Museum Saturday Rembrandt van Rijn film screening

The Rembrandt van Rijn Cigarette’s, through the late 1960s up until the 80s, was a well-known & popular advertised brand in magazines, on the air and in cinemas. Named after the Dutch master Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 – 1669) the cigarettes were tagged with the slogan “the masterpiece in cigarette’s” and were represented in visual media accompanied by various reproductions of famous van Rijn artworks.

With the enhancement of “the masterpiece in cigarette’s” a marketing campaign was launched locally to introduce some of the leading South African artists at the time to the public. Each segment on the artist is about 3minutes and hold key information. -The films start with an introduction to the artist, a summary of their work and pieces now part of the Rupert Art Foundation collection. They were all filmed in the artists studio or home – rare and treasured footage one doesn’t get to see everyday.

For the first time the complete collection of Rembrandt van Rijn cigarette’s artists documentaries will be screened to the public. Over 25 artists are represented, inclusive of Irma Stern, Maggie Laubser, Cecil Higgs, Francois Krige, Maud Sumner, Coert Steynberg, Edoardo Villa to name a few.

The films will be screened 10h – 16h on Museum Saturday, 27 February. Please note that it will run in sequence, to view all, this would take about 65 minutes. No filming or photography will be allowed, keeping to covid regulations limited space is available in the viewing area.

Look forward to a special popup of works seen in the documentaries on display in Gallery 1.