Queer Places:
Hamlet of Bonnefoi, Carolina, Gert Sibande District Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Edith
Louise Mary King (1871–1962) was born in Pietermaritzburg in 1871, but grew up and was
educated in England when her mother returned there following a failed
marriage. Mary King worked while her children were cared for and home schooled
in their early years. In 1894 Edith graduated from Bedford College, University
of London, in modern languages. Her first employment was as a governess before
taking positions as a deputy and senior mistress at English schools in the
1890s. In 1903 she attended life drawing classes at the Bristol Municipal Art
School. In 1904 she traveled with her mother to Nottingham Road in the
KwaZulu-Natal midlands for the birth of her sister's daughter, Ruth. In 1905
she qualified for an Ablett Teachers Certificate from the Royal Drawing
Society and took up a position as an art teacher at Eunice School in
Bloemfontein. Between 1907 and 1911 she worked with her sister in Mpumalanga.
In 1911 she publisher 'Veld Rhymes for Children'. In 1912 she was appointed
Headmistress of Eunice School where she remained until her retirement in 1923.
Edith then joined her sister and niece in England and Europe until 1929 when
they returned to South Africa. Edith then lived in a cottage on her sister
Bertha's farm 'Bonnefoi' until her death, although she traveled extensively
through out the country in the 1940s and 50s.
Edith worked exclusively using watercolours to depict landscapes and still
life subjects. She was fascinated with nature and her botanical depictions
often dominate the foreground of her paintings creating a strong decorative
element to her compositions. Edith would frequently paint many studio versions
of a veld sketch before she was satisfied with the composition of her work.
Her naīve style of painting with its strong sense of rhythm often belies her
sophisticated composition. Edith organized exhibitions for her sister, Bertha
and Bertha's daughters, Ruth Everard Haden and Rosamund Everard-Steenkamp and
cajoled them to provide work. Edith and Ruth would often paint together when
on holiday.
Edith participated in numerous group exhibitions through the 1930s, 40s and
50s including the Everard Group exhibitions of 1931 and 1935. In addition, she
participated, as did her sister, in the numerous historical exhibitions of the
time such as the van Riebeeck Tercentenary in 1952 and the Pretoria Centenary
Historical Exhibition of South African painting in 1955. The 1982 Everard
Group retrospective held at the Tatham Art Gallery and the 2000 exhibition
entitled 'The Everard Phenomenon' which toured South Africa focused attention
on this often overlooked lineage of South African women artists.
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