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South African Art History: the Possibility of Decolonising a Discourse

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South African Art History: the Possibility of Decolonising a Discourse South African Art History: The possibility of decolonising a discourse Danielle Loraine Becker Town Cape of Supervisors: Professor Adam Haupt Professor Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz University This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Film and Media University of Cape Town December 2017 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derivedTown from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes Capeonly. of Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Abstract In light of recent calls to decolonise curricula at South African universities there has been a renewed interest in what decolonisation might specifically imply for particular academic disciplines. Art history in South Africa has long struggled to move away from its settler colonial origins towards a more Afrocentric focus and its art world has frequently been criticised for being elitist and dominated by white practitioners. To this end, one of the primary questions that this dissertation seeks to answer is to what extent indigenous, African art and African epistemology has been included in South African art history and the institutions that support despite the discourse’s traces of colonialism. Through a discussion and analysis of South African art history this dissertation seeks to describe the changes in the discourse since the late twentieth-century in light of the entanglements of the national; the colonial and the decolonial. Such an analysis is provided through a discussion of the biases of art history as a discourse originating in Western Europe; the geographical location of museums and university departments; the character of South African art historical writing; the curatorial strategies used to display African art in South African museums and the specific nature of art history curricula as it is taught at South African universities. The dissertation that follows therefore aims to provide an overarching view of South African art history that takes into account a range of factors impacting its particular framing so that the question of decolonisation can be adequately addressed. The dissertation finds that South African art history has a specific, settler colonial character and that historical African art has been neglected in art historical discourse despite overt attempts to transform the nature of the discipline post-democracy. It is argued that this may be the result of a shift in focus towards contemporary practice in the twenty-first century and away from the historical as a result of a resistance to cultural or racial labels attributed to art due to the legacy of apartheid legislation. As such, I argue that South African art history may find a path towards decolonisation through a renewed focus on historical South African and African art that is perceived on its own terms. i Acknowledgments Thank you to the University of Cape Town (UCT), the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT) for the financial support that allowed me to complete this dissertation. To my supervisors, Adam Haupt and Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz; without your guidance the completion of this work would not have been possible. Barbaro, you took me on a journey of discovery in relation to African art and challenged my thinking process in a way that I will always be grateful for. To all the South African academics and museum staff at various institutions who answered my emails, provided me with information, offered me access to their curricula, had documents scanned and sent to me when physical access was not possible, who gave up their time for interviews and who helped me understand the historical context – I am deeply grateful. I hope this work will offer an analysis that is useful to us all. To my family who provided me with much needed support and was invested in my research to the point of sending me links to interesting articles, taking photos of relevant material and proof reading the final document. I could not have done this without you. And finally, to my husband, Thorsten. This work would quite literally not have been possible without your unwavering support on both an emotional and intellectual level. Thank you, this dissertation is for you and for the life that will follow. ii Acronyms and Abbreviations AHWGSA – Kunhistoriese Werkgemeenskap (Afrikaans) or the Art Historical Work Group of South Africa ANC – African National Congress BSP – Bureau for Scientific Publication CST – Colonialism of a Special Type CBD – Central Business District HBU – Historically Black University (also known as an historically disadvantaged university) HWU – Historically White University (also known as an historically advantaged university) PAC – Pan Africanist Congress RSA – Republic of South Africa SAAAH – South African Association of Art and Architectural Historians SACP – South African Communist Party SAJAAH – South African Journal of Art and Architectural History SAJAH – South African Journal of Art History SAJCAH – South African Journal of Cultural and Art History SARChi – South African Research Chairs Initiative SAVAH – South African Visual Art Historians TBVC – Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, Ciskei WITS Art Museum – University of the Witwatersrand Art Museum iii Table of contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................................... II ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................. IV TABLE OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................... VI INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: SOUTH AFRICA: THE IMPACT OF HISTORICAL DIVISION .............................. 19 CHAPTER 2: ART HISTORY AS IDEOLOGICAL APPARATUS ..................................................... 52 CHAPTER 3: SOUTH AFRICAN ART HISTORY: THE CHARACTER OF A DISCOURSE ..... 82 CHAPTER 4: ART HISTORY IN SOUTH AFRICA: FINDING AFRICA IN THE CURRICULUM .................................................................................................................. 115 CHAPTER 5: SOUTH AFRICAN ART HISTORY: ACCESS TO INSTITUTIONS .................... 145 CHAPTER 6: MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES: ‘AFRICAN ART’ ON DISPLAY IN SOUTH AFRICA ................................................................................................................................ 161 iv CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 205 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................ 214 APPENDIX A LIST OF SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES ............................................................. A1 APPENDIX B OVERVIEW OF CURRICULUM AT SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES .......... B1 APPENDIX C SUMMARY OF SAVAH CONFERENCES 1985 TO 2017 ...................................... C1 v Table of Figures Figure 1: Protest at Stellenbosch University in April 2015 by the group known as Open Stellenbosch. One of the signs reads, “Wim, I feel like I am in Europe”. (Photograph: Danielle Becker). ................................................................................................... 4 Figure 2: Image used for the online editorial from Art Times, 17th February 2016. 45 Figure 3: A pile of artwork burnt on the 16th February 2016 at UCT. The painting, Release Our Leaders by Keresemose Richard Baholo (1993) can be seen on top of the pile. ............................................................................................................................. 46 Figure 4: Keresemose Richard Baholo. Extinguished Torch of Academic Freedom. (1993). Part of a collection of seven works commissioned by the Student Affairs department and presented to the University of Cape Town’s Works of Art Committee in 1993. They were on display in the Otto Beit Building and five of the seven were destroyed in the fire on February 16th 2016. ............................................................................................ 47 Figure 5: Keresemose Richard Baholo. What a Horror! (1992). Johannesburg Art Gallery (Photograph courtesy of the Johannesburg Art Gallery). ................................... 49 Figure 6: Keresemose Richard Baholo. Illustration for the text “Birds of Clay: A Sotho Legend” in The Quivering Spear and other South African Legends and Fables (Thomas A. Nevin, 1996) page 62. ...................................................................................... 50 Figure 7: [Figure in foreground] Umndwana (fertility figure), Ndebele People, South Africa. Mid-20th century. Medium: glass beads and plant fibre. This image is from a display at the National Museum of
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