The History of Art in South Africa - Research Proposal Example

Art in South Africa [insert here] Final Paper Project AFRI 222 African Cultural Traditions [Insert Time Here] Haas] I. Introduction Summary of the community Service Project South Africa has one of the strongest Art culture in Africa. Its long history has seen it emerge as one of the world’s best-chosen art destination. Art in South Africa dates back to ancient times with rock and cave paintings by the ancestors of the modern Bushman and San. Contemporary art in South Africa is so diverse due to the nature of the country’s history. Different artistic expressions and movements have defined art in South Africa over a period of 5 decades. From the early days of colonization by the Dutch, then the independence from the British, the apartheid era from 1949 to 1989 and the post apartheid era, art in South Africa has been hugely diversified in terms of subject and matter. The population in South Africa is hugely diverse when it comes to the issue of race. The leading races found in South Africa include Blacks, Whites, Indians and Coloured’s. The role of race in South African Art cannot be ignored as it has had a significant impact and resonates in Most of the South African artists work. An exhibition of South African artwork from the 19th century to modern popular art pieces will take place at University Gallery for students, faculty, and staff attending Indiana State University. The exhibition will run for one week in celebration of the South African Art Struggles during the apartheid period. The art exhibition will run daily for the seven days starting from 12pm to 5 pm and later on Guest artists from South Africa will take to the podium and share their experiences on the history of art in South Africa. Objectives The history of South Africa has been told through many forms. However, art is one of the forms that captured the history of the country since Ancient times. Students in the university will have a better understanding of South Africa history in the eyes of different artists, through different races and lastly through different forms of art media. The history of art itself in South Africa is an intriguing one, and in holding the exhibition, cultural understanding of South Africans will be achieved. At the end of each exhibition and lectures, students and lectures will fill single cards to determine the impact on students. Context The audience that this exhibition target includes students and lecturers from different faculties at Indiana State University. The university population is composed of students from different cultural background. Knowledge on the different cultures is essential for each student and faculty individuals in the university. This will help in understanding other people’s culture while at the same time ensuring that there is cohesion in the University population. Students need to learn beyond their own culture and this art show will be enable better understanding of  differences in other cultures. South Africa has a rich cultural background and those who wish to have future dealings in South Africa will find the exhibition particularly educative. Community Connections For the exhibition to run smoothly volunteers from the student body will be required to ensure that security and issues of mobilizing and ushering in guests are taken care of. The transportation of the artwork will also require students and other volunteers. The University Gallery will need to be cleaned daily.  Preparations for the lectures by the various guest artists has to be done. The help of the student community will be beneficial to ensure that the exhibition is a success. Budget The exhibition will require funds to help transport various south African art pieces from Art galleries around the university. The galleries will also need some amount of money to be paid so that they can lend the paintings and other art pieces. This will be achieved by organizing fundraising events to help collect enough money. The South African consulate will also be approached to offer the sponsorship of the event. Outreach and Promotion In promoting the exhibition, a comprehensive advertising campaign will be launched in the university four weeks prior to the proposed date. Posters picturing samples of the exhibition will be placed on all notice boards in the university while at the same time; reservations to have the exhibition on the university website will be made. Other university websites will also feature the exhibition. The university radio will also be used as a media for advertising the exhibition. Some of the guest speakers during the exhibition will be mentioned and their achievements stated. This will help in convincing more students and faculty members in  attending the exhibition. II. Research findings Art in South Africa can be categorized in three different forms. These are the form of artworks, the period and eras of art and the background of art. The Dutch colonized South Africa in 1652. However, the British later colonized the Dutch during the great partitioning of Africa. In 1910, South Africa got its independence from the British. However, the independence was not for the Africans but for the Dutch inhabitants. Struggles by the black community in the country led to the separation of people in terms of their races in 1948 to 1989. This is what was commonly known as the era of apartheid. During this era, many artworks illustrated the fight against apartheid and the suffering of the people. The black artist movement gained pace during the era. It was later in 1989 that the apartheid era ended. Nelson Mandela, was released from Robben Island and later on in 1994, he became the first black president of South Africa (Battiss 1982: 7). The colonial era in South Africa saw the rise of many Dutch artists in the country. The artists concentrated on depicting their new world in such detail that most paintings in this period have a lot of selective emphasis. Artists from all over the world travelled to South Africa and tried to capture the life of the new world. One of the most renowned of these artists is Thomas Baines who managed to capture the people, the flora, fauna, and the beautiful landscape. Painters such as Jan Volschenk and Hugo Nude started a local kind of art in South Africa in the late 19th century. Early in the 20th century, Dutch born artist JH Pierneer inspired a new geometric form to the South African art scene by feeding the Afrikaner National ideology. Two of the most famous women artists in South Africa came into the scene in the 1930s. Maggie Laubscher and Irma Stern subjects were post-impressionist and expressionist