Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1929 Johannesburg, South Africa

Died: 2000 Tulbagh, Western Cape, South Africa

Year of Migration to the UK: 1951

Biography

Assemblage and Neo-Baroque artist Christo Coetzee was born on 24 March 1929 at 54 Biccard Street, Turfontein, Johannesburg in South Africa to Josef Adriaan Coetzee and Francina Sofia Kruger. While from a family of farmers, Coetzee attributed his artistic talents to his father and his business acumen to his mother. His father died when he was ten, after which he was brought up by his two sisters, Gertruida and Johanna. An enthusiastic art student at school, Coetzee went on to study Fine Art at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg between 1946 and 1950, where his fellow students included Larry Scully, Esmé Berman and Cecil Skotnes, among others. Coetzee was also part of the so-called Wits Group, which has since become notable for its members’ careers rather than for any collectivised aesthetic philosophy. While at university, Coetzee designed sets and costumes for drama productions, and he began a relationship with one of his tutors, Marjorie Long. Graduating in 1951, Coetzee held his first solo exhibition in January of that year at ID Booksellers in Cape Town, followed by successfully winning a Wits scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art, London under Professor William Coldstream.

Having lived and studied in London for a year, Coetzee married Long in Hammersmith in 1952, after which they honeymooned in Benidorm, Spain for several months. Long then returned to Johannesburg, while Coetzee spent another six months in London before joining his wife at the beginning of 1953. Unable to fine suitable employment in South Africa, he returned to London again on 6 November, signalling the breakdown of his marriage. Coetzee then took up an administrative position at a tobacco company, though this was creatively unsatisfying. He then enquired at Gimpel Fils art gallery (established by the émigré sons of celebrated Parisian art dealer, René Gimpel), where brothers Peter and Ernest Gimpel recommended his taking a position at Robert Savage’s framing business. Successfully applying, this role was more rewarding for the struggling artist. While working for Savage, Coetzee took one of his paintings to fellow painter, Gillian Ayres, at the Artists’ International Association (AIA, a left-leaning organisation), who in turn showed it to photographer and stylist Anthony Denney. The painting was bought immediately by Denney for £12, and he subsequently invited Coetzee to dinner at his home at 30 St Peter’s Square, Hammersmith, where the painting was hung next to a work by Antoni Clavé. Marking the beginning of a lifelong friendship, Coetzee lodged at Denney’s home in 1954, paying his rent with paintings. In addition to offering an affordable residence, Denney was also responsible for Coetzee’s first solo exhibition in London (and, indeed, the first outside South Africa), held at German émigré Erica Brausen’s Hanover Gallery in March 1955. He showed 51 portraits and still-life paintings; Denney purchased Pompeian Lobster for £100, and many of his smaller paintings were sold at £50 each. Other buyers included socialites Sandy and Bunny Roger, and cookery writer Elizabeth David. In the same year Coetzee showed with the AIA, from which exhibition the Government Art Collection acquired his Still Life (1954).

Coetzee left London for Italy in 1956, receiving a bursary from the Italian government, through mediation of the British Council, for a four-month sojourn. This trip was followed by time spent in Paris between 1956 and 1959, owing to the French tachist painter, Georges Mathieu, seeing Coetzee’s work at Denney’s London home and, subsequently, inviting him to Galerie Rive Droite. Further opportunities opened up for Coetzee in Japan between 1959 and 1960 and in Paris again between 1961 and 1965. After moving to Finestrat, Spain in 1965 and marrying his second wife, Ferrie Binge, there in 1967, Coetzee divided his time between Spain and South Africa for the rest of his life. While Coetzee never lived in London again, his time there and his friendship with Denney provided an important catalyst for artistic development and opportunity elsewhere. Christo Coetzee died on 12 November 2000 in Tulbagh, South Africa. His studio there was opened as the Christo Coetzee House Museum and Gallery in August 2011. In the UK public domain his Still Life painting from 1954 is held by the Government Art Collection and his photographic portrait by Howard Coster is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Related books

Michael Stevenson and Deon Viljoen, Christo Coetzee: Paintings from London and Paris 1954-1964 (Cape Town: Fernwood Press, 2001)
Muller Ballot, Christo Coetzee (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1999)
Esmé Berman, Art and Artists of South Africa (Cape Town: A A Balkema, 1982), p. 508
Stephen Gray, 'Christo Coetzee and the Avant-Garde', Lantern, Vol. 20, No. 4, 1971, pp. 26-35
William Chapin Seitz, The Art of Assemblage (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1961)

Public collections

Government Art Collection

Related organisations

Artists International Association (exhibitor)
Slade School of Fine Art (student) (student)
Wits Group (member) (member)

Selected exhibitions

Retrospective Exhibition, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa (1983)
Christo Coetzee, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa (1965-1966)
Coetzee, Galerie Stadler, Paris (1961)
The Art of Assemblage, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1961)
Christo Coetzee, Hanover Gallery, London (1955)
Artists International Association, London (1954)
Christo Coetzee, ID Booksellers, Cape Town (1951)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Christo Coetzee]