A life composed
in light, stone
and quiet mathematics.
The studio and archive of Olivia Burdett-Coutts — an artist, mathematician and consultant whose practice spans Johannesburg, Milan, Venice, Harare and Toronto. Fine art, Shona stone sculpture, and counsel for collectors and museums.
An artist by vocation, a mathematician by mind.
Olivia Burdett-Coutts is a painter, sculptor, mathematician and lifelong custodian of art — a career that has taken her from Johannesburg to Milan, Venice, Kyoto, Bradford, Harare, and finally Toronto, where she has worked since 1989.
She holds a degree in Fine Arts and Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand, with postgraduate study won on scholarship at the Brera Academy in Milan and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. At the Biennale of Montecatini she was awarded the Gold Medal for best artist outside Italy under thirty.
Between 1971 and 1989 she founded and ran the Vukutu Art Gallery in Harare, championing Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture and artists including John Takawira and Nicholas Mukomberanwa. In Canada she has continued that work — advocating for John Scott, Lance Belanger, and First Nations artists — and offers appraisal, consulting and museum donation guidance to private collectors.
"I was born high — in the spiritual sense — without necessity to take drugs, creating extraordinary art with light and ideas that inspire, enlighten, uplift, heal and restore energy for the world."— Olivia Burdett-Coutts
Six decades, four continents,
one continuous practice.
Fine Arts & Psychology
Degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, exhibiting extensively across South Africa under the name Olivia Watson.
Brera & Accademia di Venezia
Postgraduate study on scholarship and bursary at the Brera Academy in Milan and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.
Gold Medal
Awarded the Gold Medal for best artist outside Italy under thirty years of age, alongside further prizes across Italy and Switzerland.
Vukutu Art Gallery
Founded and directed Vukutu, promoting Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture and a generation of Shona sculptors including John Takawira and Nicholas Mukomberanwa.
Power Plant · Kyoto · Bradford
Group and solo exhibitions at The Power Plant and Mississauga Art Gallery (Toronto), the Kyoto Art Museum, and the First British Print Biennale in Bradford, England.
A New Chapter
Practicing as Olivia Burdett-Coutts — promoting Canadian, American and First Nations artists including John Scott and Lance Belanger, and consulting on collections and museum donations.
The gallery.
A working selection from the studio and archive. Additional works — paintings, prints and Shona stone sculpture — are being photographed and will be added as the archive is prepared.
Prints, paintings and sculpture are available for viewing by appointment. Please write for the current inventory.
A single eye, applied many ways.
Fifty-odd years inside studios, galleries, museums and gardens have produced a rare working range — from the intimacy of a print to the weight of a stone, from a private collection to a museum donation.
Fine Artist
A studio practice in painting, drawing and print, exhibited internationally since the 1970s.
Art Consultant
Guidance for private collectors on acquisitions, provenance and stewardship of contemporary and modern works.
Art Appraiser
Valuation drawing on six decades of first-hand market experience across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Europe and Canada.
Art Dealer
Representing selected Canadian, American, First Nations and Zimbabwean artists, and placing works with sympathetic collectors.
Garden Designer
Compositions that treat the garden as a living gallery — an extension of the same eye that shapes a canvas.
Museum Donation Consulting
Assisting collectors who wish to place significant works into museum collections as considered, well-placed donations.
Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture
Specialist knowledge from the Vukutu years — Takawira, Mukomberanwa and the wider Shona sculptural tradition.
First Nations & Canadian Art
Long-standing advocacy for John Scott, Lance Belanger and various First Nations artists across Canada.
"Creating extraordinary art with light and ideas that inspire, enlighten, uplift, heal and restore energy for the world."
A record of work.
Awards, exhibitions and the artists championed — drawn only from Olivia's own account.
For collectors,
galleries and museums.
Enquiries are welcome from collectors, museums, galleries and individuals interested in acquisition, appraisal, consulting, or placing a work into a public collection.