Artist Spotlight series – Dr Marion Arnold (b1947)

Born in 1947 in England, Dr Marion Arnold grew up in Zimbabwe and later earned postgraduate and PhD degrees in Fine Arts in South Africa. Since 2020, she has been permanently based in the UK.

Arnold is an artist, author, and art historian who contributes significantly to interdisciplinary fields with her distinctive practice-led research. She combines written research with personal, social, and visual communication through her art to clearly express her commentary and observations.

Focusing on the art and culture of Zimbabwe and South Africa during colonial and postcolonial times, Arnold is still a leading feminist voice and writer in women’s art worldwide.

Working across oil, watercolour, pastel, and print, her art features simplified forms, bold and playful colour, and distinct patterns. Landscapes and Still Lifes play a central and symbolic role in her work. These subjects are not overtly political or dogmatic, but are fundamental, as they metaphorically showcase aspects of female life, colonialism, and historical interpretation.

Arnold’s research into Western art history, looking at landscapes and botanicals in particular, suggest that these subjects were associated with women artists because of their decorative nature. By combining these subjects and making the decorative a prominent feature, she reinforces these ideas metaphorically, framing these issues of association in her own artworks.

The Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe’s Matobo National Park, with their iconic balancing rocks, define much of her 1980s work. Botanical and floral elements explicitly signal her direct engagement with botanical art, feminism, and colonial research, studies, and commissions in South Africa.

The collection of Arnold’s work, part of the Rupert Art Foundation and on show currently, originates from her exhibitions in Cape Town galleries and her close association with The Caversham Press. One of Arnold’s most influential texts is Irma Stern: A Feast for the Eye (1995). This was commissioned and published by the Rembrandt van Rijn Foundation as part of the centenary of Irma Stern’s birth; it remains a crucial source to scholars even 30 years after its publication. Included on show the silkscreen Irma in a Mask: Remembering produced by Arnold during the research and writing phase of this publication.

Caversham Press under the lead of Malcolm Christian released limited-edition artist prints either by association or theme from 1985 until the studio closed almost 10 years ago. These portfolios were supported by collectors and institutions investing in fine art prints at that time, the collection holds a number of prints by prominent South African artists in both the contemporary and botanical fields.

In the 1980s, Arnold started to collaborate with Christian, where she primarily produced silkscreen prints but also explored lithography and combined techniques. Building on this creative period, she became the first woman to receive the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1985.