Fine art and flair in Franschhoek
There’s much more to the Cape than wine. Franschhoek is a must-visit destination for art lovers too
Franschhoek’s reputation is rooted in wine, more recently augmented by its acclaim as the country’s culinary capital. But hiding in plain sight, too, are some of the country’s best art galleries.
When the first Huguenot religious refugees arrived in the valley in the late seventeenth century, even the optimistic among them would not have dreamed of a town teeming with visitors enticed, in part, by a thriving culture scene, with about 20 art venues in the village and surrounds. Some are clearly positioned within the connoisseur, investment bracket, others are breezy and informal. All are welcoming and epitomise the spirit of Franschhoek as a place to nourish appetites, senses and the soul.
Arriving into the area on the R45 from Cape Town, La Motte is a natural first stop. Driving up the kilometre-long entrance, it’s immediately apparent La Motte is no typical wine farm. This is confirmed on meeting the museum and gallery curator Elzette de Beer, who graciously conveys a wealth of information about its cultural history and assets.
La Motte’s current exhibition, Threads of Synergy, features South African mohair tapestry art. I recognise the medium’s interpretation of William Kentridge’s distinctive Cicero, taken from his 500m-long Triumphs and Laments frieze along the Tiber riverbank in Rome, produced to mark the city’s 2,769th birthday in 2016. There are also giant tapestry adaptations of works by Cecil Skotnes, and Sam Nhlengethwa’s Three Models is particularly impactful. The creations are for sale, at serious prices, on request — these are world class artworks, requiring enormous collaborative effort, with an artistic director and a team of four weavers working for four to six months to complete each tapestry.
De Beer steers me to La Motte’s treasure in the adjacent viewing salon: a significant collection of works by J.H. Pierneef. Partly chronological, partly themed, it represents a homage to one of SA’s artistic masters.
Image: Supplied
If La Motte suits the more discerning art lover, The Gallery at Grande Provence, a few hundred metres down the R45, is more expansive and youthful. The estate’s al fresco restaurant patrons are spoilt for choice of accompanying visual beauty: vineyards, heritage architecture, and an open view into the adjoining walls of art. Comprising four exhibition rooms, The Gallery is one of the larger Franschhoek art spaces, with much to reward lovers of any art medium: paintings, prints, ceramics, sculptures, or photography.
The abstracts by young artist Annemieke Engelbrecht are challenging and energetic; pieces by multi-media sculptor Karin Lijnes alternate between powerful and playful; Everett Duarte’s Alignment is a riotous blend of precision and impressionistic colour. But the standout is Mziwoxolo Makalima’s Silindile, a diptych canvas that captures a despairing boredom. It’s a quintessential South African image: sad, side-of-the-road hopelessness in striking perspective.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Blue Lion is less a gallery than a component part of Desmond-Smith’s lifelong project as an eco-feminist. She’s unfamiliar with the term, preferring to frame her work as mythopoetic, but the name of her property — Artemis, the Greek goddess of the wilderness — pinpoints her dedication to the natural world.
Many of her artworks — though captivating in their own right — represent aspects of Desmond-Smith’s life journey, her telling of which enriches the gallery experience. And, beyond the gallery, lies more. “Would you like to see my sculpture garden?,” she asks. Magically, around the first bend of a wondrous fynbos garden with breathtaking valley views, there appears an attentive guardian, an 8-foot tall mosaic, one of dozens of her sculpture creations. “She’s called Eve, so as not to offend Christians,” says Desmond-Smith. “But for me she’s ‘Lilith the protowoman’, or ‘Mother Nature’ — what woman was before God made her the companion for Adam. And see what happened then!”
Desmond-Smith’s irreverence isn’t typical of Franschhoek, but her imagination and zest certainly are. Creativity abounds in this valley.
Gallery listings:
- Abe Opperman, 11 Huguenot Street, 082 551 9708
- AITY Gallery, Shop 1, Heritage Square, 9 Huguenot Street, 083 463 0392
- Blue Lion Gallery at Artemis, 37 Uitkyk Street, 082 744 4999
- Ebony/Curated, 4 Franschhoek Square, Huguenot Street, 021 8764477, and
- 4 Bordeaux Street, 021 8762616
- Gallop Hill, 11 Huguenot Street, 062 205 5926
- La Motte Estate Museum and Gallery, R45 Main Road, 021 8763446
- The Gallery, Grande Provence Heritage Estate, R45 Main Road, 021 8768630