The Racial Paradox of South African Modern Art

Tuesday, February 16, 2021 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM EST

LaNitra Berger, faculty member in the Department of History and Art History and senior director of Mason's Office of Fellowships in the Office of Undergraduate Education, will discuss her recently published work, Irma Stern and the Racial Paradox of South African Modern Art: Audacities of Color, in which she considers one of South Africa’s most enigmatic modern figures.

Internationally-recognized artist Irma Stern held conservative political positions on race even as her subjects openly challenged racism and later the apartheid regime. Using paintings, archival research, and new interviews, Berger's book explores how Stern became South Africa's most prolific painter of Black, Jewish, and Colored (mixed-race) life while maintaining controversial positions on race.

This will be a Zoom presentation; please join via this link:

https://gmu.zoom.us/j/96100556986?pwd=ZUtLcmdaMEMyOHgrWVZtZHF0TWYzZz09#success