The Landscape Artist
Keith Kirsten
Keith Kirsten is the globally recognised talent behind the gardens and landscaping.
The Art and Gardens
AN EXTRAORDINARY COLOUR PALETTE
A botanical paradise nestled within a dramatic mountain setting, discover acres of tranquil gardens planted to reflect the changing seasons. Spectacularly in bloom every day of the year, the Estate acts as an incredible backdrop for art and sculpture, where Laurence Graff’s personal collection is carefully curated to showcase South Africa’s finest contemporary artists.
The Gardens: a Living Canvas
A garden that dares to be different, designed to please the senses and complement the abundant flora and fauna. To encourage biodiversity, over 350 indigenous plants and other imported, non-invasive species nestle among art, sculpture, rippling water features and reflective pools that work in harmony to create the ultimate tranquil garden setting.
Highlights from The Gardens
Sculptures
Anton Smit
Anton Smit’s sculptures epitomise his exceptional skill at imbuing his pieces, motionless though they are, with an undeniable feeling of movement. Each sculpture gives the impression that it is about to reach out and touch or speak to the viewer, and even the most abstract pieces express the instincts and feeling of humanity.
Sculptures
Lionel Smit
Lionel Smit is a South African artist who operates a remarkable studio just outside of Cape Town wherein he pursues his craft in all manner of media with areas dedicated to sculpture, painting and printmaking. Inspired by reflection, symmetry and the psychology of the Rorschach inkblot technique, Lionel Smit’s ‘Morphous’ is an illustration of the duality of human existence, encompassed by the mirrored figure of a Cape Malay woman.
Sculptures
Dylan Lewis
Dylan Lewis´s primary inspiration is nature. On one level, his bronze sculptures celebrate the power and movement of Africa´s fauna; on another, the textures he creates capture the ancient rhythms and primeval ruggedness of the African continent’s landscapes.
The Art: a Personal Passion
The Estate serves as a remarkable art gallery, with more than 400 works from Laurence Graff’s private collection on display. An extraordinary testament to Laurence Graff’s passion for African art, works by Nelson Makamo, Vladimir Tretchikoff, Robert Hodgins and William Kentridge, amongst many others, draw your gaze. Whether gracing the walls, ceilings or gardens, these pieces are the finishing touches to a rarefied destination without parallel.
Highlights from the collection
Lodges & Spa Reception
Nelson Makamo
A South African-born artist, Nelson Makamo has devoted his artistic career to amplifying the voices of African children, with a keen focus on storytelling through candid portraits that capture the resilience and beauty inherent in the human spirit. Boy with Glasses is one of his most iconic works, created in 2012 using charcoal, pastel and acrylic. The piece symbolises the intelligence, potential and visionary spirit of Africa’s young people, with the glasses representing both hope and insight.
Reception
Vladimir Tretchikoff
Delaire Graff is home to a very special painting. One of the most iconic pieces of the 20th Century – and the first piece of art to inspire a lifelong passion in Laurence Graff – guests can view Vladimir Tretchikoff’s iconic Chinese Girl, currently on display in the entrance to our main building.
The SPA
Deborah Bell
Deborah Bell is one of South Africa’s most acclaimed artists; a transcendent sculptor, painter, printmaker and collaborator. Her experience of mark-making is a highly spiritual and deeply personal. Memory and its private and public role is a prevailing theme within her works, a number of which are to be discovered throughout the Estate.
Wine Lounge
Kendell Geers
By weaving together the socio-political, the activist, the mystical and the animistic traditions while drawing on sign, sigil and symbol, Kendell Geer’s work asserts a talismanic and totemic identity which radiates strong transformative energies. Each work is distilled from the process of the ‘word’ being made manifest.
Delaire Graff Lodges
Cyrus Kabiru
The intricate expressive pieces created by Cyrus Kabiru challenge the boundaries of conventional craftsmanship, sculpture, photography, design and fashion. Through his work, Kabiru references both his home in Kenya and the international countries and cities he travels to. A completely self-taught, multi-disciplinary artist, he is best known for his sculptural spectacles, which are made of retrieved objects and recycled materials sourced on the streets of Nairobi.
HŌSEKI
Roy Nachum
Roy Nachum’s paintings typically incorporate elements traditionally used in conceptual and interactive art, with many, such as Deep Water, including Braille text in relief. One recurring subject is a child with a gold crown covering his eyes, suggesting humankind’s blindness caused by misplaced values and desire. Nachum begins a painting and then leaves the viewer to complete it, believing that human interaction keeps the work alive and breaks the barrier between observer and sacred object.
Delaire Graff Restaurant
Sydney Kumalo
It was Sydney Kumalo’s choice of subjects, his conscious decision to use universal frames of reference and combine a wide range of sources, that made him tower above his peers and contemporaries. He draws strongly on African sculptural tradition, while articulately reflecting international modernism.
Outside Reception
Hank Willis Thomas
A photographic conceptual artist primarily working with themes related to identity, history and popular culture. Hank’s interest in representing photographic ideas through unconventional materials results in a fascinating combination of works that exploit the visual complexities of the not so distant past.
Delaire GRAFF RESTAURANT
William Kentridge
William Kentridge is undoubtedly the best-known South African artist. Working conceptually from a fixed point and with what is in essence, a very restricted technique – charcoal drawings with limited touches of pastel colour – Kentridge has developed these drawings into an oeuvre of astounding depth.
HŌSEKI Restaurant
André Stead
Working in collaboration with Lionel Smit, André Stead produced ‘Swallows in Flight’ featuring over 1,300 swirling Perspex swallows suspended over Hōseki restaurant. Stead says the installation is “a symbol of freedom and endurance that describes the innate liberty and graceful beauty of the human spirit”.
