SUMMARY

Rhona Gorvy was born in Springs, Transvaal, South Africa, in 1921, of Lithuanian ancestory. She grew up in Johannesburg and completed her B.A. Degree in Logopaedics (Speech and Hearing Therapy) at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1944. She worked as a supervisor at the Speech and Hearing Clinic, and later lectured in Speech Pathology, at the University of the Witwatersrand (1945-47). From an early age, Gorvy expressed herself through different art forms, and when she was at university, her passion for and experimentation in art deepened. She was largely self-taught, though she did attend classes with Guisseppe Cattaneo, Joyce Leonard and Elizabeth Harrington, and at the George Boys School of Visual Arts.

Over the last eighty years, Gorvy has produced an oeuvre of sketches, prints, paintings, sculptures and poetry that document her empathic experience of the inner and outer worlds. Gorvy has an understanding for both the complexity and the simplicity of life, and for the paradox that is at the core of our humanity. She knows the vulnerability of the human condition, and the dark side of man and nature, and has the courage to express this with profound insight. 

Gorvy has a deep connection with her subjects, and has engaged in a wide range of themes relating to life, as well as grappling with the question of what it means to be human. She has explored, inter alia, the passage of time, freedom, relationships, motherhood, loss, abandoned women, abuse, the impact of drugs and addiction, music and other conscious and unconscious processes. She abstracts the emotional realm, as well as the psyche and body, and expresses herself at both an individual and archetypal level.

Gorvy’s own words offer an understanding of her approach: “My work has its greatest source in intuition. My themes mostly revolve around the psyche of people as individuals, and in relation to each other and their environment. I often work symbolically. Some themes are serious, some humorous, and some allegorical...Art is often a mirror of man’s soul, a record of his individual and social history... I am attracted to the beauty and simplicity of line, whereby much can be said with economy and implication. Frequently I work in series. In this way I can explore and enrich a concept more fully than working with a single visualisation.” To quote Esmé Berman, in her article, "The Singular Art of Rhona Gorvy": “When those variations are assembled as a series, the emotional intensity invested in the individual works is multiplied, and the impact upon the viewer is compounded”. For some of the series, Gorvy has also written poems to accompany the art works. These poems show her love of and gift with words, which enhance the depth of her expression and emotion as already evident in her art. Berman draws parallels in Gorvy’s art and poetry, with the work of William Blake. She also comments on Gorvy’s “uniqueness and courage to ignore prevailing conventions”.

In addition to her sculpture, painting and poetry, Gorvy has often focused on graphics and printmaking as a means to exploit her line-work and drawing talents. She has an innate ability to capture that which lies beneath the surface in little more than a line drawing. In printmaking, she has used media including etching, aquatint, drypoint, monoprint and hand-painted collographs, in her unique single works as well as in her series.

Gorvy has spent a lifetime creating an extraordinary body of artwork. Her art holds universal appeal while simultaneously being highly individual, leaving a lasting impression on those who view it. Her versatility and courage in artistic experimentation have given expression to her empathy and understanding of life. Into her nineties, Gorvy has continued to create sensitive and compelling work.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2014               Art Eye Gallery, Design Quarter, Johannesburg, South Africa
2011               Gordon Institute of Business Science, Johannesburg, South Africa
2006               Art on Paper, Johannesburg, South Africa
1988               Galerie Salammbo, Paris, France
1983               Bullocks, Los Angeles, California, USA
1981               Art Dimensions, Los Angeles, California, USA
1975               Natal Society of Arts, Durban, South Africa
1971               Gallery International, Cape Town, South Africa
1970               Helen de Leeuw Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1970               Natal Society of Arts, Durban, South Africa

