Infiltrating Light

An oil on Board painting titled, Infiltrating Light done in 1965 by the South African artist, Bettie Cilliers-Barnard (1914-2010). The painting is not just an experiment in abstraction, but an expression of form that hints at the depiction of a crucifix. The shapes and forms, however, are products of the artist's vast imagination and the influence on her works by Fauvism. The dramatic composition of this work is vigorously controlled and almost cerebral. When this work was created, Cilliers-Barnard was standing on the brink of a new phase in her artwork, which would be characterized by mystic symbolism. The painting was donated by the artist in 1988 after a retrospective exhibition held at the University of Pretoria. In 1988, Cilliers-Barnard donated a further 58 works to the University. 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.