ANTON MOMBERG
(b. 1951, Pietersburg, South Africa)

Momberg was born in 1951, in Pietersburg, Northern Transvaal. He is a sculptor of portraits and figures, working in bronze, wood, ceramics and polyester resin. He studied at Port Elizabeth Technikon, under Hillary Graham and Neil Rodger, gaining a Teacher’s Diploma in Fine Art.

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 has also turned his hand to other subjects he admires, notably an immaculate full length sculptural portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, an edition of which can be viewed at the National Gallery and at the King George VI gallery in Port Elizabeth.

The meticulous nature of Momberg’s work and the fact that he casts them himself means that he has at best produced one new sculpture a year over the last ten years, a remarkable and unique commitment to quality in an age of mass production.

Many of Mombergs works are housed in a number of public collections, including Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum in Port Elizabeth, the Durban Art Gallery, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the University of Stellenbosch, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (formerly UPE), the University of South Africa, the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley, and in the Standard Bank corporate collection in Johannesburg and the SA National Gallery.

Amoungst others, Momberg has participated in numerous group exhibitions at Everard Read Johannesberg & Cape Town as well as Circa London and showcased as part of regular group exhibitions in Port Elizabeth since 1980.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2019     Solo Studio, Riebeek West, South Africa

2018     Maquettes for the Freedom Statue, solo, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016       Opening Gallery Group Exhibition, CIRCA Gallery, London, UK

2015       Bronze, Steel and Stone, Group Exhibition, Mount Nelson and Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

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

2002       Group Show, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

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 for University of Stellenbosch
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
Major restoration of important public monuments in Port Elizabeth
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

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