Maggie Laubser, SA painter and winner of several awards, dies

Born on 14 April 1886 in a wheat farm called bloublommetjieskloof  in the district of Malmesbury in the Cape Colony, Maria Magdalena Laubster was a painter and printmaker. Her expressionistic work was initially shunned upon by critics, but has since gained wide acceptance. Laubster studied art in Cape Town for two months under Edward Roworth and later in London at the Slade School. She also trained under Schmidt-Rottluff, a successful German artist in Berlin, Germany. She was elected to the South African Society of Artists (SASA) in recognition of her talent. Laubster and Irma Stern are two of the most prolific woman painters in South Africa. They both introduced expressionism to South Africa. Laubster was also a singer and had initially pursued singing.  However her mother’s lack of confidence in her voice discouraged her from pursuing singing as a career. Laubster died on 17 May 1973