Anne Graaff

Art works are available for purchase.

Welcome to my website. I am an artist and a writer living in France.  Poetry is my ongoing stream of personal reflection through language. Art making is my ongoing stream of personal reflection on the world through visual language. Sometimes I combine the two, as in some of my artists’ books. As an art historian I write on many subjects but have a special fondness for Outsider Art.

I hope you enjoy browsing through my thought forms.

‘WHY I MAKE ART: THE MOTIVATION OF AN ARTIST`

I like to see my mind at work, the art mind. I like the way one thing leads to another and surprise outcomes occur, art outcomes. I like surprising myself. I like observing the intelligence of the hands, just allowing them to get on with it – with playing with the materials until interesting things happen.

 I like working with materials in a sensual way. I like the stuff of stuff – and the way materials can be coaxed to speak. I like the mess and materiality of clay, for example, and the way one can roll up one’s sleeves and get one’s hands into it – taming the muckiness of it. I like thick paint and thin paint and their differing visceral properties. I like playing with art materials in a way that opens the door to accidental effects – so that the materials also speak for themselves. I like the back and forth between accident and control, as the artwork comes into being. I find this process to be mysterious and fascinating. This is why I am an artist.

MY BRIEF CV

Anne Graaff

Anne Graaff is a South African/British artist, art historian and poet. She lives in France, close to Fontainebleau. In her artwork, she is a painter and maker of artist’s books. (Her Fine Art MA thesis, on contemporary book art, informs her practice). An art historian, specializing in Outsider Art, she has written two books, published by Penguin, South Africa, (under the name Anne Emslie). In 2017 she republished The Owl House, a book about the South African Outsider artist, Helen Martins. A recent book, The Moleskins, (published by the Montebello Design Centre) tells the story of British Second World War artist and SOE agent, Cecil Michaelis. Her recent artist’s Tarot pack, The Tarot of Paris, is published by Luxlapis Press and is available from orders@proteadistribution.co.za. Her poetry is published in various publications, including Carapace, Stanzas, and the anthologies of African poetry, Africa, My Africa! And Absolute Africa! (Sun Publishers). Exhibitions of her artist’s’ books and paintings include participation at the Paris exhibition, curated by Caroline Corre, Elles Métamorphosent le Livre II at the gallery, Espace des Femmes, a solo exhibition of artists books, The Fan Books, at Atelier de la Main d’Or, Paris, and work in the group shows, Be:e, at la Porte Peintre, France,  My Mother’s Garden, Parts and Labor Gallery Johannesburg, the exhibitions Domestic Departures and Mixed Metaphors at the Kalk Bay Modern, Cape Town, Art/Out of the Ordinary at the AVA Gallery, Cape Town. Recent exhibitions include Conversations with Irma, a group exhibition at The Irma Stern Museum (2023). a solo show at The Montebello Design Centre, Cape Town (2024), participation in two group shows at the Everard Reid Gallery London (2024 and 2025). Her artwork is represented by the Kalk Bay Modern Gallery in Cape Town and by the Everard Reid Gallery in London.