KEYNOTE: This major monograph on the South African artist's work of the last fifteen years highlights the powerful themes of isolation, alienation, and dislocation that characterize her sculptures. Claudette Schreuders creates carved and painted wooden figures that reflect the ambiguities of the search for a postapartheid African identity. Her work is influenced by the traditional Blolo and Colon figures of West Africa, as well as other stylistic input from medieval church sculpture, Spanish portraiture, and Egyptian woodcarving. Schreuders' personal history as a white descendent of colonial settlers in South Africa is reflected in these pieces, which are physical representations of human emotions. This book includes beautiful reproductions of Schreuders' works, two in-depth essays, and a biography of the artist, making this the definitive volume on one of the preeminent South African artists working today. AUTHOR: Rory Bester is a curator and independent scholar based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was an associate curator of The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa (Prestel). ILLUSTRATIONS: 150 colour illustrations *
