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Serena

writing in the “Hoofstad”, 1970 said

“Die portrette is knap gedaan. Fisiese eienskappe is op ekspressionistiese wyse raak daargestel: uitmuntend veral die portrette van Frans Claerhout en Sophia Luckhoff”.

Phyllis Konya

wrote in the Pretoria News, 1970

“Priest-artist Frans Claerhout is shown as at once searching, reaching out and forthright, down-to-earth – a considerable achievement in portraiture”.

In 1989 Rosemary Holloway

the director of the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley wrote of Mike’s portrait of Basil Humphreys

“Seen as a work of art, it is an acquisition which unquestionably enhances our collection, and as a portrait sculpture of the person we wished to honour, the consensus is that you have achieved a quite remarkable likeness.”

Dr. Albert Werth

Excerpt from an interview with Dr. Albert Werth (then Director of the Pretoria Art Museum) by Kirsten Jordaan:

“He works freely, and I think this spontaneity of Mike’s work is probably his greatest asset. The Dutch have a name or saying, that is, that if a painting is over finished they call it “plat gelek” – it has been licked flat. He never “licks flat’. You see there is ruggedness, it hasn’t been smoothed down and that is a very good factor in Mike’s work. Also, I think he can get a very good likeness.
There is a head of his of Father Claerhout that is one of his most magnificent, and the one of Frank Spears. I’ve also seen his portrait of Gregoire Boonzaier that is very good. I’ve always admired his portraits. I really think that of the sculptors in this country doing portraits, he is probably one of the best”.

Adam Deutromite

Adam Deutromite wrote of Mike’s portrait of Ds. A. P. Grobler in the Windhoek Observer, March 1985;

“This is a slightly expressionistic head modelled thick and strong. The head appears Manneristic, with a goatee beard that helps to elongate the face. The bushy eyebrows and protruding forehead throw deep shadows over the eyes, emphasizing them and making them deeper, brooding. On viewing the face from the front, a slight asymmetrical rendering of the cheeks can be seen. This lends two profiles to the face. Seen from the right, the thinner cheek with its vertical hollow that causes a shadow leaves a stern, ponderous impression on that side. On the left profile, where the cheek is fuller, this slight distortion, with the help of the mouth, gives a mischievous, gnomelike quality to the face. Thus two sides of a character are revealed…A formidable work and a remarkable portrait”.

Mr S E Jonah CEO of Ashanti Gold,

Letter from; Sara Asafu-Adjaye, Executive Assistant to Mr S E Jonah CEO of Ashanti Gold, Ghana, of 23 August 1997.

“Apparently the resemblance is incredible – perhaps even slightly frightening – to quote one of Mr. Jonah’s other brothers, and he keeps expressing amazement that you were able to create so lifelike a portrait (of his father) from an old photograph and his brother’s image”.

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