Along with a new curator, the Owl House is also getting some long-lost items, reports Gillian Rennie
Three years ago Stephen Parsons and Allen Kidson bought a star-shaped mirror on a Graaff-Reinet auction. “We thought it was a nice piece of 1950s kitschabilia to add to our collection,” they say. It was, however, far more significant than that. Their mirror had come from the Owl House, Helen Martins’s home in nearby Nieu-Bethesda, which is now a museum. According to anecdotal evidence, Martins had given the mirror to a neighbour, a Mrs Hartzenberg, as a gift of thanks.
Parsons and Kidson then bought the mirror from Hartzenberg’s deceased estate. And now the current keepers of the Owl House are giving thanks because the Graaff-Reinet collectors have returned to its rightful home the quirky mirror they bought for R180. “We wanted to enjoy it for a while,” they said, “and now it’s time to give the mirror back.” Why now? “Because there’s a new curator at the Owl House and because it’s our coffee shop’s second birthday.”
The advent this month of the new curator has prompted another serendipitous return. A small cement owl with curling claws, which once perched in the Camel Yard (Martins’s name for the Owl House garden, which she filled with cement statues), has also come home to roost after an absence of more than 10 years.
When Pretoria academic Anthony Goedhals heard that a new curator had been appointed by the Owl House Foundation, he remembered the little statue that had escaped from the Owl House in the late 1980s. So when Antoinette du Plessis arrived in Nieu-Bethesda to take up her post, she brought with her a good beginning. “We are very grateful to these donors, and very impressed by their thoughtfulness,” she said. “There is a definite attempt to upgrade our facilities for archive and research material, and our storage, so all donations will be looked after.”
Du Plessis, who was a lecturer in art history at Unisa, is careful to point out the difficulties attached to reinstating these artefacts at the Owl House. “The very fact that an item was allegedly removed from the environment means there is a question mark over its authenticity,” she explained. “Circumstantial evidence and a stylistic match make it very likely that these pieces are authentic. But,” she cautioned, “we have no 100% evidence.”
There is precious little photographic evidence of the original Owl House interior and, like loads of other home owners, Martins moved her furnishings around from time to time. So, when the mirror returns to its first home, it will probably be hung in the dining room or the lounge with a document outlining its history and will thus provide another point of interest for visitors to a museum already rich in unique detail. Said Du Plessis: “Through the story of this mirror, people can learn more about the Owl House.”
For Du Plessis, researching such material offers exactly the change she was seeking after 11 years of university teaching. “This kind of practical involvement makes this job very appealing and it offered a nice opportunity to live in the country,” she said, sitting in the sun outside her new office. “In art history terms, the job of Owl House curator is a most desirable position. But it comes with great challenges too.
“The previous curator, Mark Wilby, performed remarkable restoration work in the Camel Yard but that area will continue to be my greatest challenge, along with the inside of the house where the textiles, in particular, are very fragile.” Apart from the hazards of a harsh climate, theft continues to ravage the Owl House. Only two months ago, a pair of statues disappeared from the Camel Yard. A criminal case was opened, but investigations are slow.
Wilby said: “The happy returns of the mirror and the owl highlight the recent disappearance and make it all the more poignant.” Anyone willing to respond to the Owl House Foundation appeal for items, documents or photographs relating to Helen Martins can call Antoinette du Plessis on (049) 841-1733 or e-mail her on [email protected] or visit www.owlhouse.co.za.