Walter Westbrook (artist)
Walter Edward Westbrook (3 August 1921 – 15 January 2015) was a South African artist who lived latterly in Kent, England. He was well known particularly for his
Early years and wartime art
Westbrook began to paint at a young age and studied art under
Kimberley
It was when living and working in Kimberley that he began to engage with the arid landscapes of the Northern Cape, the Kalahari and Namibia. He embarked on a full-time career as artist in 1970. Westbrook was a member of the '
Kent
Having emigrated to the United Kingdom, Westbrook continued to find inspiration in landscapes, while rediscovering a passion for portraits, figures and still life painting.
Exhibitions, commissions and collections
Walter Westbrook's work featured in solo and group exhibitions in South Africa, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the England. Major retrospective exhibitions of his work have been held at the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley, the University of the Free State and the University of Pretoria.
Other galleries that have exhibited his paintings include the Sandton Gallery, Leicester Galleries, Bakker Gallery, the South Africa Association of Arts, the Hoffer Gallery in Pretoria and the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein. Westbrook's major art commissions included Standard Chartered Bank in New York, De Beers South Africa, De Beers Diamond Mines Kleinzee in Namaqualand, Southern Life South Africa, St James' Anglican church in Galeshewe, Kimberley, and the Agricultural Co-op Leeudoringstad.
The
Publications and documentary
Westbrook's work is included in Berman's Art and artists of South Africa and in Alexander and Cohen's 150 South African Paintings Past and Present.[6][7] It was also featured in episode 4 of the 13-part television documentary A Country Imagined,[8] in which musician Johnny Clegg, as presenter, journeyed through South Africa engaging the connections between landscape, art and identity.