STRATE SONDER PAD (Signed by the artist)

Hand produced book which has handwritten poetry in ink accompanied by 12 tipped in Claerhout graphics. Pages 3 and 29 are original drawings - all 30 pages are hand numbered, with a stamp on the back paste down end paper - Roman Catholic Mission TweeSpruit, a very good copy in a slightly worn dust jacket, which has been taped onto the cloth covers, with tape marks on the back cover, a good copy.

Signed by the artist on the front paste down end paper.

Loosely inserted is a card signed by him as well as a folded typescript copy of the poems in the book.

Father Frans Claerhout, acclaimed artist, priest and humanitarian was born on 15 February 1919 in Pittem, western Belgium. After completing his studies, he immigrated to South Africa in 1946 as a Catholic missionary. He was initially posted to the Orange Free State, where he worked among the black people living in and around Bloemfontein. He served primarily in Bloemfontein, Thabanchu and his beloved Tweespruit mission station.

Although Claerhout did not receive formal instruction in painting, his charming style appealed to art lovers and investors alike and he held his first solo exhibition in Johannesburg in 1961.

His artworks - characterised by their warm colours, thick impasto paint, exaggerated forms, humour and compassion - were exhibited widely in South Africa, as well as in Belgium, Canada, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. His subject matter consisted of people and animals that he encountered in his daily life. His donkey depictions are particularly well known. He primarily worked with oil paints on canvas or rough surfaces, but he also experimented widely with other media e.g. modeling in clay and wood-carving, wall-paintings, monotypes and linocuts, stained glass set in concrete windows and a prolific stream of drawings in charcoal, pen-and-ink or crayon.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/sa-artist-father-frans-claerhout-born