town. Such works gain added interest today as
Africana.
(Late in 1982, when this edition of Art & Artists was already at
final proof stage, the author was approached by an Australian art historian
seeking information on a certain Constance ROTH, who was believed to have
worked in SA after leaving Australia in the 1890s. The researcher, Margaret
Maynard, had established that the Afric Museum, Johannesburg, possessed
lithographs by Constance Roth, but the museum was unable to provide any
data about the artist herself.
Aware that the SA artist, Constance PENSTONE, was at least twice married,
and armed with the above facts about her life, the author hazarded the
proposition that the Australian artist may perhaps have changed her surname
…And, suddenly, two independent research exercises fitted together,
to identify the mysterious local Constance Roth and to present a more
complete biographical profile of Constance Penstone:
The artist, born Jones in 1864 (SA records cite 1865), was married to
Felix Roth in 1884 and divorced from him in 1887. She lived in Sydney,
Australia from the mid-1880s until c1892. During that time, she was known
to move in the circle of leading Sydney artists. Although not represented
in Australian museums, she acquired some reputation as an illustrator.
When she departed from Australia, the country was going through a period
of economic depression. Little is yet known about her temporary residence
in the United States.)
Reference: Esmé Berman, Art and Artists of South Africa, An
Illustrated biographical dictionary and historical survey of painters,
sculptors and graphic artists since 1875; 1983 (260:261)
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Artist: CONSTANCE PENSTONE
Title: Grapes
Size: 40 x 60 cm
Media: Watercolour
Price: R 6 960 Framed |