Catcher of the Free State Sun [Published in COUNTRY LIFE, July 2012]

TEXT AND PICTURES NICK VAN DER LEEK

 

For Free State artist Frans Claerhout ‘capturing the sun’ had a special meaning, and it’s revealed in the humanity and compassion in his works

I’m looking for the sort of subjects favoured by the Belgian-born, Free State artist Frans Claerhout: donkeys, sunflowers and ‘madonnas with children’. My father and I are heading towards Tweespruit, where Claerhout worked as a Roman Catholic missionary, venturing over roads I’ve never been on before.

A maroon blanket drying on a fence around a hut catches my eye and I stop the car. My father looks at me, puzzled.

"symbolising a simple, sober way of life”

“I just want to get a shot of this,” I say, digging out my camera and nodding towards the blanket.

Read the rest.