Portrait Artist Cyril Coetzee
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Commissions

Cyril Coetzee has painted two commissioned portraits of Nelson Mandela – both now in his private collection – the first of which, done during Mandela’s presidential term, was used as the design for the international stamp commemorating Mandela’s 90th birthday.

His formal ‘sitters’ include well-known academics, legal professionals, business people, bankers and politicians, such as Graça Machel, Matthews Phosa, Colin Bundy, Anton Rupert, Conrad Strauss and George Bizos.

In addition to his work as a portraitist, Coetzee was commissioned in 1996 by the University of the Witwatersrand to paint a 28 square meter canvas for the William Cullen Library, an internationally renowned archive, for the 75th celebrations of the University, which was unveiled in 1999. A large format art book focusing on the painting was published, elaborating on the themes, the commissioning and related works entitled: “T’kama –Adamastor : Inventions of Africa in a South African Painting” ( Ivan Vladislavić, ed.).

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Curated Exhibitions, Books and Lectures by Cyril Coetzee

Curated Exhibitions, Books and Lectures by Cyril Coetzee
Coetzee has curated or part-curated a number of exhibitions for the Standard Bank Gallery including: “Water: The Delicate Thread of Life”, 2011, “Exact Imagination: 300 Years of Botanically Inspired Art in South Africa”, 2014 and “Air: Inspiration-Expiration”.
Harold Voigt - The Poetry of Sight - Cyril Coetzee
Coetzee has written a monograph on the work of Harold Voigt (“The Poetry of Sight”, 2006), offering an insight into the fascinating world of Voigt’s painterly laboratory, his visual vocabulary, and extraordinary craftmanship.
Buy It Here
The Commissioning Process - Cyril Coetzee
In 2007 Coetzee was invited to carry out three limited edition copper plate etchings to accompany Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist, which was published by Oak Tree Fine Press as a 1st chapter series to raise funds for AIDS charities. “They are a marvellous accompaniment to a novel that occupies an important place in South African literary history.” (Amazon.com)
Art history lecturer, Cyril Coetzee
Andrei Rublev – Holy Trinity Icon – 15th century – Tretyakov Gallery; Caspar David Friedrich – The Abbey in the Oak Wood – 1810 – Alte National Gallerie Berlin; Ilya Repin – Portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1887) – Tretyakov Gallery; Max Beckmann – Departure – 1932-1933 – Museum of Modern Art New York; Joseph Beuys – Artisten (Kaskade) – 1954 – Kaiser Wilhelm Museum Krefeld.
Apart from his period as an art history lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, Coetzee has continued to give lectures on a variety of art historical subjects, as well as on his own work at a number of venues internationally. He has a particular interest in Byzantine Icons, Russian portrait painting, Romanticism, Expressionism, Anthroposophical art and the work of Joseph Beuys:
  • Royal Ontario Museum Toronto, Canada.
  • Russian Museum, St. Peterburg (Russia tour)
  • Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (Russia tour)
  • Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (Russia tour)
  • Pushkin Museum, Moscow (Russia tour)
  • Impressionist Museum, Moscow (Russia tour)
  • Museum of Modern Art, Moscow (Russia tour)
  • Tobias School of Art Sussex, UK.
  • Goetheanum – Basel, Switzerland.
  • Electra Art Studio, Washington DC, USA.
  • Zeitz MOCAA Art Museum, Cape Town
  • Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa.
  • University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
  • University of Natal, Durban, South Africa.
  • Friends of the Bloemfontein Gallery, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
  • Witwatersrand Adult Education, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Decorative Arts Society of Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Highveld Forum, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg
  • Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein
  • Decorative Arts Society, Stellenbosch
  • University of Pretoria Fine Art School
  • Potchefstroom University, Potchefstroom
  • Greek Lyceum, Johannesburg
  • Port Elizabeth Technikon, Port Elizabeth
  • Athenaeum, Port Elizabeth
  • Rudolf Steiner Centre, Johannesburg
  • Michael Mount Waldorf School, Johannesburg
  • Sophia House, Cape Town
  • Theosophical Society, Johannesburg
  • War Museum, Johannesburg

In the Media

Education

Coetzee has a Master’s degree in Fine Art and a BA Honours degree in English (distinction) from Rhodes University. To further his research into colour theory he has also studied at the Tobias School of Art in Sussex, and at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.

Awards

Cyril Coetzee has received a number of awards for his work, such as the South African Inter-Art School Prize, the Helgaard Steyn Award and a Vita Art Award.