(b. 1951 Pietersburg, South Africa)

Anton Momberg was born in 1951 in Polokwane, Limpopo province. He is a sculptor of portraits and figures, working in bronze and polyester resin. He studied at Port Elizabeth Technikon, under Hillary Graham and Neil Rodger, gaining a Teacher’s Diploma in Fine Art, majoring in sculpture. Anton Momberg has emerged as arguably South Africa’s finest realist in sculpture, focusing mainly on the female nude. His finely crafted work cast in marble dust and resin has an unearthly, unsettling quality that somehow makes a monolith of the contemporary female form, as distinct from the “Venus” of antiquity.

Momberg’s latest exhibition features 11 bronze sculptures titled “Maquettes for the Freedom Statue”, which will be enlarged and erected at the Nelson Mandela home in Qunu in the near future. The project was commissioned by the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlement.

The works are designed to not only represent the 11 official languages of South Africa, but also to symbolise the freedom and joy of the country’s diversity. Nelson Mandela’s memory is set to be honoured in with this very special piece of art from Port Elizabeth taking center-stage at a new development near the late leader’s home-town of Qunu. The final sculpture will eventually tower more than 40m over the surrounding villages and will clearly be visible from the N2. The final installation will consist of 11 bronze figures of children dancing and playing, each measuring 3.5m in height, standing on top of 40m-high columns.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2018

Maquettes For The Freedom Statue, Solo Exhibition, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2016-2017

South Africa: The Art of the Nation, the British Museum, London UK.

2016  

Opening Gallery Group Exhibition, CIRCA Gallery, London, UK

Johannesburg Art Fair

2015  

Bronze, Steel and Stone, Group Exhibition, Mount Nelson and Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2012

Mahatma Gandhi by Anton Momberg, CIRCA, Johannesburg

2011  

15th Anniversary, Group Exhibition, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2009  

View From the South, Group Exhibition, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2007

Ampersand Fellowship Exhibition, Warren Siebrits Modern and Contemporary Arts

2002  

Group Show, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2001

Solo Exhibition at the GFI Gallery, Port Elizabeth

1999  

Art London, Group Show, London, UK

1995  

Cape Town Salon, Cape Town, South Africa

1994  

Group Show, BelvilleArt Society, South Africa

1991  

Cape Town Triennial, Cape Town, South Africa

1990  

Two Man Exhibition, South African Art Society, Pretoria, South Africa

1988  

Cape Town Triennial, South Africa

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

Dr Danie Craven, Western Province Rugby Union Despatch Rugby Club. Heinz Betz for P.E. Technikon Prof. E Marais for University of Port Elizabeth Molly Blackburn for Molly Blackburn Senior Secondary School Dr Rose Innes for Uhenhage Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for East London Municipality

Francis Baard for Francis Baard District Municipality, Port Elizabeth

The Donkin Lady for Nelson Mandela Metropol Municipality, Port Elizabeth

WORKS IN PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

Nelson Mandela Metropol Art Museum, Port Elizabeth

South African National Gallery, Cape Town

The Durban Art Gallery

UNISA

The Johannesburg Art Gallery

The William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberly

The Standard Bank Collection