Artist Andrew Verster’s influence will live on
DURBAN artists have paid tribute to artist, designer, teacher, writer and critic Andrew Verster, who died on Sunday.
Born in Johannesburg in 1937, Verster obtained a national diploma in design from the Camberwell College of Art, London, and an art teacher’s diploma from Reading University.
He taught at art institutions in South Africa for a number of years before becoming a full-time artist.
With more than 50 solo exhibitions to his name, Verster also undertook numerous public and private commissions including paintings, sculptures, murals and tapestries. He was a painter, a writer of short stories, news articles and radio plays, and designed sets and costumes for operas.
Carol Brown, art and museum consultant at Curate.a.Space, and former director of the Durban Art Gallery, paid tribute to a friend and colleague.
“If one thinks of Durban, one can’t ignore the artistic presence of Andrew,” Brown said. “He got into the good side of the city – the tropical foliage, the heat, the plants and other cultures. He loved Indian culture and decoration, the sequins, the silks, the colour.
“At his retrospective exhibition in 2008, he said: ‘If I had to choose one label for myself, it would be painter. Working as a full-time artist for 25 years has meant that I have to be versatile and develop a lot of skills so that I could take on a variety of commissions. This does not mean I am skilled in the media I work in – such as tapestry, or carpet making or wood carving as I have done for the new Constitutional Court – rather that I collaborate with people who do have the skills. But I have to know enough of the possibilities of each in order to be able to design in them’.
“He designed opera and theatre costumes… worked with architects designing etched glass, stainless steel panels and public art commissions.
Verster started his career teaching at the Salisbury Island Indian University which became part of the University of Durban-Westville. He also lectured at the old Durban Technikon.
Its successor, the Durban University of Technology, paid glowing tribute to him this week. In 2009, it awarded him an honorary doctorate for his significant contribution to the arts.
“As a teacher he was vastly influential,” Brown said.
Notwithstanding the personal loss Verster felt at the death of his life partner Aidan Walsh in 2009, said Brown, Verster never lost his love of creating. “Creating was, after all, his life.” Verster served on many boards, such as the Durban Art Gallery advisory board and Grahamstown Festival visual arts board.
“Andrew influenced many and left an enormous legacy. He had high standards in everything he did and his influence will live on,” said Brown.
For sculptor Andries Botha, Verster was a mentor: “Andrew was always in my entire existence in Durban, a place from which you could measure yourself from. In many respects, the way he encouraged creativity, the way that he was professional and productive, and more importantly, always warm, approachable, kind of made the artistic process more human for all of us younger people,” says Botha.
Maria Soares of the Tamasa Gallery in Morningside, which has sold many pieces of his work, said it was a very sad moment for Durban. “I’ve known him for many years. He was a wonderful artist and a wonderful person.”
Verster’s funeral will take place at St Thomas Church, Berea, on February 25 at 3.30pm, followed by a wake at St Clements in Musgrave Road at 4.30pm. All are welcome.