KEITH JOUBERT 

(b.  1948, Johannesbrug, South Africa)

Keith Joubert was born in 1948 in Germiston, east of Johannesburg. He passed away in 2013.

He studied at the Johannesburg School of Art from 1963 to 1967 after which he worked commercially for some years. Since 1970 Keith Joubert painted African wildlife and the environment. He travelled frequently throughout Southern Africa, but spent most of his time in the Okavango Swamps, Botswana, where he had a houseboat and a studio camp at Linyanti in the northern part.

Keith Joubert's seemingly effortless renditions of Africa with their contemporary vision, impeccable draughtsmanship and tonality gain rapidly increasing acknowledgement internationally. His works play on the subtle inter-relationships between different facets in the ecosystem where the diminutive and seemingly innocuous creatures are as essential as the larger animals that evolved within Africa. Joubert also developed a deep fascination with indigenous human cultures which have successfully co-existed with their natural environment for generations.

Keith Joubert lived and painted on the banks of the Linyanti Swamp in Northern Botswana. His studio, like his bedroom, was a tent during winter and a simple tarpaulin during the hot summer months. He also owned a large farm near the northern part of Kruger Park where he was often visited by elephants and other teaming game at his open bush studio.

He wa a large man with a long beard, strong from a life in the bush where he walked kilometres every day. His closeness with the creatures that inhabit his world stemmed from hours in their company. Often I have seen him sitting on his haunches idly spending the time with a nearby herd of elephants, zebras and the like.

Joubert is one of Africa's most successful contemporary artists. His work hangs in many corporate and private collections worldwide. Success, though, did not complicate his life, and he retained a marvelously carefree and simple existence. Success can bring material gain, but with it often comes unnecessary responsibilities. Joubert emphatically believed in owning as few objects as possible - a good four-wheel drive vehicle as he was a restless man, a tent and a camp bed. Of course as an artist, the tools of his trade infested his camp - the finest Belgian flax leant against Marula trees awaiting a layer of paint which sat incongruously in boxes under the tent flap.

-Mark Read

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

1979                     
The South African Association of Arts, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Collector's Covey, Dallas, Texas, USA