John Pefer. Art and the End of . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009. xxii + 339 pp. Illustrations. $29.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-8166-5002-6.

Reviewed by Pamela Allara

Published on H-AfrArts (July, 2009)

Commissioned by Jean M. Borgatti (Clark Univeristy)

This book is a most welcome addition to the My major problem with this book is in its or‐ existing literature on the in South ganization. Art and the End of Apartheid attempts Africa. It purports to cover the years of censor‐ to contribute to an inclusive South his‐ ship and struggle during the latter stages of tory by bringing into focus the careers of black apartheid: 1976-1994, a period of artistic produc‐ South African artists whose adoption of mod‐ tion that has been designated as “resistance art.” ernism has, in some cases, kept them marginal‐ Pefer broadens out this category, and, substitut‐ ized in the misleading and often derogatory cate‐ ing the terms "oppositional" or "activist," traces gory of "township art." Pefer’s well-researched the complicated relationships between politics examination of the careers of artists such as Ger‐ and aesthetics with thoroughness and a solid his‐ ard Sekoto, Madi Phala, and in a separate chapter torical grounding. The South African art world, that is the centerpiece of the book, Durant Sihlali, then as now, was fraught with internecine battles, are illuminating and argue forcefully for their im‐ and Pefer works his way through the contested portance. However, the average reader may ini‐ issues with admirable evenhandedness. Although tially feel a bit misled. Given its broad general ti‐ some of the text is based on his doctoral disserta‐ tle, one might assume that this is a survey text tion for Columbia University (2002), the writing that will provide a balanced coverage of the vis‐ style is free of academic jargon; indeed, it is lucid ual arts in during this crucial period. and articulate, resulting in a scholarly book that is As interesting and important as this text is, how‐ a pleasure to read. Pefer is an expert in the feld ever, it is episodic, and because of its implied goal of modern and contemporary South African art of redress, includes some topics of lesser interest. and visual culture, and with this book he has pro‐ The result is that optimally this book should be vided a valuable contribution to its revisionist his‐ read in tandem with other recent publications, tory. such as those on the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft H-Net Reviews

Centre and the Polly Street studios, as well as clas‐ and pejoratively, termed ‘township art’” (p. 5). Be‐ sics such as Sue Williamson’s Resistance Art in fore returning to this topic, and Sekoto’s consider‐ South Africa.[1] In sum, if one abandons the hope able infuence on black artists under apartheid, of fnding the ideal required text for a survey he tackles the prickly issue of modernist primi‐ course, Art and the End of Apartheid provides de‐ tivism and the black artist. To illustrate the com‐ tailed discussions of complex topics that a broad‐ plexities of founding an African modernism that er treatment might of necessity gloss over. (I must would reference indigenous cultures, he uses the confess here that this criticism may be a genera‐ example of Ndebele mural painting, which was tional thing. As a student in the 1960s, I was just being "discovered" by the white art world in taught that "unity" and "coherence" were of para‐ the 1950s. Its most prominent exponent was the mount importance in a text, whereas the current Amadlozi (spirit of our ancestors) group founded generation is all about sampling.) by dealer Egon Guenther in 1963, with its "settler From the outset the author is clear that his primitivism" exemplifed by the work of Cecil aim is “ to examine the development of an opposi‐ Skotnes and Sydney Khumalo, the infuential tional, non-racial aesthetic practice … [by tracing] teachers at the Adult Non-European Recreation the historic predicament of urban-based black Center on Polly Street. This cubist-expressionist artists, their relations with white artists, and their style is contrasted with that of more naturalistic struggle for cultural and political representation painters such as Sekoto. Having established the through art” (p. xv). One of the central arguments two poles of modern art in the early apartheid of this book, also set forward clearly in its intro‐ years, Pefer then of necessity plunges into the duction, is that black and white artists operated in thicket of the critical assessment of township art. "grey areas," multiracial and intellectually sophis‐ He concedes that much of the art is repetitious, ticated urban zones that produced a hybrid aes‐ and because it contains little or no reference to thetic. This concept, so redolent of the ideal of politics of the era may stand accused of the "aes‐ non-racialism on which the Constitution would be theticization of poverty" for its white patrons. But based after 1990, is an inspiring one: the arts he gives space to ’s counter-argu‐ were not only not a "frill," but provided a model ment that township art was a sort of collective for the future, democratic South Africa. Indeed, in memory of the difcult living conditions blacks chapter 1, “Grey Areas and the Space of Modern endured under apartheid, a concept to which Pef‐ Black Art,” Pefer states bluntly that “as the state’s fer returns in his chapter on Sihlali. In his intrigu‐ segregationist program became more onerous af‐ ing conclusion to the summarized debate, Pefer ter the 1950s, it was the ‘black art scene’ that pre‐ argues that “black artists used modernism (and served the promise of a future nonracial South perhaps even self-primitivizing imagery) as a way Africa” (p. 5). If this claim seems a bit exaggerat‐ to share in the culture of the colonizer, at a time ed, nonetheless Pefer does successfully argue for when apartheid ideology explicitly denied and vi‐ the aesthetic and political signifcance of the art olently suppressed any signs of an in-common‐ created from the uprisings to the frst ness of cultures" (p. 34). He ends the chapter with democratic elections. the statement that the history of the struggle for representation in South African art should begin Gerard Sekoto serves as the representative of "here," although it is unclear what "here" means the emergence of this hybrid aesthetic, and Pefer exactly. is at pains to separate Sekoto’s depictions of ev‐ eryday life from the "repetitive, sentimental, self- During the 1960s, with the rise of Black Con‐ regarding and limited set of styles collectively, sciousness and the increasingly violent repression of the black majority, the cubist-expressive wing

