Basotho Men by François Krige

In 1937 Krige’s family moved to Bethlehem in the Free State, where they remained for the rest of the decade. Although now based in Johannesburg, the artist made frequent trips to visit his parents and explore the region. He loved hiking in the mountains of what was then Basutoland (Lesotho). There are many works from the artist’s time in the highlands and the subjects he drew there recur in paintings as much as 40 years later. Even on the most arduous hikes, Krige carried sketching equipment and watercolours in his rucksack. He made dozens of figure studies of the Basotho: women with bracelets, armbands and bundles on their heads, elders sitting outside their huts and menfolk wrapped in bright blankets. – Justin Fox, 2013