LEIGH VOIGT
(b. 1943 Johannesburg)

Leigh Voigt is a South African artist best known for her studies of trees, birds, cattle and small wild creatures. Her wildlife studies have great sensitivity and are remarkable for her use of colour. Voigt concentrates on the patterns which identify various animals, rather than the details which describe them; the spots in the guinea fowl, the stripes on the francolin. This empathy with the essence of the creatures which she portrays has caused her work to be much in demand as a painter but also as a book illustrator.

The highly acclaimed book “The Abundant Herds” documenting the Nguni Cattle of Southern Africa was published in 2004. Voigt was invited to work closely with experts Marguerite Poland and David Hammond-Tooke, and spent nine years researching her subject. During this time she painted hundreds of watercolours and about eighty large oil paintings to illustrate this important southern African publication.

Voigt is a keen conservationist who devotes time to assisting organizations such as the Endangered Wildlife Trust. She is the daughter of renowned South African botanical artist Barbara Jeppe, and is married to the artist Harold Voigt. A multidisciplinary artist, Voigt designs and creates beautiful tapestries, and is also a talented portraitist.

Voigt’s first solo exhibition was in 1967 at the Lloyd Ellis Gallery. Since then she has held many successful solo shows and participated in selected group exhibitions throughout South Africa. Her original illustrations for the article "The Rarest Birds in the World" for the International Wildlife Magazine were exhibited at the Wildlife Gallery, Toronto.