Nita Spilhaus was one of the very first woman professional artists in South Africa.

Her most active artistic period was the time she spent in Cape Town from about 1910 to 1925, when she was one of a close-knit grouping of artist friends, working and exhibiting together. 

Nita had been trained as an artist, first in Munich, and then at the Artists' Colony in Dachau, south of Munich. There she painted in the moorland landscapes, under the overcast and cloudy skies, beloved of European landscape artists. 

She came out to South Africa in 1908  to join her brother, and uncle's family, who were already firmly established in the Cape.   For Nita the move from the hub of European Art to Cape Town, then in its infancy in terms of its art world,  was a huge culture shock. But gradually she made friends with a group of artists, and lovers of art, and Nita rapidly established herself as a leading member of the Cape artistic community.

Nita was principally a landscape artist, and her paintings and etchings of trees, the Cape mountains, and the Malay Quarter are probably those that are most associated with her. Study of her work has revealed the depth and breadth of her artistic subject matter. This was first explored in my book about Nita and her circle of artist friends, a biography published in September 2015 in Cape Town. Three retrospective exhibitions of her work were held in South Africa in late 2016/early 2016. These offered insight into her artwork.

Fifteen further years of research of the artist’s work have culminated in publication of my catalogue raisonné of her artworks. This catalogue now provides a comprehensive survey of the oeuvre of the artist. The catalogue covers her artistic development, her motifs and style, and illustrates, and provides data on, a truly representative display of her art. The catalogue is now the focus of this updated website

For more about the earlier biography and the exhibitions, please continue to explore the relevant tabs. However, the detail on the Catalogue is now displayed prominently in additional sections of the website.