A Life of Artistic Pursuit
Wolf Kibel was a Polish-born South African painter and printmaker. Born in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland, his early life involved an apprenticeship to a bookbinder and later to a maker of shoe uppers. His journey through Europe led him to Vienna, where he encountered the work of portrait painter Edmund Pick-Morino. Seeking new opportunities, Kibel traveled to Palestine, living in Haifa and Jerusalem before settling in Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv, he worked primarily with watercolour and black and white drawing due to the high cost of oil paints. He eventually moved to South Africa in 1929, arriving in Cape Town.
Artistic Style and Legacy
Kibel's work is often identified as expressionist, characterized by a painterly approach using rich impasto and expressive brushmarks. His media included oil, pastel, watercolour, tempera, chalk, pen, etching, and monotypes. He was noted for his ability to use shape, colour, tone value, and paint quality to create a sense of complexity and order. Kibel's works are held in several major collections, such as:
- South African National Gallery, Cape Town
- Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
- Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
- Durban Art Gallery, Durban
- King George VI Gallery, Port Elizabeth
- Tatham Gallery, Pietermartizburg
- Spier Art Collection, Stellenbosch
- William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley
- Sanlam Art Collection, Cape Town