2 H-Net Reviews represented by Polly Street artists such as Sydney poste to "township art" and all it repressed, in‐ Kumalo and Ezrom Legae along with the most cluding rape, violence, and robbery. It is an indeli‐ prominent artist to emerge during the 1960s, Du‐ ble image of the body in pain. mile Feni, took precedence over the naturalistic Chapter 3, “Culture and Resistance; Activist wing of township art, and, according to Pefer, Art and the Rhetoric of Commitment,” is devoted was “a crucial precursor to the Black Conscious‐ to the art and ideology of Thamsanqa "Thami" ness Movement.” In addition, these artists were Mnyele, who as a leader of the Medu Art Ensem‐ part of the global youth culture that broke down ble while in exile in , developed the con‐ barriers between the arts, moving "toward a more cept of an art of struggle created by cultural work‐ inclusive nexus of politics, performance, music, ers. This crucial movement in South African art visual art, and poetry” (pp. 50-51). In chapter 2, has yet to be adequately charted, and Pefer is “Becoming Animal: The Tortured Body During correct when he argues that the Culture and Re‐ Apartheid,” Pefer argues that the depiction of sistance Festival in Gabarone in 1982 was “an bodies reduced to the state of sacrifcial animals apogee moment for the ‘grey areas’ that had been was a metaphor for the actual torture of detainees preserved in the South African art world up to by the apartheid regime, as well as its monstrosity that time” (p. 97). Curiously, he barely mentions in general. Unfortunately, Pefer’s discussion of parallel developments within South Africa itself, the key examples of this trend, Feni’s Guernica which collectively came to be known as the resis‐ (1967) and Legae’s "Chicken Series," the latter a tance art movement. For example, Sue reaction to the death of in 1977, are not Williamson’s work as an artist-activist is not dis‐ illustrated. Thus when he places Paul Stopforth’s cussed, and Gavin Younge and CAP receive only a Biko series (1981) and Jane Alexander’s Butcher passing mention. I simply cannot understand Boys (1985-1986) within the expressionist art of such omissions, even if--and this remains unstat‐ political critique, the recontextualization of these ed--a major goal of the book is to plug holes in the iconic works of resistance art seems a bit forced. current historical accounts of South African art However, Pefer does carefully ground Stopforth’s under apartheid. work in the nonracial cultural arena of the Mar‐ Instead of a larger discussion of resistance ket Theatre and Gallery, located in the grey area art, Pefer moves quickly in the next chapter to of Newtown, and Stopforth was certainly a key the phenomenon of young township boys who, player in the vibrant nonracial social scene de‐ unable to go to school after the 1976 Soweto riots, scribed in the previous chapter. So, despite the made wire toys in the shape of the various Ar‐ fact that the gallery Stopforth co-founded was mored Personnel Carriers (APCs) that were caus‐ strongly infuenced by sixties art internationally, ing so much horrifc damage in their lives. Pefer and Stopforth himself by American "pop" artists recently co-founded Critical Interventions: Jour‐ such as George Segal, it is not unreasonable to nal of African Art History and Visual Culture, and place him within this broad trend. A reminder of the efort here to locate modernist art, which is the strong infuence of German Expressionism given the default defnition of painting and sculp‐ from the 1930s on, which the Amadlozi group re‐ ture, within the broader elements of South inforced, would have helped to provide greater African cultural production, is a welcome one. historical context for this cross-racial discussion. Even though the leap from the ideological argu‐ It is also signifcant that the work of Mmagkabo ments about activist/resistance art to the lived ex‐ Mmapula Helen Sebidi is placed in this context. perience of township children is a bit jarring, he Her , Where is My Home? The Mischief of does physically bring these semantically loaded the Township(1988), is a cubist-expressionist ri‐

