MAUREEN QUIN

MASTER SCULPTOR - MAUREEN (VIVIAN) QUIN

Tenacious and dynamic, Maureen Quin has exhibited her works regularly since 1962 in solo and group exhibitions.

Her passion for sculpting as a medium of artistic expression is evident in the over two hundred sculptures in a variety of materials such as wood, fibreglass and bronze she has created as a professional sculptress.

Born in 1934 on “Bishops Glen” in the Bloemfontein district, schooled at Eunice High School, Maureen won a bursary for the School of Fine Arts in Durban (1952 -1955), where she studied under Mary Stainbank.

On completion of her diploma she was granted a bursary to study sculpture at the Goldsmith College of Art in London with Robert Jones and Harold Parker. (1956)

“Her work constitutes without a doubt a solid investigation of the form and the spirit of man. Figures which often appear to be deprived of volume succeed in scanning the horizons (limits) of time.
She succeeds in fusing the abstract and figurative world of Henry Moore, the surrealism of Giacometti and the world of Africa, all mixed with the most intimate essence of the artist herself.” Dr Agurtxane Urraca, Goya, Revista De Arte, Madrid 2001.

Maureen Quin’s keen sense of observation and classical training has enabled her to produce sculptures which are in all aspects alive. Although her training was “Western”, her most characteristic work is essentially African. Practising her art away from the mainstream art centres, isolated from the influence of her colleagues, Maureen has successfully commented on topical social concerns.
This is evident in “The Hunt” series where the degradation of our surroundings for material gain is illustrated, and in “The Interaction” series, from which “Thanksgiving” and “Revelation” are drawn, which is a series of work that praises the positive, caring interaction between societies.
Her latest sculpture “Culprit” expresses her revulsion for child abuse and male dominance through sex. The rhinoceros mask represents the senseless destruction of species for the use of aphrodisiacs for male gratification.

In 2014 to celebrate Maureen’s eightieth year and sixty years as a professional sculptress, Virginia Reed curated a retrospective exhibition which opened in March 2014 at Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein; in May it showed at the North West University in Potchefstroom; in Bellville at the Sanlam Gallery in July - September. In October it opened in East London at the Ann Bryant Gallery.
To complete the tour the retrospective closed at the GFI Art Gallery in Port Elizabeth, March 2015. This retrospective emphasized the fine quality of work Maureen has produced in her career and has entrenched her as an artist who has left her mark on the South African art community.

Education

1952-1954
Dip Fine Arts, Technical College, Durban

1955
Goldsmith College of Art

Exhibitions

2016
Wildlife, adventure and narrative, annual wildlife exhibition at The Cape Gallery

2015
The Dance of Life, a collection of sculptures and drawings at The Cape Gallery

2014
Pause; the annual wildlife exhibition at The Cape Gallery

2011
Annual wild life exhibition at The Cape Gallery

Exhibited more than 40 solo exhibitions and participated in 23 group exhibitions.