Grade 12 Visual Culture Studies Summaries
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GRADE 12 VISUAL CULTURE STUDIES SUMMARIES 1 Artists discussed QUESTION 1 Emerging artists of South Gerard Sekoto, The song of the Pick Africa Gerard Sekoto, Prison Yard George Pemba, Portrait of a young Xhosa woman George Pemba, Eviction – Woman and Child QUESTION 2 South African artists Irma Stern, Pondo Woman influenced by African and/or Irma Stern, The Hunt indigenous art forms Walter Battiss, Fishermen Drawing Nets Walter Battiss, Symbols of Life QUESTION 3 Socio-political – including Jane Alexander, Butcher Boys Resistance art of the ’70s and Jane Alexander, Bom Boys ’80s Manfred Zylla, Bullets and Sweets Manfred Zylla, Death Trap QUESTION 4 Art, craft and spiritual works John Muafangejo. Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord Jesus for R3.00 mainly from rural South Africa John Muafangejo. New archbishop Desmond Tutu Enthroned Jackson Hlungwani. Large Crucifix and star Jackson Hlungwani, Leaping Fish QUESTION 5 Multimedia and New media – William Kentridge, Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City after Paris alternative contemporary and William Kentridge. Shadow Procession popular art forms in South Van der Merwe, Biegbak/Confessional Africa Jan van der Merwe, Waiting QUESTION 6 Post-1994 democratic identity Churchill Madikida, Struggles of the heart in South Africa Churchill Madikida,Status Hasan and Husain Essop, Thornton Road Hasan and Husain Essop, Pit Bull Training QUESTION 7 Gender issues Penelope Siopis, Patience on a monument (Choose two artists) Penelope Siopis, Shame Mary Sibande, ‘They don’t make them like they used to do’ Mary Sibande, Conversation with Madame C.J. Walker Lisa Brice, Sex Show Works Lisa Brice, Plastic makes perfect Jane Alexander, Stripped (“Oh Yes” Girl) QUESTION 8 Architecture in South Africa Not included in these summaries. 2 QUESTION 1: Emerging artists of South Africa GLOSSARY: Apartheid was the policy of the National Party who came to power in South Africa in 1948. The idea was that different races should be kept separate. Before 1948 – segregation between the races) Township art is a term to describe the works of black artists that expressed township life in South Africa. It portrays everyday life such as shebeens, church, etc. It shows how the black population adapted to urbanisation. Historical Context: In 1989 the Johannesburg Art Gallery presented an exhibition of black South African artists to the public called – The Neglected Tradition: towards a new history of South African art (1930 – 1988). During apartheid there was very little written about the art of black people. This was an important exhibition to change perceptions and to see a more represented history of South African art. GERARD SEKOTO (1913 - 1993) GEORGE PEMBA (1912 – 2001) He stayed in different SA townships such as Pemba was born in 1912 in a small rural village near Sophiatown, District Six and Eastwood, Pretoria. In Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. He received his 1947, Sekoto moved to Paris, France. He appears to school education in Paterson in the Eastern Cape and have gone to broaden his artistic experience rather afterwards obtained his teacher’s qualification at the than as a political exile, although the injustices of the Lovedale Teacher’s College in Alice in the in Eastern racial situation played a role. He never returned to Cape. Pemba can be seen as a self-trained artist South Africa, although his stay in Paris was not having only brief contacts with formal art training. always happy. INFLUENCES SUBJECT MATTER/THEMES INFLUENCES SUBJECT MATTER/THEMES His surroundings in South Africa – the Urban scenes of everyday live in the European styles such as Realism – his Portraits and group portraits, social vibrancy of the townships such as townships, figure compositions and portrayal of the poor in the townships in a documentation , religious works and Sophiatown and District Six. portraits. A detailed and loving naturalistic way, Impressionism - the protest works. Although Pemba painted Post-Impressionism. His intuitive sense of documentation of people and places he fleeting moment and Expressionism - some Eastern-Cape landscape, man was colour links his work with Post- lived in subjective use of colour and distortion in his most important theme. New Brighton Impressionism. some works. and its people, where he spent most of his MEDIA: Mainly oil paintings MEDIA: Watercolours, oil paintings life, inspired a large part of his work. STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS ISSUES THAT HIS WORKS STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS ISSUES THAT HIS WORKS RAISES/HIS CONTRIBUTION RAISES/HIS CONTRIBUTION Figurative; highly subjective colours create His paintings often do not show the harsh A strong feeling for shape in his work - Underlaying themes/issues such as fear, an emotional impact; His shapes have a reality of life in the townships, but are solid with weight, descriptive and flight, joy, lost, everyday life, cultural roundness and