Edward Roworth (1880 in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

– 1964 Somerset West) was a South African artist.

Background

He studied under Tom Wostyn at Heaton, briefly under Sir

Hubert Herkomer Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered fo ...

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It had a population of 25,328 in the 2011 census, rising to 28,416 in the 2021 census, an increase of 12.19%. This makes Bushey the second most populated town ...

, and finally under

Henry Tonks Henry Tonks, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS (9 April 1862 – 8 January 1937) was a British surgeon and later draughtsman and painter of figure subjects, chiefly interiors, and a Caricature, caricaturist. He became an influentia ...

at the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. He spent some time in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

studying the art of

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

. He preferred painting the landscapes of the

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

and

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

, often depicting farmhouses. He was adept at producing formal portraits, working happily in oils or pastel. In his heyday Roworth greatly influenced the South African art scene, endorsing a conservative approach. Edward Roworth arrived in South Africa with British forces during the

Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

. With the war over he decided to stay and settled in Cape Town, where he set up a teaching studio. In 1908 he was elected President of the ''South African Society of Artists'', doing so again in 1918–20 and 1933–36. In 1938, he was appointed to the chair of the

Michaelis School of Fine Art The Michaelis School of Fine Art is a public university, public tertiary education, tertiary art school in the Cape Town suburb of Gardens, Cape Town, Gardens. It was founded in 1925 and is named after its benefactor, Max Michaelis. It is the Fin ...

in Cape Town and held the position until 1953. From 1941 until 1948 he was the director of the

South African National Gallery The Iziko South African National Gallery is the national art gallery of South Africa located in Cape Town. It became part of the Iziko collection of museums – as managed by the Department of Arts and Culture – in 2001. It then became an agenc ...

. In 1909 Roworth was commissioned to produce a painting of the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

, a 5m x 6m work depicting the 33 men who were architects of the Union. This work was completed in 1911 whereupon it was displayed in

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

, later being installed in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. Roworth's next task was painting, what were possibly the first frescoes in South Africa, in St Phillips Church in Cape Town. Four paintings by Edward Roworth were burned by demonstrators during the

Rhodes Must Fall Rhodes Must Fall was a protest Social movement, movement that began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that commemorates Cecil Rhodes. The campaign for the statue's removal received glob ...

demonstrations at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

in February 2016 (portraits of Mrs Barnard-Fuller, Doris Spencer Emmet, Anna Maria Tugwell and

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

). Two other paintings have been removed from UCT in 2016 (portraits of Thomas Benjamin Davie and Theo le Roux); one painting (Portrait of Prof William Ritchie) is missing.Dossier Art under threat at University of Cape Town - '' South African Art Times'', 2017
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roworth, Edward 1880 births 1964 deaths 20th-century South African painters 20th-century South African male artists South African male painters British emigrants to the Cape Colony