Louis Khehla Maqhubela (b.1939)

He was born in Durban, South Africa and studied with Cecil Skotnes and Sydney Komalo at the Polly Street Centre, Johannesburg. After leaving South Africa, he settled in London in 1976, where he undertook further studies at Goldsmiths College and the Slade School of Art.

Painting on canvas, oil or gouache on paper, "from early figurative scenes of township life in Johannesburg, Maqhubela evolved a more abstract mode of painting, becoming one of the pioneers of modern art in South Africa. His work is characterised by a specific language of forms which float or move in a radiant, atmospheric space. Sometimes a graphic element of thin black lines appears describing animals or huma...