2009-11-03 16:35:23 - It was also where she experienced great sadness and hardship, according to interviews with former colleagues, friends and neighbours who collectively knew her over a period of more than 50 years.

Hoek is a sprawling commuter and retirement suburb wedged into a valley fronted by a beautiful beach and a not-so beautiful strip of shops with their backs turned to the sea.

This was Petrie’s home from the 1950s through to her death in 2006. The dramatic coastline of the area provided inspiration for her seascapes and the people for her portraits.



They

tell the story of a woman who lived a lonely life in the shadow of a mentally ill brother whom she was burdened with once their parents, believed to be of Scottish descent, died.

Into the 1980s and for over two subsequent decades she slipped into isolation to the extent that friends battled to make contact with her.
“She did not have a very happy life – living with a brother with that illness was incredibly stressful,” said a friend who knew Petrie from the 1950s through to her death.

Although her internet biography lists her work in esteemed private collections and as having been exhibited in Europe and the US between 1960 and 1994, none of those interviewed recall Petrie ever having travelled or exhibited internationally during this time, or having spoken of these achievements.

Petrie first shows up on the Fish Hoek scene in the 1950s.
A friend still living in Fish Hoek said she had met Petrie when they worked at the Fish Hoek municipality together between 1956 and 1959.
At that time Petrie was doing secretarial work for the municipality, but the friend said she had studied art at the Johannesburg Technical College before moving to Cape Town.

“She was a conscientious worker and we became quite close friends.”
She remembers Petrie as “highly-strung”, but “gentle and quiet”, a good friend, but one who did not have many friends.
“We had a lot of fun, in fact she taught me to drive,” she said.

Another person who worked with Petrie at that time, Ethel May Gillard, who was a librarian at the Fish Hoek Library for 36 years, remembers Petrie fondly as a person who painted a Bertie the Bookworm character for her to use in story time with children.
The earliest record of her artistic involvement comes from the Fish Hoek Art society.

Current president Val Parry said from the records of the society she appeared to have been a founder member in 1954 and possibly taught weekly art workshops from 1966, taking over from Bertram Dumbleton.
Petrie appears to have painted well into the 1970s. She is recorded as exhibiting in the first exhibition of the society in 1960.
In 1972, society records hold a report from the Fish Hoek Echo, the local community newspaper, noting that “her composition and technique” set her apart.

Again in 1976, another comment from the Fish Hoek Echo said it was “good to see Anne Petrie was still painting”.
But after this she vanishes from the records of the society.

“I have no record of her after 1976. None at all,” said Parry. “Clearly she wasn’t a party animal.”
Abstract artist and Fish Hoek resident Betty Salmon, 85, who counts herself as the longest living member of the society, remembered Petrie as an “extremely shy” person.

“I always liked her work. I rated her as good,” said Salmon, who said she had no knowledge of Petrie exhibiting outside of Fish Hoek.

Why Petrie never showed up in the records of the Fish Hoek Art Society after 1976 might have had something to do with the death of her parents.
It’s not clear from interviews when they died, but by the time domestic worker Anne Watson, now 76, began working for the Petrie’s once a week on a Thursday in the late 70s, she said the parents were already dead.
Watson remembers Petrie’s painting because three of her daughters posed for her and were given the resulting portraits.
Initially, she remembers friends visiting and although she cannot remember the year, says Petrie stopped painting when her brother refused to allow people to come around to the house.

“She had a very difficult time with her brother,” said Watson.
Before Watson retired in 1993, she said Petrie had helped the family buy their council house in Ocean View, a nearby suburb that arose from forced removals under the apartheid Group Areas Act.

And when Watson retired in 1993, she said she had been given R10,000 by Petrie.
“She was a very kind person, a sweet person. She never rejected people that came to the door looking for food,” she said.

As the brother’s behaviour became more erratic, he got rid of their car, then the telephone and other electrical appliances. A friend said it was nearly impossible to make contact.

After 1990, neighbours report seeing the brother and sister walking to the shops to buy groceries, making for a strange couple.
He would always walk in front of her and she would follow behind in a subservient manner.
Although everyone agrees that the family had at least some means, neighbours say they were spendthrift.
“They lived like paupers, as frugally as they could,” said a neighbour.

By all accounts, Petrie’s own mental state also deteriorated. Neighbours recall her throwing rocks on their roof and claiming to have seen Chinese acrobats on her roof.
“In retrospect maybe it was a call for help,” said a neighbour.

Her brother died in 2002 and she continued to live in the house by herself. It was only when she fell ill in 2003, however, that neighbours managed to get to know her.
The Christie family had lived next door since 1990 and had gotten used to their unusual neighbours.

When Petrie fell ill in 2003, Una Christie had visited her in hospital. It was at this stage that the Christie’s discovered her artwork.
Her house was being painted in preparation for her return, and they noticed a few unframed paintings lying outside. As it was raining, they took them for safekeeping and kept them in their laundry.
When Petrie returned home, Una took her shopping and arranged a cellphone and a television for her. The Christies also installed burglar bars to prevent vagrants from breaking in.

The Christies believe that during this period, for the few years up until her death in 2006, Petrie gained a measure of happiness.
“I wanted to get her painting again,” said Una, “but she did not get around to it.”

Several of Petrie’s paintings given to the Christie’s are now hanging in their house, some seascapes hanging on the wall, others stored behind bookcases.
Art experts have scotched the quality of Petrie’s work and the whole saga has raised questions about the value of references versus artistic merit.
But for Glen Christie, the value lies in the fact that they came to know and like Petrie. “I’ve always thought she was talented but amateurish,” he said.

In the end, it’s certain that Petrie existed and was an artist in Fish Hoek.