The Complete Works of Philippe Smit
by Andreas Narzt and Florence Castellani
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Catalogue entry

Photo: Christopher Burke Studios, NY; © FdDPS
Photo: Christopher Burke Studio, NY; FdDPS
Frame designed and painted by the artist.

Keywords

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Classification: Pastel »
Theme: figurative »
Medium: Pastel »
Support: on cardboard »
Year(s): 1928 »
PS 304 (P 120; LNC 103)
Portrait of Reverend Moffat B. Mcanyana
Alternate titles: Le Pasteur Moffat; Missionaire Noir; Negerevangelist; Negerzendeling; Portrait of Zulu; Zulu pastor
1928, reworked in 1948
Pastel on cardboard
45 11/16 x 34 1/8 in. (116 x 86.5 cm) (sight size)
Signed and dated lower right: Philippe Smit/ 1928
On the back: exhibition label Philadelphia on the frame upper center.
Inventories
Inv. Les Pleignes, P. Damidot, 1938, LNC archives: no. P 120, p. 8, salle à manger, Important pastel par Philippe Smit./ Portrait de M? Noffat [sic]./ Signé et daté 1928. 8.000 [FRF].
Inv. Pitcairn, n.d. [c.1957], n.p., LNC archives: no. P 120 F, Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, Portrait of Rev. Moffat dated 1928, Smit, Pastel, 45 1/4 x 34 1/4 [in.].
Inv. LNC, 1984, updated Oct. 1998, LNC archives: no. P 120, p. 1, The Church - Council Room, Portrait of Rev. Moffat, dated 1928, Pastel, 45 1/4 x 34 1/4 [in.].
Exhibitions
Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker N.V, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tentoonstelling van Moderne Kunst, December, 1933–January, 1934, no. 58, as Negerzendeling, Pastel.
Galerie Pierre Maurs, Paris, France, Peinture et Pastels de Philippe Smit, February 04, 1948, no. 65, as Le Pasteur Moffat, 1928, (CP).
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, Collection of the Rev. and Mrs. Theodore Pitcairn, June 17–September 15, 1960, no. 20, Pastel, 45 1/2 x 34 1/2 [in.], 1929, Portrait of Zulu, 11-1960-20 (title and n° on the exhibition label).
Literature & Primary Sources
Massé, René. Journal. 1920-21, 1924, 1929-31, 1933-1935, 10-11-1929, p. [9 & 10]) ("… 'Zoulou' …").
Niehaus, Kasper. "Te weinig geëerd shilder: De beteekenis van Philippe Smit." De Telegraaf (Amsterdam), 27-01-1933, p. 7, as Negerevangelist.
"Philippe Smit's Werken: Expositie in kunsthandel Goudstikker." De Telegraaf (Amsterdam), 23-01-1934, p. 5, as Negerzendeling.
Pouvreau, Marcel. La Marseillaise de Seine-et-Marne, 10-08-1948, p. ?, as Missionaire Noir.
Niehaus, Kasper. Philippe Smit, unkown genius. Revised and edited by Marjorie Bell. Typescript, 1955, p. 25 & 29, as Zulu pastor.
Notes
"[…] Arrivée au Château de 'la Motte' […] Nous allons au nouvel atelier de Philippe. […] – Portrait au pastel du 'Zoulou' avec une énorme Bible/ aux tons d’ivoire, la couleur de l’étoffe sombre lui/ servant de costume, le fond aux gammes de violet/ sourd – figure de grand caractère. […]" (… Arrival at Château La Motte. … We go to Philippe’s new studio … Pastel portrait of the ‘Zulu’ with a huge Bible in ivory tones, the colour of the dark cloth which serves as his costume, the background a range of muted purple - figure with great character. …) (Massé, 10 November 1929, p. [9 & 10])

Moffat Bontyisi Mcanyana (1882? -1948), born and baptized on a reservation of the American Board Mission in South Africa, was a deeply religious man. After his studies at the Adams Mission Station, he set out to find a church possessing true knowledge and able to provide satisfactory answers to his questions, thereby enabling him to deepen his understanding of the word of God. After a brief period in the Catholic Church, he became a member of the Wesleyan Church, which trained him as a preacher for its school of theology, a role that ultimately he never exercised. He was hired in the Randfontein mines, where he met another Zulu worker, Joel Maduna. Maduna, also interested in religious questions, introduced him to the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg by lending him the first volume of the Arcana Cœlestia. Thanks to Maduna, Mcanyana was able to contact a minister of the General Church of the New Jerusalem (New Church), and thus made contact with Theodore Pitcairn, who worked at the time for the missions of the church and taught theology at the "Durban Society" of Natal. Educated in the doctrines, Mcanyana was ordained a priest of the first order during the thirteenth general assembly of the "New Church", which was held in London in 1928. Beyond his pastoral and missionary tasks in Durban, at Kent Manor, and in the coastal district of the former province of Natal, Mcanyana translated The New Jerusalem and its Celestial Doctrine, as well as a selection of The True Christian Religion by Swedenborg.  He compiled an entire liturgy and wrote manuscripts in Zulu to make known to his compatriots the main doctrines of his new church.1
We can suppose that Philippe Smit created this portrait from a photograph because there is no evidence of a meeting between the artist and Moffat Mcanyana during his trip to London. The fact that Theodore Pitcairn kept this pastel in Pleignes in France suggests that he had ordered it for his own collection in memory of the ordination of the young priest, with whom he was certainly very close. It is unlikely that this work was an official commission from the "New Church" especially since the 1924 portraits of the bishops did not earn Philippe Smit a great success.2


1. Source: "Two Letters from a Zulu." New Church Life, 1920, p. 440-442; Elphik, F. W. "Rev Moffat B. Mcanyana." New Church Life, 1948, p. 258-260.
2. See [PS 244] and [PS 246].

Additional images
Moffat Bontyisi Mcanyana, London 1928 (old photograph, The Bryn Athyn Historic District Archives at the Glencairn Museum)
Photo: Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA
Record last updated March 28, 2020. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Narzt, Andreas and Castellani, Florence. "Portrait of Reverend Moffat B. Mcanyana, 1928, reworked in 1948 (PS 304)." The Complete Works of Philippe Smit. http://www.philippesmit.com/cr/catalogue/entry.php?id=304 (accessed on March 29, 2024).