Archaic Symbol

An oil on Board painting titled, Archaic Symbol by the South African artist, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard (1914-2010) done in 1971 and later changed by the artist in 1987. By 1985 Cilliers-Barnard was moved by the sublimated qualities of time and space in which timelessness and boundlessness became cardinal elements. This ancient symbol of the sun juxtaposed onto a cross-like shape, is central to the composition of this work. On either side of this, there are two figure-like forms which stare at the central symbol in stupefaction. The painting was donated by the artist in 1988 after a retrospective exhibition held at the University of Pretoria and in the same year she donated a further 58 works to the University of Pretoria. Short Biography: Bettie Cilliers-Barnard was born Elizabeth Petronella (Bettie) Barnard on 18 November 1914 in the town of Rustenburg, South Africa. She completed her BA-degree at the University of Pretoria in 1937. In 1938 she began her career as an art teacher at the Innesdale Intermediary School. From 1939, she lectured in art at the Normal College in Pretoria for three years. On 19 December 1942, she married a teacher, Mr. Carl Hanke (Bags) Cilliers and then became Bettie Cilliers-Barnard. Shortly afterwards her husband was appointed as an Extramural Officer at the University of Pretoria. From this time forward, a very close relationship developed between the Cilliers family and the University of Pretoria. In 1946, Cilliers-Barnard held her first solo-exhibition at the old Extramural building at the University of Pretoria in Vermeulen Street, Pretoria. In 1948, she travelled to Belgium and France to study further at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten and Hogere Instituten in Antwerp under Professor Julian Creytens and at the Atelier André L’Hôte in Paris. In 1956, she went for a second study tour to France and studied art and lithography at the Atelier 17 of Stanley William Hayter and the Atelier Jean-Paul Pons in Paris. In her long career as an artist, which stretched over more than seven decades, she participated in more than 250 group exhibitions in South Africa and internationally. Cilliers-Barnard received three honorary doctorates namely from the Potchefstroom University (1990), from the Rand Afrikaans University (1999) and from the University of Pretoria (2001). In 2010, Cilliers-Barnard passed away shortly after her 75th solo exhibition held at the University of Pretoria.