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David Botha

Botha was born in Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape in December 1921, and later qualified as an art teacher from the Cape Town Teachers’ Training College in 1941. His first of fifty solo exhibitions was held in Cape Town in 1944.

David Botha is considered to be a realism-impressionist in the genre, continuing the  Stylistic tradition that was established by Naudé, Wenning and Spilhaus and Gregoire.  His wet street scenes, with white-washed houses and dark, leafless oak trees and black linings, are amongst his most sought after works. He usually painted on site, sitting many times in the rain, wearing his water boots, under an umbrella. Botha’s subject matter ranges from landscapes and seascapes to still life compositions. He used various media including oil, watercolour, ink, pencil, charcoal and assorted graphic media.

Bothas paintings preserve a record of the typical rural Cape Town and they enjoy extensive patronage, particularly in his home province.

He participated in over 100 group exhibitions from 1946 held in SA, Mozambique and in the Netherlands.

He managed to capture landscapes and the atmosphere of typical Boland towns, mostly in Paarl and Stellenbosch.