Jamaicans at work

Schliefer pays tribute to cane cutters, fishermen and market vendors – sometimes indirectly, through depictions of the fishermen’s boats, the market vendors’ produce.

: Fishermen. Oil on cotton, 30″ x 33″, 1999. Private collection.

: Coming in. Oil on cotton, 15″x16″, 1997. Private collection.

: Port Royal Fisherman. c. 12″ x 30″. Oil and enamel on canvas, 1969. Private collection.

: Jewels of the Market Place – oranges, coconuts, and bananas float up between the vendors, who themselves appear to be suspended in mid-air. Acrylic on canvas, 2004, Private collection. [available as print]

: Dancing produce in “Jamaican Market Vendors”. 2010. 30″x16″, Acrylic on cotton. Private collection.

: Sunrise fishers. Acrylic, 2000. Private collection.

: Stone breakers. Oil on linen, 16″ x 20″, 2003. Private collection.

: Country Market. Oil on canvas, 11″ x 14″, 1988. Private collection.

: Fish Vendor. 1981. Acrylic on canvas board. 18″x16″. Collection SCS.

: Venus of Yam Bearers. A sensuous image, in minimalist colouring. 1994. Private collection.

: Market vendors. Oil on canvas, 11″ x 14″, 1992. Private collection.

: Into the Plantation. 2003. Acrylic on cotton. Private collection. [available as print]

: Caribbean fishermen. Acrylic on cotton, 16″ x 14″, 2014. Private collection.

: Dynamism of cane cutter. Oil on linen, 24″ x 36″, 2000. Private Collection.

: The Scale, 11″x14″, Oil on cotton. 1999. Private collection.

: Ballet of the fishermen. A poetic depiction of fishermen hauling in their catch. Private collection. Oil and enamel on canvas.

: Venus of the yams. Oil on cotton, 14″ x 11″, 1996. Private collection.

: Spirit of the cane cutter. Oil on cotton, 30″ x 22″, 2001. Private collection.

: Composition with the marketplace. 1999. 20″x16″. Oil on cotton. Private collection.

: Fishing beach. Acrylic on cotton, 2009.

: Jamaican Market. Schliefer’s representations of the market place are resplendent with colour. Oil on cotton, 14″ x 11″, c.1997. Private collection.

: Stripping the fish. The fish vendor’s whole body seems focused on the act of scaling fish. 14″ x 11″, 1990, Oil on canvas, Private collection.

: Lost seamen. This image of a fishermen’s boat filled with ghostly images of men is a tribute to fishermen lost at sea. Private collection. c.2000, Acrylic on canvas.

: Canecutters #2. Private Collection. [available as print]

: Plantation Warriors. Acrylic on linen, 22″x30″, 2020.

: Plantation Orchestration. 2006. Acrylic on cotton. Private collection. Schliefer’s signatory treatment of this subject – here invoking images of the orchestral conductor. [available as print]

: Portraits of the market place. Oil on cotton, 20″ x 16″,. 1993. Private collection.

: Limestone Breakers. Acrylic on cotton, 40″x29″, 2021. Artist’s collection.

: Canecutter. This is an early depiction of what became a recurrent theme in Schliefer’s work, that of the canecutters wielding their machetes in the cane field. While the emphasis here is on the weariness of the task of cutting cane, later work is more poetic, focusing on the rhythm of canecutting. Oil on canvas, Private collection.

: Jamaican Builder – this is a somewhat faded photograph of a painting which pays homage to the construction worker. c.1985, Oil on canvas, Private collection

: The Night Watchman. 1973, oil on canvas, 30″x24″, Collection SCS. The loneliness of the night watchman, with his little dog as sole companion, is captured in melancholy blue tones.