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"toys" back into the art world, by discussing the efect an addendum to the previous one, and ex‐ life-sized steel and canvas Casspir left by artists amines the infuence of the Thupelo workshops in from the Katlehong community art center in a fostering a post-struggle art in the late 1980s, us‐ gallery during the frst Biennale, in ing the examples of David Koloane, Sam 1995. That is a wonderful example of re‐ Nhlengethwa, Kay Hassan, and Pat Mautloa. Al‐ sistance art that cuts both ways. though Pefer is explicit that all of these artists, Chapter 5, “Abstraction and Community: Lib‐ with the exception of Koloane, studied at Rorke’s erating Art during States of Emergency,” exam‐ Drift and/or Polly Street, the suggestion here is ines “how one group’s ‘formalist art exercise’ be‐ that the new aesthetic of everydayness they devel‐ came another’s ‘community art movement’” (p. oped resulted primarily from the Thupelo work‐ 129). At over forty pages the chapter narrates at shops and the experimental freedom they permit‐ length the story of the controversial intervention ted. With an unjustifed jab at former SANG direc‐ of English and American formalist modernist tor Marilyn Martin, who--he claims--"despised" re‐ artists into the South African cultural matrix sistance art, he uses her brief description of one through the two-week “Thupelo” workshops held of Madi Phala’s paintings to launch into an ex‐ between 1985 and 1991. The acrimonious debates tended discussion of this lesser known fgure. He over neocolonialism and elitism that this episode argues here that resistance art and abstract art generated permits Pefer to elaborate on the prob‐ were not opposite poles in this period, and that lems of defning modernism in South African art. the more "abstract" wing could and did carry radi‐ Despite positive outcomes, such as Koloane’s cal political content. This is certainly the case for founding of the Speedy Bag Factory artists’ studio these artists as it was for the earlier "expression‐ and residency program, the workshops them‐ ists" reviewed in chapter 2. However, in restrict‐ selves seem to have generated more heat than ing himself to "graduates" of Thupelo, he ignores light. I would have preferred to see the emphasis such other important examples as CAP participant here placed on the Johannesburg Art Foundation, Willie Bester, who moved well beyond a sloga‐ and ’s crucial role in supporting black neering art during the 1980s, but inexplicably is artists in this era. Pefer sets out a general not even mentioned in this text. Moreover, is it chronology of the foundation and hints at some of too much to expect that he would provide an ex‐ the difculties pertaining to its administration. ample of the woman participant in the Thupelo Since, according to Pefer, Ainslie is “one of a workshops, Bongi Dlomo? Can only guys be small group of white South African artists who, heavy? However, apart from these quibbles--why like Cecil Skotnes at Polly Street, made art across isn’t this or that artist included--I suspect that the color bar,” sharing his studio with Dumile these artists’ styles were a hybrid of their multi‐ Feni, Louis Maqhubela, Ezrom Legae, Ben Arnold, leveled artistic experiences, and not simply a re‐ David Koloane and others, (p. 134), a more com‐ sult of the spotty Thupelo interventions. plete account of how that studio operated is war‐ Perhaps these lacunae were necessary to ranted. The time is past due to give proper credit clear a space for the fne monographic study of to this key artist and mentor in South African “The Art of Durant Sihlali” in chapter 7. Pefer modern art, and to fully account for the fertile does not finch from the more thorny interpreta‐ "grey area" the Johannesburg Art Foundation cul‐ tive issues his art raises, from "township art" to tivated. Admittedly, it will not be an easy task. "settler primitivism," and he tactfully negotiates The following chapter, “These Guys are the artist’s radical stylistic shifts, as well as what Heavy: Alternative forms of Commitment,” is in could be considered his self-mythologizing. This solid art historical analysis is worth the price of

4 H-Net Reviews the book, whether or not you agree with his as‐ Rorke’s Drift: Empowering Prints (: sessment of Sihlali’s art. All of the threads he has Double Storey Books, 2003); and Sue Williamson, been tracing come together here, and if they re‐ Resistance Art in South Africa (Cape Town: Dou‐ main somewhat tangled, that is as it should be, as ble Storey Books, 1989/2004). Sihlali’s body of work merits additional and more extended study. Because the careers of Gerard Sekoto and Du‐ rant Sihlali frame this text, and give it its shape, the two fnal chapters, one on several examples of iconoclastic gestures found in South African art and visual culture at the end of apartheid, and the other a brief survey of art photography highlight‐ ing the work of Santu Mofokeng and Zwelethu Mthethwa, seem tacked on, even though the pho‐ tographic work pertains directly to the dominant topic of township art. Moreover, despite the rich cultural and politi‐ cal history Pefer provides throughout the text, the "grey areas" where the strict government-im‐ posed racial segregation was subverted needed even greater defnition for this central argument to be fully convincing. How do the histories of the various art centers--CAP, FUBA, Funda, Rorke’s Drift, and JAF--intersect to form an interlocking entry point for black South African artists? A more expansive treatment of the "grey areas" in the last few chapters would have left the reader with a clearer understanding of the development of modernism under apartheid, and how precise‐ ly it provided a model for a non-racial South Africa. As it is, Art and the End of Apartheid might better be titled “Episodes in Art and Visual Cul‐ ture in South Africa, 1976-1994,” or perhaps “The Politics of Cultural Production under Apartheid." But it is precisely because readers must think through the controversies he so adeptly summa‐ rizes in order to reach their own conclusions that this book is so very rewarding. Note [1]. Elza Miles, Polly Street: The Story of An Art Centre (Johannesburg: Ampersand Founda‐ tion, 2000); Philippa Hobbs and Elizabeth Rankin,

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Citation: Pamela Allara. Review of Pefer, John. Art and the End of Apartheid. H-AfrArts, H-Net Reviews. July, 2009.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24703

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