Ndebele Girl

A tempura on burlap painting of a Ndebele girl by the South African artist and author, Dr. Barbara Eleanor Harcourt Tyrrell (1912-2015). Tyrrell as an artist was also a lifelong scholar in studying the traditional rituals and clothing of the people of South Africa and she authored several books on the subject. In the painting titled, a Ndebele girl is a young girl wearing traditional attire drinking from a bowl, in the background the iconic decorated Ndebele homestead can be seen. The painting, one of a series of 59 in the collection was done by Tyrrell for her book, African Heritage in 1983.The University of Pretoria purchased this collection from the artist in 1988. Tyrrell is known internationally for her detailed costume studies of the traditional dress of the indigenous peoples of southern Africa. Short biography: Barbara Eleanor Harcourt Tyrrell was born on 15 March 1912 in Durban, South Africa. Her father, died while she was a small child. He had occupied the post of assistant magistrate and later became an interpreter in the Department of Native Affairs and had been stationed in various Natal towns, his final post was in Eshowe in Zululand. Tyrrell's grandfather was Frederick Fynney, interpreter and companion to the Zulu King Cetshwayo during the latter's visit to Queen Victoria in 1882. Tyrrell trained as an artist at the former University of Natal during the 1930's, when the Fine Arts Department was still linked with that of the former Technical College. Tyrrell was 103 years old when she passed away in 2015.