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2016               The Cape Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2015               The Cape Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2015               Art Eye Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2014               “Mini Masterpieces” - The Studio, Kalk Bay, South Africa
2014               Art Eye Gallery, Hermanus, South Africa
2014               Young Blood Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2013               Young Blood Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2012               “Matriarchs in Conversation: Rhona Gorvy and Esther Mahlangu” - Sibisi Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2011               Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre (RCHCC), Johannesburg, South Africa
2010               “100 Doors of Hope” - Johannesburg Child Welfare, South Africa
2004               Centre Cultural Christiane Peugeot, Paris, France
2003               “Women Artists: Rape Doll Exhibition” - University of Pretoria, South Africa
2003               “Women Artists: Rape Doll Exhibition” - Museum Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
2000               Parliament of World Religions, Cape Town, South Africa
1998               South African Jewish Women Artists, JCC, Houston, Texas, USA
1996               Spring Art Festival, Johannesburg, South Africa
1994               International Gallery of Contemporary Printmaking, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
1993               Shaman Show, Finland
1993               Momentum Art, Pretoria, South Africa
1986-96         Annual Show of Miniatures, Toronto, Canada (Selected to exhibit for 10 years)
1973               Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK
1971               Gallery 101, Johannesburg, South Africa
1969               New Signatures Exhibition, Pretoria, South Africa (Award for Drawing)
1968               Visual Arts Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa
1966               Republic Arts Festival, Pretoria, South Africa (Award for Sculpture)

COLLECTIONS:
Constitutional Court Art Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa
Greaterman’s Collection, Cape Town, South Africa
Honorary Consulate of Lithuania, Johannesburg, South Africa
Jewish Board of Deputies, Johannesburg, South Africa
Lichtenburg Municipal Gallery, South Africa
Lithuanian Embassy, Israel
Lithuanian Embassy, South Africa
South African Embassy, Washington, DC, USA
Spier Art Collection, Cape Town, South Africa
University of Potchefstroom, South Africa
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Zoo Lake, Johannesburg, South Africa

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Lithuania,
New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United States of America

SERIES TITLES:
In Search of Freedom
Man with a Rope
Time
Battered Baby (on victimisation and abuse)
The Dream and the Abuse (on drug addiction)
The Garland and the Chain (on relationships)
Our Society
Abandoned Woman
Death of a Soldier
Story of a Life
See-Saw
Bullfight
Elegy
Adam and Eve
The Death Moth (Paintings)
Family I (Sculptures)
Family II (Sculptures)
Chess set (Sculptures)

PUBLICATIONS:
“Artist Expresses a Woman’s Point of View”, Cape Times, 15 September 1971.
Berman, Esmé, “The Singular Art of Rhona Gorvy”, unpublished, January 2014.
Boys, George, “Rhona Gorvy”, Artlook, November 1970.
The Collector’s Guide to Art and Artists in South Africa, Cape Town, 1998.
Dictionary of International Biography, Cambridge, UK, 1972.
Francois, M. “Graphics Dominate Gorvy Show”, Daily News, November, 1975
Gorvy, Rhona, “Dualities of a Woman Artist”, Jewish Affairs, October 1975.
International Who’s Who in Art and Antiques, Melrose Press, Cambridge, UK, 1972.
International Who’s Who of Women, Melrose Press, Cambridge, UK, 1972.
Knight, Natalie, “Below the Conscious Mind”, The Star, Johannesburg, 1986
“Making the Scene: Draughtsmanship”, Artlook, April 1968.
Myburg, Johan, “Oorsiguitstalling vir Gorvy op 92”, Beeld, 23 June 2014.
Ogilvie, Grania, Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors, Johannesburg, Everard Read, 1988.
Pender, Fiona, “Rhona Intrigued”, David Krut Publishing, 21 September 2007.
Roberts, Oliver, “An Ageless Eye”, Sunday Times Magazine, 21 September 2014.
The South African Art Market, Art Institute of South Africa, 1972-72.
South African Directory of Artists, Cape Town, 2004-05.
Verster, Andrew, “Rhona Gorvy”, Daily News, November, 1975.
Who’s Who in International Art, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1988-95.
Zebra Register of South African Artists and Galleries, 2001-03.