South African Art
Monthly Features
E.J. de Jager, DumileDumile’s drawings provide feeling and emotion through gestures, posture, and body configuration. The distorted style of Dumile’s drawings are "all purposeful", aiming to evoke a heightened expression and awareness of emotion. He explored the environment of Guernica and the cultural and social values that accompany it.
Notable Works of Art: Father Teach Me How to Pray, 1967: Conte Crayon on paper The Scream, 1969: Conte crayon on paper Agony, 1966: Ink on paper Mother and Child, n.d.: Conte crayon on paper |
John Ndevasia MuafangejoConsidered to be the single most prominent visual artist of Namibia, Muafangejo depicted people and events through black and white imagery. He often times combined text with images that contained references to culture and historical aspects of ovaKwanyama.
Notable Works of Art: Value of Water, 1972: Linocut Zululand Natal – Where Art School is, 1974: Linocut Evangelical Lutheran Church Womens Meeting, 1974: Linocut W.W.A. Windhoek in While in Exile, 1975: Linocut Preparation for the Flood, 1979: Linocut |
Where to Find South African Art
A Labour of Love: Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
Exhibit Open: December 3rd, 2015 – July 24th, 2016
“’A Labour of Love’" offers a new look at contemporary South African art in the 1980s. The Weltkulturen Museum (Museum of World Cultures) in Frankfurt had, prior to the Wind of Change speech and the culmination of the negotiations to end the apartheid system, already collected 600 artworks by exclusively black South African and nowadays famous artists such as John Muafangejo, David Koloane, Sam Nhlengethwa, Azaria Mbatha and Peter Clarke. This publication contains, alongside recently discovered works by young South African artists, new essays by international art specialists, interviews with artists, previously unpublished archival material, and more than 300 illustrations of artworks.” This collection examines different depictions of the idea of love—from interpersonal relations to the passion and commitment.
Exhibit Open: December 3rd, 2015 – July 24th, 2016
“’A Labour of Love’" offers a new look at contemporary South African art in the 1980s. The Weltkulturen Museum (Museum of World Cultures) in Frankfurt had, prior to the Wind of Change speech and the culmination of the negotiations to end the apartheid system, already collected 600 artworks by exclusively black South African and nowadays famous artists such as John Muafangejo, David Koloane, Sam Nhlengethwa, Azaria Mbatha and Peter Clarke. This publication contains, alongside recently discovered works by young South African artists, new essays by international art specialists, interviews with artists, previously unpublished archival material, and more than 300 illustrations of artworks.” This collection examines different depictions of the idea of love—from interpersonal relations to the passion and commitment.
150 South African Paintings: Past and Present by Lucy Alexander and Evelyn Cohen
"'What is a South African artist?' is the opening question posed by the authors. This is neither the first nor the last time that that question arises in South Africa, but Alexander and Cohen offer their own definition. Elements of European painting traditions, such as the sublime or the picturesque, are found in early South African painting. The uniquely South African landscape -- Table Mountain, the Karoo, the highveld -- features prominently. The quest to portray black people in traditional clothing and settings is another recurring theme defining South African painting. The nationalistic art movement in the interwar years was replaced by self-conscious moves away from what came to be seen as provincialism. For many white artists, European art training and travels shaped their interpretation of the South African experience. In recent times, the painters' quest for a South African identity has intensified. And indeed the nature of South African painting has shifted and broadened, as more and more black artists entered the arena.
"'What is a South African artist?' is the opening question posed by the authors. This is neither the first nor the last time that that question arises in South Africa, but Alexander and Cohen offer their own definition. Elements of European painting traditions, such as the sublime or the picturesque, are found in early South African painting. The uniquely South African landscape -- Table Mountain, the Karoo, the highveld -- features prominently. The quest to portray black people in traditional clothing and settings is another recurring theme defining South African painting. The nationalistic art movement in the interwar years was replaced by self-conscious moves away from what came to be seen as provincialism. For many white artists, European art training and travels shaped their interpretation of the South African experience. In recent times, the painters' quest for a South African identity has intensified. And indeed the nature of South African painting has shifted and broadened, as more and more black artists entered the arena.
Painting in South Africa by Esme Berman
Painting in South Africa is a radically revised and repackaged version of Berman's 1975 The story of South African painting. It remains, as Berman states, a survey and "an outline of the sources, sequences and developments that have been significant [in South African painting], and a glimpse of the most prominent and influential careers and styles" (author's preface). The story begins in the nineteenth century and is carried forward chronologically to the present, told within the local South African context but related also to international movements and trends. White painters predominate, as painting was their preserve until recent decades. South African reality is accurately mirrored here, but a fair balance is struck in portraying latter-day developments. Certain painters are singled out along the way for their particular contributions, a roll call of major players. Among them: Hugo Naudé, J. H. Pierneef, Maggie Laubser, Irma Stern, Gregoire Boonzaier, Gerard Sekoto, Jean Welz, Walter Battiss, Alexis Preller, Larry Scully, Cecil Skotnes, Cecily Sash, Louis Khehla Maqhubela, William Kentridge, Malcolm Payne, Penelope Siopis, Karel Nel, Helen Sebidi, and Norman Catherine.
Painting in South Africa is a radically revised and repackaged version of Berman's 1975 The story of South African painting. It remains, as Berman states, a survey and "an outline of the sources, sequences and developments that have been significant [in South African painting], and a glimpse of the most prominent and influential careers and styles" (author's preface). The story begins in the nineteenth century and is carried forward chronologically to the present, told within the local South African context but related also to international movements and trends. White painters predominate, as painting was their preserve until recent decades. South African reality is accurately mirrored here, but a fair balance is struck in portraying latter-day developments. Certain painters are singled out along the way for their particular contributions, a roll call of major players. Among them: Hugo Naudé, J. H. Pierneef, Maggie Laubser, Irma Stern, Gregoire Boonzaier, Gerard Sekoto, Jean Welz, Walter Battiss, Alexis Preller, Larry Scully, Cecil Skotnes, Cecily Sash, Louis Khehla Maqhubela, William Kentridge, Malcolm Payne, Penelope Siopis, Karel Nel, Helen Sebidi, and Norman Catherine.
Art Inquiries
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