Edward Roworth

Edward Roworth (1880 in Lancashire – 1964 Somerset West) was a South African artist.

Background He studied under Tom Wostyn at Heaton, briefly under Sir Hubert Herkomer at Bushey, and finally under Henry Tonks at the Slade School of Art. He spent some time in Florence studying the art of fresco. He preferred painting the landscapes of the Cape and Natal, often depicting farmhouses. He was adept at producing formal portraits, working happily in oils or pastel. In his heyday Roworth greatly influenced the South African art scene, endorsing a conservative approach.

Edward Roworth arrived in South Africa with British forces during the Anglo-Boer War. With the war over he decided to stay and settled in Cape Town, where he set up a teaching studio. In 1908 he was elected President of the South African Society of Artists, doing so again in 1918–20 and 1933–36. In 1938, he was appointed to the chair of the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town and held the position until 1953.

Four paintings by Edward Roworth were burned by demonstrators during the Rhodes Must Fall demonstrations at the University of Cape Town in February 2016 (portraits of Mrs Barnard-Fuller, Doris Spencer Emmet, Anna Maria Tugwell and Jan Smuts). Two other paintings have been removed from UCT in 2016 (portraits of Thomas Benjamin Davie and Theo le Roux); one painting (Portrait of Prof William Ritchie) is missing.