solidity; Love for patterns; rather involved with exploration of sometimes simplified and with traditions, human right, religion and for instance the sink roofs portrayed as formal elements. A rather idealized view expressionistic distortion: Early political subjects form his work.His work parallel lines; Distortion and his often- of these communities. His work is never watercolor works show subtle descriptive gives an interesting view of the changes in clumsy handling of shapes; Unusual threatening or political, although he shows colors. In later works there are large South Africa – the traditional rural tribal perspective; His figure compositions often sympathy for his subjects and their color contrasts with sharp contrasts life replaced by urbanisation, as well as do not depict faces of the people ; circumstances. His work documents areas between light and dark. Primary and political injustices. In his work one gets a Emotional response/created a strong of South Africa which no longer exist, and secondary colors together with white feeling of togetherness between people – atmosphere. forms an important historical record of life areas are characteristic of his works. a society that stands together although in Sophiatown and District Six. One of they are suffering. pioneers of black art in South Africa and one of first to make a living from his art. 3 QUESTION 1: Emerging artists of STYLE OF WORK MEDIUM AND TECHNIQUE South Africa Figurative Oil painting with strong brushstrokes TITLE MESSAGE AND MEANING Gerard Sekoto, The song of the Pick, One of Sekoto’s most political works with oil painting, 1946 – 47. a contrast between the physical powers of the workers with the weakness of the white warden. SUBJECT AND DESCRIPTION The work shows that the black workers, although subordinated to the white boss, are actually the Figure composition. The subject is a stronger figures. The title is suitable – the viewer group of black workers with their can nearly ‘hear’ the song of the pick in this picks, while a white pipe-smoking visual work. warden watches them. All the focus is on the workers with their identical postures with their picks high above their heads. FORMAL ART ELEMENTS Sekoto simplified shapes The black figures form a strong diagonal line. The colour is predominantly in primary colours – red, yellow and blue. The emotional impact of this works is result of his highly subjective colours. He created roundness and solidity in his shapes by the strong contrasts between light and dark. Sekoto cropped the top (not all the picks are visible) which places the viewer in the middle of the action. The composition is strongly asymmetrical with the large group of workers on the left that are balanced by the small figure of the warden on the right. Rhythm is created by the repetition of shapes and colours. 4 QUESTION 1: Emerging artists of STYLE OF WORK MEDIUM AND TECHNIQUE South Africa Oil painting with strong brushstrokes TITLE MESSAGE AND MEANING Gerard Sekoto, Prison Yard, oil , 1944. In this work he explores the psychological difference between the prisoners and guard. The SUBJECT AND DESCRIPTION prisoners are squashed together with their arms Figure composition. Sekoto lived with close to their bodies, while the guard strides with Mrs Manuel in a house facing the open legs. Everything about the prisoners is Roeland Street jail which provided captive – their postures, clothes and the close inspiration for this work. A group of group they form – in contrast with the freedom prisoners walk under control of a and openness of the guard. prison guard. FORMAL ART ELEMENTS In the composition the figures fill the canvas and only on the right hand is a suggestion of a landscape with mountain. Sekoto’s work shows distortion. His shapes have a roundness and solidity. Diagonal lines create the composition with the prisoners and railing on the right hand side. There are no open spaces to escape to and everything focuses on the group of figures. He uses mainly primary colours. He explores repetition of form, and contrasts the prisoners effectively with the guard. 5 QUESTION 1: Emerging artists STYLE OF WORK MEDIUM AND TECHNIQUE of South Africa Naturalism Watercolour; smooth blending of the colours to create the different shapes and tonal values. (His early works were done in watercolours – a cheap medium.) TITLE: MESSAGE AND MEANING George Pemba, Portrait of a young Xhosa woman, watercolour on "My objective is to interpret the paper, 1946. feeling of my people". In his early works he documented the SUBJECT AND DESCRIPTION traditional and rural life of the Xhosa people. A portrait of a young Xhosa He treats the woman with dignity woman in traditional dress. She and one can see she is proud of her tilts her head and look past the heritage. viewer. He also gives a record of traditional customs. Pemba also gives a psychological insight and an understanding of personality – she was a real person. FORMAL ART ELEMENTS The woman forms the focal point in this painting. The bare arm leads the viewer to her face. Pemba lovingly describes her clothes and beadwork in detail.