Title: Washer woman – Bokaap
Medium: Oil on canvas
Signed and dated: 1933
Unframed: 34 x 44cm
Framed: 53cm x 63cm
Boonzaier’s favourite subject was Kaapse pondokkies he (Bekker 1990:40)explained: “Even as a child I found old Cape Town an exotic place. It has a unique quality found in no other city in our country. It is rich in colour; colour which is present in its typical cape cottages, in its roofs, walls, windows and doors. The striking street life has always fascinated me: pushcarts, vegetable carts, fish carts, laundry gaily fluttering in the breeze and, in the good old days, goats and chickens, as well as a plethora of cats and mongrels of uncertain extraction. All these things made the streets come to life. The cries of the hawkers, and the smells: fish and incense, curry, and other spices. What an atmosphere one found in those alleys…”
