Stella Shawzin South African, 1920-2020

Best known for her monumental sculptures that seem to defy gravity despite being made of bronze or marble, Stella Shawzin created a fascinating body of work that shines a light on the secrets of the human form with great detail and tenderness. Shawzin passed away in 2020, at the age of one-hundred, leaving an incredible sculptural legacy as a key practitioner of South African modern art.

Shawzin’s formative years spent in several reputed New York arts schools provided her with a solid art education, making her highly skilled in a wide range of media, from painting to sculpture. Shawzin’s time on the stage continued to inform her artistic practice, her sculptures are highly theatrical and dynamic. Shawzin’s sculptures always tend to appear light and as if in movement, like actors gliding on stage, despite being composed of heavy materials.

Throughout her career, Shawzin worked with a variety of media – bronze, marble, metal, wood and was intimately involved in every stage of their creative process. From her visits to the marble quarries at Carrara, to the building of her own foundry at her Cape Town studio, Stella Shawzin oversaw the execution of each artwork from conception to completion. Shawzin’s marble sculptures were carved at Carlo Nicoli's studio in Carrara, an Italian city in Tuscany renowned for its marble quarries, used by some of the greatest artists in art history including Michelangelo.