Map
of South Africa |
David
Goldblatt |
Sue
Williamson |
Assignment Background Timeline WWW Sites Recommended Books Related Events |
Even though
apartheid had existed for centuries, South African artists have not
always focused on apartheid and themes of oppression and injustice in
their work. One of the earliest and most influential traditions in
South African art is the rock art paintings and engravings by the Sans
people. Rock art often depicted landscape and people and incorporated
geometric elements, and this tradition is still influential in some
contemporary art in South Africa. Another tradition in South African art began during the colonial era with the arrival of the Dutch settlers in 1652. As the Dutch expanded their settlement in South Africa, they increasingly imposed Western culture on the native South Africans, which affected art traditions. Before long, art was seen as a method of recording daily happenings in South Africa for the colonial masters, claiming that their work depicted everyday life in South Africa. |
HUGO NAUDE Sheep Watering, 1901 Oil on board (350 x 600mm) |
JAN ERNST VOLSCHENK Oil on canvas (695 x 1150 mm) Riversdale Veldt and Mountains,1925 |
In the late
1960s, the first group of professional black South African artists,
known as the Polly Street Group, began making their way to the
forefront of the local art scene. The Polly Street Group acquired
their name because the artists were using a hall in Polly Street
Recreational Centre as an art workshop. Many of the artists in the
Polly Street Group focused on the use of vibrant color and energetic
movement within their compositions, and the most common media included
watercolors, pastels, and oils. Due to the apartheid regime, the Art
Centre was closed in 1960 because many people did not want black people
to have access to cultural facilities in the cities. As groups and schools of black South African artists were emerging across the country, there were also several individuals that were very successful in their own right. Dumile Feni (1939-1991) first began making art in the 1960s, working as a painter and sculptor with no formal art training. Like many black South African artists at the time, Feni work addressed issues related to apartheid, oppression, poverty, and township life. Feni used symbolism and imagery that illustrated destructive life experiences because of apartheid until his death in 1991. |
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MINNETTE VARI Riverrun, 2004 Video still |
PENNY SIOPIS Reconnaissance (1990-1997) Installation |
GUY
TILLIM Farm fire, near Kroonstad, South Africa 2003 Digital pigment print (58 x 83.5cm) |
DAVID
GOLDBLATT Grandmother and Child, 1975 Silver Gelatin Hand Print (36 x 36cm) |
SUE
WILLIAMSON Capt Benzien demonstrates the 'wet bag' torture method, 1998 Mixed media (86 x 120 x 6cm) |
William
Kentridge |
"I am interested in a political art, that is to say an art of ambiguity, contradiction, uncompleted gestures and uncertain ending - an art (and a politics) in which optimism is kept in check, and nihilism at bay." |
David
Goldblatt |
"Certainly politics has always been on my mind, politics in the broadest sense. The Transported of KwaNdebele, was certainly the most explicitly political, while In Boksburg was a more oblique and muted engagement with politics. In all of the work I have done though I have been engaged with the consequences of our actions and of our values." |
Guy
Tillim |
"My brand of idealism, that had its roots in the time I started photographing in South Africa during the apartheid years of the 1980s, has dimmed. There was right and wrong, it seemed clear to me on which side I stood. One would forego, what I might now call subtlety, for the sake of making a statement about injustice. The world's press set the tone and timbre of the reportage it would receive, and I for one was bought by it. Perhaps that is why I now look for ways to glimpse other worlds, which I attempt to enter for a while. But one cannot live them all, and usually I am left with a keen sense of my own dislocation." |
Penny
Siopis |
"In
my recent work I use 'found' objects including found
film. I am
particularly interested in the things people leave behind by force of
circumstance; things which embody very specific memories and
experiences, yet have wider social and cultural resonance. These
objects are complex subjective traces of emotional investment not
always easily expressed. Being 'found' and often made and treasured for
intimate and private reasons, these objects are emblematic of a merging
of private and public worlds." |
1652
Dutch settlers arrived in South Africa |
1853
Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk was born |
1869
Hugo Naude was born |
1879
Volschenk first exhibits artwork in Cape
Town |
1902
Naude
exhibits work in Cape Town |
1930
David
Goldblatt was born in Randfontein (currently living and working in
Johannesburg) |
1936
Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk dies |
1939
Dumile
Feni was born in
Worcester |
1941
Hugo Naude dies |
1941
Sue
Williamson was born in England
(currently living and working in Cape Town ) |
1950
South
Africa was invited to the Venice Biennial |
1952
Polly
Street Art Centre opened in Johannesburg |
1955
William
Kentridge was born in Johannesburg |
1967
South
Africa was invitied to the Sao Paul Biennial |
1960
Polly
Street Art Centre closed |
1962
The
Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre (aka Rorke’s Drift)
was established in Natal |
1968
Rorke's
Drift was officially established as the School of Fine Arts |
1982
Rorke's
Drift closed |
1985
Establishment
of the Thupelo Workshops in Johannesburg (currently located in Cape
Town) |
1991
Dumile Feni died |
1994
End of
Apartheid; Nelson Mandela becomes president |
1997
Artthrob, a visual arts publication, was founded by Sue Williamson |
The
International Artist Database
This website has
information on contemporary South African artists such
as Dumile Feni, William Kentridge, Jane Alexander, Sue
Williamson, and
more.
ARTTHROB:
Contemporary
Art in South Africa
Artthrob was founded by
Sue Williamson in 1997 and
it is now "South
Africa's leading contemporary visual arts publication."
Visual Arts
Library: The Legacy Project
This webpage is part of
The Legacy Project
website. (The Legacy Project
"will build a global exchange on the enduring consequences of the many
historical tragedies of the 20th century.") The
Visual Arts Library
features work from artists all over the world, including Jane
Alexander, William Kentridge, and Sue Williamson. The library includes
high quality images of the artwork and also background information on
the artists and the artwork.
Reclaiming Art:
Reclaiming Space - Post Apartheid Art from South Africa
This webpage is part of
the National Museum of
African Art website.
Reclaiming Art: Reclaiming Space was first exhibited in the Museum in
1999, but still remains intact as a virtual
exhibition.
Michael
Stevenson Gallery
This website is for
the Michael
Stevenson Gallery located in Cape Town, South Africa. The website
provides information on upcoming and previous contemporary art
exhibitions, publications by and
about contemporary South African
artists, and background information on contemporary South African
artists such as David Goldblatt, Penny Siopis, and Guy Tillim.
David
Goldblatt: Photographs from South
Africa
This website is a virtual
exhibition of David
Goldblatt's work. It
includes a biography, his photographs, and an audio narration about his
work.
What is Thupelo?
This website (loads very slowly) provides
information about the Thupelo
Workshops,
including previous workshops and upcoming workshops.
List of South African artists on Wikipedia