Constantia Valley by François Krige

After the war, Krige again stayed with his parents intermittently. They had moved from the Free State to the Cape and were now renting a house from Con Cloete (of Groot Constantia and Alphen fame) on Pagasvlei Road in Constantia. From there, Krige made daily sketching excursions – often by bicycle – round the peninsula and produced a number of good drawings, watercolours and oils of Constantia. In this fine sketch of the valley, we note his use of the ‘breathing outline’, a technique he had by now perfected. In his book on Krige’s graphic art, Matthys Strydom writes of this economical style: ‘Krige is clearly at his best in those drawings which have been sketched quickly and with a sure hand, where the evocative, interrupted line creatively involves the viewer, where one intuitively has to imagine the open spaces as being filled with movement, light or shade, or with whatever is being suggested.’ – Justin Fox, 2013