A new book on Port Elizabeth artist Frederick (Fred) Hutchinson Page (1902 – 1984), produced and printed entirely in Port Elizabeth, has been published. Titled “The Ringmaster of the Imagination” it is an inside view on the life and journey of the artist. Page is considered to be one of South Africa’s foremost surrealist painters. The book is written by Eastern Cape art biographer Jeanne Wright who was commissioned by Page’s attorney and friend Cecil Kerbel, the book is the first comprehensive compilation of the artist’s work. Much of the work portrayed in the book has been drawn from private collections and therefore is revealed for the first time. Previously, the only work which has been available to the public is held in some national galleries and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum in Port Elizabeth which holds all his memorabilia as well as a major collection of his work.
Cecil Kerbel, a lifetime friend and funder of the book, says, “this biography is the realization of a lifelong ambition for me. I am delighted that at long last, Fred Page is receiving the recognition that he deserves.” Cecil and Fred met in their early twenties during their studies. Cecil was fascinated by Fred’s art and they developed a close friendship with one another. “This friendship opened up another side of life for me,” says Cecil.
Page lived and worked for most of his life in Central, one of the oldest parts of Port Elizabeth. Using the buildings as a backdrop to a range of characters and narratives, he has documented with considerable accuracy, areas of the city’s architecture that reflect a specific time within the city’s history. Reclusive by nature, Page did not receive much publicity during his life time. His subject matter was obscure and unfashionable for many years and did not hold much appeal for the general public. However, his output has subsequently been recognized as an important and unique reflection of not only the South African city he lived in but also of an extraordinarily fertile and idiosyncratic imagination at work.
“Fred Page is an artist who has come in from under the radar to surprise me, as an author, with the range and diversity of his material. He was uniquely South African and his passion for the city he chose to live in, revealed not only the imaginative world of his creative life as a painter, but also the poetic and fantastical side of life in Port Elizabeth as he perceived it,” says Jeanne Wright. The book is available in a soft cover edition and has three hundred works fully illustrated in colour accompanied by an explanatory text. The book is available in all leading book stores from the 5th of August 2011.
Contact Info for Fred Page (If you want to buy the book, dummy – not actually talk to him!).
Alan Straton
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