Landscape with White Stork 

"Landscape with White Stork" is an undated oil on canvas by Maggie Laubser, a South African artist who spent time in Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century. Laubser brought the bold colors and simplified forms of German Expressionism back to South Africa, and she used these techniques to depict the landscapes and people around her. Looking at this painting, we see how she embraced a modernist style to depict the South African landscape. But this was a complicated time. Remember that during Laubser's life South Africa was undergoing immense change. It went from being a British colony, to the Union of South Africa and then instituted apartheid. Given this context, Laubser's choice to depict a landscape absent of people encourages us to consider the relationship between the land and the communities that inhabit it. Was she turning away from the social issues of her time, or inviting us to reflect on our connection with the land? Laubser once said "I felt an urge to return to the simple life in the country and to portray the people of the soil." "Landscape with White Stork" invites us to reflect on these intersections of identity, place, and history.