ZANZIBAR

One of the ordinary edition limited to 350 unnumbered copies

104 pages, full page and other illustrations throughout, grey cloth with illustrated paper title label on upper cover, a very good copy.

‘Stern visited in Zanzibar in 1939 and 1945. The island offered her access to a way of life she had glimpsed in her contact with the Cape Malays. In 1942, seemingly oblivious of the War, she ventured into central Africa. ….In Zanzibar Arabs and the Mangbetu and Watussi of the Congo Stern found the models she sought; she responded to the colour and exoticism of these cultures although she saw the people in simplistic terms and was guilty of fatuous and patronizing statements about their life styles. It is as if she was unable to see life in any terms other than the visual.’

‘Notwithstanding her verbal difficulties, Stern could produce vivid word pictures and, writing as she would paint, she created Congo (1943) and Zanzibar (1948) using energetic sentences pulsing with her romantic response to Africa.’ Arnold (Marion) Irma Stern: A Feast for the Eye, (Fernwood Press, 1995) pages 13 &21.