The Cape Gallery Logo
on show the gallery artists email us
where to find us on exhibition Payment details
RUTH SQUIBB
1928, born in United Kingdom
  Portfolio

"I just see something that to my eye is beautiful and I try to pass it on. I paint to please myself!"

Ruth Squibb was born in Portsmouth and spent her childhood in Glasgow. Her father worked in the Admiralty and was posted to Hong Kong before WW2. From there the family moved to South Africa where she completed her education in Johannesburg. Her earliest memories are of family visits to Portsmouth, walks in the dockyards and Sundays spent with her father visiting the National Art Gallery in London. Today she lives and works in the Cape. Ruth feels that her approach to oil painting is rooted in her English sensibility. Pragmatic and direct she paints weathered and seasoned land, harbour and city scenes with no attempt to romanticize the content.

Respected by collectors and artists alike for the integrity of her work, she is known as a "Painter of Light", favourite subject of the impressionist painters. The remote diffuse winter light shed upon the steep streets and serried facades of the Bo-kaap terrace houses, mist veiling and revealing details of the scene in an ambient luminosity. The sea, reflecting the hulls of the boats in mobile motes of light. The midday heat draining the colour from the minarets, etching the palms across cloudless blue skies. The reflected light of a cloudy day saturates the landscape in rich tones of colour.

The 19th Century impressionists sought to reveal their world with a logical objectivity based on the direct observation of he subject, sketching and painting 'en plein air'. Squibb completes preliminary sketches and photographs the chosen subject noting the mood colour and compositional details. The final work is completed in the studio. This often imbues her land, sea and cityscapes with a sense of nostalgia or 'déjà vu' as the viewer revisits the site at a significant time.

Recently the artist has concentrated more upon complex sculpture in fondue cement. Women sit on a bench; children caper or sit listening to a story being read. The interrelationship between the figures is complex and harmonious.

RUTH SQUIBB
View larger image
Artist: RUTH SQUIBB
Title: Untitled Landscape
Size: 92 x 120 cm
Media: Oil
Price on request
On Show I Where to find us I The Gallery I On Exhibition I ArtistsI Payment details
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Gallery hours: Mon to Fri: 9h30 to 17h00, Sat: 10h00 to 14h00
American express, Mastercard, Visa and Diner cards are accepted.
Reliable arrangements can be made to freight purchases to foreign destinations.

60 CHURCH STREET CAPE TOWN 8001, TEL: +27 21 4235309, FAX: +27 21 4249063

copyright © 2011. The Cape Gallery. All rights reserved