Cecil Higgs (28 June 1898,

Thaba Nchu Thaba 'Nchu is a town in Free State, South Africa, 63 km east of Bloemfontein and 17 km east of Botshabelo. The population is largely made up of Tswana and Sotho people. The town was settled in December 1833 and officially established ...

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

- 16 June 1986,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

) was a South African artist. She was the third child and second girl of the five children of Clement Higgs and his wife Florence. In 1912, Higgs's father died at the age of 50. In 1916, Higgs became a boarder at the Wesleyan Girls' High School (now Kingswood College) in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. Her oldest brother, Clement jr., was killed in 1916 in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Higgs briefly enrolled in the Grahamstown School of Art in 1918, however in 1920 she sailed to England and stayed abroad for 13 years. She trained in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

at the Byam Shaw School of Art, at Goldsmiths' College and, from 1926, at the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

. Higgs was called back to South Africa, however, due to the illness of her mother, who died in 1934. Higgs held her first solo exhibition in the Domestic Science hall of Stellenbosch University in 1935, meeting the painter Wolf Kibel and the sculptor

Lippy Lipshitz Israel-Isaac Lipshitz, known as Lippy Lipshitz (8 May 1903 – 17 May 1980) was a South African sculptor, painter and printmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important South African sculptors, along with Moses Kottler and Anton van Wou ...

. In 1938, she held a joint exhibition with Rene Graetz, Maggie Laubser and

. In 1938 she returned to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, however she left due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Higgs joined the

New Group The New Group was a group of young South African artists who, starting in 1937, began to question and oppose the conservatism of the South African Society of Artists. Its founding chairperson was Gregoire Boonzaier; other founding members were Lip ...

which was revolting against tradition forms of art. In 1939, Higgs began a lifelong friendship with English painter John Dronsfield. In 1953, she held her only solo exhibition in the

. Higgs eventually settled in

Sea Point Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is one of Cape Town's most affluent and densely populated suburbs, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). Moving from ...

, however the influence of the sea in her paintings led to her label as a marine painter. In 1964, she built a house in Onrust. Higgs was eventually diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

, and in 1984 she moved to Protea Park Nursing Home, where she died on 16 June 1986. In 1964, Higgs was awarded the gold medal of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie van Wetenskap en Kuns.

References

Sources

* Bertram, Dr. Dieter, ''Cecil Higgs Close Up'' * Fransen, Hans, ''Three Centuries of South African Art'' * Holloway, Victor, ''Cecil Higgs'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Higgs, Cecil 1898 births 1986 deaths 20th-century South African women artists Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Deaths from dementia in South Africa Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Alumni of the Byam Shaw School of Art Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools