Stanley Faraday Pinker
(1924 – 2012)
“My aim is to communicate with everybody, not selectively. I feel that art, literature, music, and painting provide spiritual support. They should move the spirit and make us aware, and in that way I intend my paintings to make statements… I believe that art is one of the major optimisms, it is a life-support system, an affirmation of life.” – Stanley Pinker.
Stanley Pinker was born in Windhoek, Namibia (then South West Africa) in 1924. Although he moved from there when he was merely six years old, the haunting landscapes which he encountered there would remain in his memory for many years to come. His initial art training was at the Continental Art School in Cape Town, between 1947 and 1950, under the supervision of Maurice van Essche. Originally he had enrolled to study graphic design, but with his first contact with the fine arts, soon left his chosen commercial arts.
In 1954 he left South Africa to study lithography at Hammersmith School of Art in London, where he was trained by Alistair Grant. Pinker briefly interrupted his time in Europe to return to South Africa for his first solo exhibition, but felt a strong need to return to Europe to be further stimulated by his encounters there. For the next ten years, both London and Nice were considered home.
In 1964, Pinker returned to South Africa where he settled in Cape Town and joined the newly-established Cape Town Art Centre as a teacher. At this time, the SA Association of Arts Gallery had closed for renovations, and left Cape Town without a gallery for exhibitions. This encouraged Pinker, along with his contemporaries established the Artists’ Gallery in 1965 which would then provide exhibition space for the artists of Cape Town. The Artists’ Gallery offered a platform for Pinker, as well as other artists to exhibit their work, however, this did not hold financial security for the artist and he tried his hand at various jobs, from illustrating magazines to offering private art classes.
Pinker was offered a temporary teaching post in 1969 at the Michaelis School of Art by his former tutor Maurice van Essche. Admittedly, he would rather have been producing art, but in retrospect the opportunity he was offered led him on an ongoing journey of study which benefited his own work tremendously. Gradually, through promotion, Pinker was appointed in a full-time position at Michaelis School of Art where he taught until 1986.
Pinker’s work is strongly influenced by the principles of the European movements with which he came into contact with, such as Cubism which has instilled in him a respect for the flatness of the canvas and a structured use of form and colour. He employs many Cubist devises in his works and combines these formal elements with his own personal symbols. Although he maintains a loyalty to figurative imagery, Pinker intends to make more profound and enigmatic observations about experiences that can be conveyed in a realistic description of natural appearances. Thus, in his art, he attempts to create a new dimension within his canvases through the distortion of space and recomposition of the elements which are observable in reality, within this new environment.
1924
Born in Windhoek, Namibia (South West Africa)
1930
Moved to South Africa
1947 – 1950
Studied at the Continental School of Art, Cape Town
1952
Two of his works reproduced in an article on South African art by Walter Battiss, published in ‘The Studio’
Left for London to gain further experience
1954-56
Studied Lithography at Hammersmith School of Art, London
1954
Visited South African and held his first solo exhibition
Returned to Europe, lived mainly in London and Nice for the next 10 years
1964
Returned to Cape Town
Joined the Cape Town Art Centre as a teacher
1966
Awarded Second Prize for Painting on ‘Artists of Fame & Promise’ Competition
1969
Appointed lecturer at Michaelis School, Cape Town
1976
Worked in Paris for 3 months with an exhibition in Cape Town on his return
1947 – 1950
Continental School of Art, Cape Town, under Maurice van Essche
1954 – 1956
Lithography at the Hammersmith School of Art, London, under Alistair Grant
1949
Continental School of Art exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (January)
1952
International Art Club exhibition, SA Association of Arts Cape Town (February)
Van Riebeek Festival, Cape Town
1954
New Group Graphic exhibition, HAUM Gallery, Cape Town (May)
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Art, Cape Town (May)
1955
Hampstead Arts Festival, London
Daily Express Young Artists’ Exhibition, New Burlington Galleries, London
1958
