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The woman who loved and was…/Innocent from accusation

Azaria Mbatha. The woman who loved and was…/Innocent from accusation. 1965

Azaria Mbatha (South African, born 1941; lives Lund, Sweden). The woman who loved and was.../Innocent from accusation. 1965. Linoleum cut. Composition: 9 7/16 x 11 11/16" (24 x 29.7 cm); sheet: 13 5/8 x 18 1/8" (34.6 x 46 cm). Publisher: the artist, Rorke’s Drift, KwaZulu-Natal. Printer: the artist at ELC Art and Craft Centre, Rorke’s Drift, KwaZulu-Natal. Edition: 100. Gift of the African Art Centre, 1967. © 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/BUS, Stockholm

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Mbatha, the first student at the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) Art and Craft Centre at Rorke’s Drift, KwaZulu-Natal, briefly became one of the school’s most influential teachers in the late 1960s. Many of his works from this period reflect Old and New Testament narratives; this one depicts the accusation of an adulterous woman and her ultimate redemption. Informed by an early and deep interest in Christian theology, Mbatha’s linocuts are inflected with political overtones, European influences, and his Zulu ancestry. This print is one of two by Mbatha donated to MoMA, in 1967, by Jo Thorpe, founder of the African Art Centre, Durban; the works were the first by a South African artist to enter the Museum’s collection.