in technique. Younger and more enthusiastic artists at the time emerged to challenge the old artistic trends by embracing cosmopolitanism. Such artists like Moses Kottler, Maud Sumner and Gregoire Boonzaeier transformed the pre-apartheid artistic forms (Battiss 1982: 25). During the period starting 1948-1989, South Africa saw new and emerging trends in art. It was during the apartheid period that more diverse forms of Art emerged. White Artists were more recognized during the early days of Apartheid. This can be attributed mainly due to the availability of resources and professional training in Europe and the US. Hence, white artists in South Africa formed the corpus of the identity of South African art. World War II saw the return of many white South Africans from Europe with new and emerging trends in the art world. Jean Welz brought a new form of sophistication in still life’s, nudes and even portrait paintings. Maurice van Esche is credited to have brought modernist techniques from his teacher, Matisse to South Africa (Battiss 1982: 78). However, as white artists were credited on bringing the European matter to South Africa, African forms started to influence most of the white artist’s creations. The African forms become a vital influence on art in South Africa. Walter Battiss is one of the renowned white South Africans who took motifs and styles from the San rock art. His most revered work is Symbols of Life, 1967 that used San-Type figures in a kind of symbolic alphabet scattered on a surface of an abstract painting. Alex Preller in his work, The kraal and Hieratic Women, had been profoundly influenced by the African visual stimuli. Cecil Skotnes, who worked with black people, is remembered for her work, which was influenced by Picasso. However, her appreciation of African masks was quite influential in her work. He is remembered as South African master wood artist by bringing in European and African styles in collision. The African landscape became a crucial composition in abstracts and compositions by various artists at the same time. Works by Bettie Cilliers Barnard, Larry Scully and George Boysbiore a lot of symbolism and interaction with the natural and urban South African life. The African form became a subject of many white South African artists during the apartheid period (Peffer 2009: 107). It is also during the apartheid period that African artists emerged to claim their position in the South African art world. African artists were less interested in depicting the complex and formal approach of art that western styled artists were exploring. The most famous African artists from South Africa during this period were Gerard Sekoto, George Pemba and Dumile Feni. Sekoto’s paintings are some of the highly acclaimed paintings by an African. His work reflects the vital elements of the urban unacknowledged culture in South Africa. His outstanding paintings include Street scene, yellow houses and song of the pick. His work covered struggles of the black population against white oppression in the urban areas. He however moved to Paris where his work was never recognized as it had been in South Africa. Pemba did not have much public acclaim but he painted late into his 90s. His work focused on the life of the poor and neglected lives of Africans. He also tried to capture the forgotten history of the Xhosa in his work (Peffer 2009: 117). John Koenakeefe Mohl, who founded the center for training black students in Sophiatown, fast tracked the emergence of Black artists. Cecil Skotnes established the Polly Street Art Center in Johannesburg. Lucky Sibiya and Louis Maqhubela are some of the artists who emerged from the center. Black artists suffered many obstacles in attaining the standards set by their white counterparts. One of the major problems that they encountered was the lack of enough resources. This was a blessing to some of them as they experimented with other media forms than the formal artistic materials. For example, artists like Dumile Feni used ballpoint pen instead of oil paint to make his drawings. They also used Linocut instead of canvas, which was not readily available. The works of john Muafangejo and Azaria Mbatha are some of the masterpieces that were produced on Linocut. Cyprian Shilakoe, Cameron Voyifwa and William Zulu established linocut into its own subgenre (Williamson 2010: 34-48). A very prominent part of South African art scene that has emerged in the recent past is the crafts. Crafts have reinvented themselves into one of the most crucial aspects of the South African art world. Crafts have led to what many critics term as the reinvention of tradition. The artistic works range from embroidered clothing to simple designs. These crafted works are sold in many streets in South Africa. Crafts have become a cultural representation of the South African culture. Some of the most renowned crafts from south Africa that have found their way to international exhibitions include, Isiphethu Embroidery by Jane Msibi and the Ndebele beadwork apron that hang at the Carnegie Art gallery (Williamson & Jamal 1996: 78). III. Conclusion The history of art in South Africa tells the history of south Africa as a whole. Through art, various artists have captured significant events that transformed the country. Art in South Africa was an exclusive white practice. However, various changes and interest enabled the black artists to rise and show the world what they know. South African Art is diverse but focused on several issues of the African form. Through art, many people will understand South Africans Apartheid history in a visual form. Bibliography Print Sources Williamson, Sue and Ashraf Jamal. 1996. Art in South Africa: The Future Present. David Philip Batiss, Walter. 1982. Art in South Africa. Red Fawn Press Williamson, Sue. 2010. Resistance Art in South. Juta and Company Ltd Peffer, John. 2009. Art and the End of Apartheid. Minnesota: u of Minnesota Online Sources De Waal, Shaun. South African Art. Retrieved 24th April 2011 from http://www.southafrica.info/about/arts/art.htm Southern Africa, 1900 A.D.–present. Retrieved 24th April 2011 from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=11®ion=afo Protest art in South Africa 1968 - 1976: a study of its production, context and reception. Retrieved 24th april 2011 from  http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/protest-art-south- africa-1968-2 Art in Africa. Retrieved 24th April 2011 from http://arthistoryresources.net/ARTHafrica.html Video Sources Contemporary South African Art. 2009. Produced and Distributed by Stephen Welz and Co http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRyMpJmlKs Read More