Painter remembered for his teaching and artistic skills

Art is a way of expressing yourself through your work and it’s something that artist Phil Botha had been doing successfully for the last 60 years, until he passed away on 9 August.

One of his close friends and former student, Clarinda Venter, tells the story of the man with the magical brush strokes.

She said, “He was a genius with painting people as realistically as possible. He was a perfectionist when it came to paintings and art.”

According to Venter, who currently resides at the St Michaels Retirement Village in Weltevreden Park, Botha always had a passion for art and he started studying arts at the University of the Witwaterstrand (Wits) and, in the late 1950s, he became an art lecturer at Wits.

“He went to study art in England during that time and he received a BA Degree in Fine Arts from the University of South Africa,” said Venter.

“He used all of his knowledge to teach art students at Wits the finer details about painting and I was lucky enough to be one of his students. Some of his students became well known artists – George Booysen, Nico van Rensburg and Lew Lindeque,” she added.

“He was also a family man and raised three children – Philip, Erica and Adriana. Philip is now a successful businessman, Erica a pianist in Germany and Adriana a successful cellist.”

During all of this, Botha was appointed as the first South-African-born principal of the Art Department at Wits.

“Prior to his appointment, only British citizens were appointed as principals,” Venter informed.

Botha was living in Floracliff and continued to teach art to private students after he retired.

Venter concluded, “Botha was an amazing friend and a great teacher. He will be sorely missed by all his old colleagues, friends and art students.”