St Pancras Arts Festival, London
Solo Exhibition, Fontainebleau Gallery, Northumberland Avenue, London
1959
Solo Exhibition (drawings and watercolours), High Hill Gallery, Hampstead, London
St Pancras Arts Festival, London
Group Exhibition, The Partisan, London
1960
Private Exhibition of Graphic Art, Michael Berger’s Home, London
World without War, Suffolk Gallery, London
1961
Sixteen Painters, AIA Gallery, Leicester Square, London
Arnold Wesker’s Resolution 42 Exhibition, London
St Pancras Arts Festival, London
AIA Summer Exhibition, Leicester Square, London
1962
First Group Exhibition: Four Painters and a Sculptor, exhibition tour starting at South London Gallery and continuing to other major cities in England
Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Dublin
1964
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (January)
Group Show, SA Association of Arts
Cape Salon, SA Association of Arts
Graphic Exhibition, Gallery Shear, Cape Town
1965
Contrasts (joint exhibition with Helmut Starcke), SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (January)
São Paulo Biennale
Mixed Graphic Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town
1966
Solo Exhibition, Artists’ Gallery, Cape Town (July)
Artists of Fame and Promise, Adler Fielding Galleries, Johannesburg
SA Breweries Exhibition, SA National Gallery, Cape Town
SA Art of the 20th Century, University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery, Stellenbosch
1967
Artists’ Gallery, Cape Town
1968
SA Breweries Biennale, SA National Gallery, Cape Town
Solo Exhibition, Artists’ Gallery, Cape Town (April)
1969
Picture-Poems, Artists’ Gallery, Cape Town
Studies from the Nude, Artists’ Gallery, Cape Town
1970
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Johannesburg (September)
Solo Exhibition, Gallery International, Cape Town (November)
Cape Art, National Museum, Bloemfontein
Inaugural exhibition, Bulawayo Art Gallery, Rhodesia
1971
Solo Exhibition, Gallery International, Cape Town (October)
São Paulo Biennale
1972
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (September)
1974
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Art, Cape Town (July)
Contemporary South African Art, National Gallery of Greece, Athens
50 Years: Michaelis School of Fine Art, SA National Gallery, Cape Town
1975
Cape Art, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town
1976
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (May)
Joint Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (August)
Solo Exhibition, Gallery International, Cape Town
1977
Solo Exhibition, University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery, Stellenbosch (catalogue)(June)
Perth Festival, Australia
1978
Visies/Visions, University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery, Stellenbosch
1979
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (August)
Cape Town Biennale, SA National Gallery, Cape Town
1980
Sanlam Collection, Cape Town
1982
Under Glass, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town
1983
Retrospective, King George VI Gallery, Port Elizabeth (May), and SA National Gallery, Cape Town
1984
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (May)
1985
2nd Triennial, SA National Gallery, Cape Town (September)
1990
Solo Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (August)
1992
Joint Exhibition, SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (October)
2000
Solo Exhibition (eine kleine introspective), SA Association of Arts, Cape Town (August)
2004
Group Exhibition (with Peter Clarke and Hylton Nel), Michael Stevenson, Cape Town (December)
Public Collections – South Africa
- Rembrandt Art Foundation collection
Corporate Collections – South Africa
- BMD Collection, Cape Town
- Chase Manhattan Bank Collection
- Sanlam Collection
- Capricorn Holdings Collection
- Spier collection, Stellenbosch
Galleries & Museums
- South African National Gallery, Cape Town
- Johannesburg Art Gallery
- Pretoria Art Museum
- Ann Bryant Gallery, East London
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum Collection, Port Elizabeth
- Tatham Art Gallery collection, Pietermaritzburg
- Oliewenhuis Art Museum collection, Bloemfontein
Universities
- Johannes Stegmann Gallery, University of the Free State collection, Bloemfontein
- University of Pretoria collection
Private Collections
- London
- New Zealand
- South Africa
1985
Rembrandt Gold Medal, Cape Town Triennial
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Composition
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Nude Under a Bridge
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