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Louis Maqhubela was born in 1939 in Durban, South Africa. He studied under Cecil Skotnes and Sydney Komalo at the Polly Street Centre, Johannesburg. After leaving South Africa, he settled in London in 1976, where he undertook further studies at Goldsmiths College and the Slade School of Art.
From early figurative scenes of township life in Johannesburg, Maqhubela evolved a more abstract mode of painting, becoming one of the pioneers of modern art in South Africa. His work is characterised by a specific language of forms which float or move in a radiant, atmospheric space. Sometimes a graphic element of thin black lines appears describing animals or human figures. In spirit and form they evoke Paul Klee but what they describe is part of Maqhubela's African narrative. Recent canvases refer increasingly to traditional African forms; Pondo, Zulu, Ndbele, - all of them filtered through memory and arranged in a magical, lyrical coloured space with richly worked surface textures.
Painting on canvas, oil or gouache on paper, he was recognised early in his career in South Africa, where in 1967 he was hailed as the first black painter of distinction with first prize in the Adler Fielding Gallery’s Artists of Fame and Promise exhibition. The award came with a three month travel bursary to Europe and the UK. After further prizes, he left South Africa in 1973, moving first to Spain, and then London, where he has lived and worked ever since.
Maqhubela’s paintings and drawings have entered the National Gallery of South Africa and Johannesburg Art Gallery collections, as well as the majority of corporate and public collections throughout South Africa. In London he is represented by the Victoria & Albert Museum and in the USA by the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.
