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Historical Artist - Joyce Ordbrown (1894 - 1974)
Joyce Ordbrown was born in Port Shepstone, South Africa 1894 -
1974
Art Education
1909-11: Westminster and Lambeth Art Schools, London, under Walter Sickert.
1914: Art Teachers' Diploma, Cape Town Art School, under CS Groves
Short Artist Biography
1898: Joyce Ordbrown went with parents to Johannesburg; no sooner settled there than her mother
was forced to flee with her on outbreak of Anglo-Boer War; they were shipped from Natal to her
mother's family in England.
1902: Joyce Ordbrown returned to Johannesburg; educated at Cleveland Girls School (later
Johannesburg Girls' High School); one of the first students at art-classes conducted in the old
Market House, Market Square.
1909-11: Joyce Ordbrown studied in England. Returned to Johannesburg, opened studio, taught at
the first Johannesburg Art School.
1913: committee member Johannesburg Art School Club; many illustrations for local newspapers.
1916: Joyce Ordbrown founder and secretary, Johannesburg Sketch Club; friendly with Pieter
Wenning, JH Amshewitz and Emily Fern.
1918: Joyce Ordbrown married (Rutherford), went to live in Zululand; there studied Bantu tribes
and language.
1926: returned to Johannesburg; illustrated several school text-books (as J Rutherford),
newspapers and periodicals.
1929: Joyce Ordbrown published `Johannesburg Street Scenes'; divorce made her eligible for a
Government teaching post at the Johannesburg Art School, under Austin Winter-Moore; when the
latter was appointed Professor of Fine Arts at Rhodes Univ, she joined him on the staff; in
Grahamstown married Harley Grellier, the local magistrate and the sculptor who had designed the
Dick King statue in Durban; numerous portraits, including Mayor of Grahamstown; many excursions
to study Fingo and Xhosa tribes.
1935: Joyce Ordbrown retired with husband to Cape Town, settled in old homestead of Vredenburg;
numerous mural commissions, including offices of PM and Ministers of Finance and Defence.
1939: Joyce Ordbrown member of New Group. Following the death of her husband in 1943, she moved
to Salisbury, started an art-group; represented in Rhodesian section of Rhodes Centenary
Exhibition 1953; returned after five years and settled in Stellenbosch.
1968: at age of 72, illustrated `Tales from the Kraals' by M Murgatroyd
Art Exhibitions
1913-: one-man and joint art exhibitions in Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Cape Town,
Salisbury.
1927: inaugural exhibition, South African Institute.
1928--34: South African Academy exhibitions.
1939-: New Group art exhibitions.
Public Art Collections
Pretoria Art Museum; Africana Museum Johannesburg
Source
Berman, E. 1994. Art & Artists of South Africa . Southern Book Publishers.
Contemporary South African Artists
Art Galleries in South Africa
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