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Setting Art Apart: Inside and Outside the South African National Gallery (1895 PDF

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Setting  Art  Apart:  Inside  and  Outside  the  South  African   National  Gallery  (1895-­‐2016)   Qanita  Lilla   Dissertation presented for the degree of Visual Arts, at the Stellenbosch University. Supervisor:  Prof.  Elizabeth  Gunter   Co-­‐Supervisor:  Dr.  Andrea  Meyer   March  2018 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration   I  declare  that  the  entirety  of  the  work  contained  herein,  is  my  own  original  work.     I  am  the  sole  author  thereof  (save  to  the  extent  explicitly  otherwise  stated)  that   reproduction  and  publication  thereof  by  Stellenbosch  University  will  not  infringe   any  third  party  rights.    I  have  not  previously  in  its  entirety  or  in  part  submitted  it   for  obtaining  any  qualification.   Qanita  Lilla   Copyright © 2018 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved I Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract     Setting  Art  Apart  explores  practices  of  exclusion  and  erasure  in  the  white  art   world  in  South  Africa.  It  looks  at  how  art  and  art  spaces,  such  as  the  art  museum   and  the  art  academy  were  part  of  a  project  of  reinforcing  difference.  The  South   African  National  Gallery  in  Cape  Town  is  the  historical  reference  of  the  study.  The   time  frame  spans  the  colonial  beginnings  of  the  museum  through  apartheid  to  the   democratic  present.  After  a  long  period  of  bureaucratic  uncertainty  the  South   African  National  Gallery  was  opened  in  1930  as  a  monument  to  white  art  and   culture.  Excluding  those  who  did  not  belong  was  part  of  the  process  of  white  self-­‐ affirmation.   State   art   museums   served   to   make   black   people   invisible   by   portraying   them   as   marginal   while   denying   their   art.   Furthermore,   the   art   museum   played   a   role   in   the   way   powerful   white   constituencies   imagined   themselves.   There   are   two   prevailing   elements   that   I   have   found   useful   to   examine  in  the  project:  the  manipulation  of  space  and  the  changing  position  of   the  excluded  black  individual.  Space  is  what  was  imagined,  defined  and  controlled   by  the  South  African  National  Gallery.  The  museum  shaped  itself  into  a  field  of   contention  during  the  colonial  period,  physically  setting  art  apart  in  the  racially   heterogeneous  city  of  Cape  Town.  The  museum  differentiated  itself  from  private   spaces   during   apartheid   by   aligning   itself   with   the   sanitization   and   reconfiguration  of  the  city.  The  black  individual  had  a  fraught  and  traumatic   relationship  with  the  white  art  world.  At  once  omnipresent  and  invisible,  black   people   did   the   manual   labor   and   kept   the   museum   space   pristine   but   their   presence  was  scarcely  recognized.  In  this  thesis  I  consider  numerous  instances  of   the  erasure  of  black  subjectivity  including  the  way  black  female  models  were   studied  as  generic  black  bodies  in  drawing  classes  at  Rhodes  University  and  were   barely  considered  human.  After  apartheid,  at  the  South  African  National  Gallery,   the  art  made  by  black  women  was  made  hyper-­‐visible  and  the  women  themselves   were  objectified  while  the  legacy  of  apartheid  endured.  In  order  to  investigate   practices  inside  the  museum,  I  use  traditional  methods  of  archival  research  and   look  at  exhibition  catalogues,  annual  reports,  newspaper  reports  and  associated   publications  to  track  what  was  included.  However,  looking  at  what  was  erased   and  excluded  exceeds  the  bounds  of  traditional  methodologies,  especially  since   archives   were   formed   through   colonial   and   apartheid   enterprise.   In   order   to   engage   with   the   apartheid   archive   while   seeking   to   examine   what   is   on   the   outside  I  position  myself  in  the  argument.  As  researcher,  as  a  woman  of  colour   and  as  a  subject  excluded  from  the  white  art  world  I  insert  my  personal  voice  and   experience  in  order  to  open  up  a  space  closed  off  to  people  of  colour.  Setting  Art   Apart  is  a  project  about  a  public  institution  that  was  never  truly  public  and  by   inserting  my  own  voice  I  engage  subjectively  with  marginalization  and  exclusion.         II Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements     This  project  has  had  a  convoluted  journey,  reaching  its  conclusion  would  not  have   been  possible  without  the  kindness  and  patience  of  numerous  people.  Firstly,  I   would   like   to   thank   my   supervisor   Prof.   Elizabeth   Gunter   at   Stellenbosch   University   who   offered   me   support,   encouragement   and   good   humour   throughout  this  project.  Thank  you  to  my  co-­‐supervisor  Dr.  Andrea  Meyer  at   Technische  Universität,  Berlin,  who  showed  immense  enthusiasm  for  this  project   and  who  added  valuable  insight  despite  our  physical  distance.     Words  cannot  convey  my  thanks  for  the  support  I  have  received  from  my  family.   My  husband  Ross  Campbell  has  always  believed  that  this  was  something  I  needed   to  do.  He  never  once  doubted  my  abilities,  taking  on  more  than  his  fair  share  and   enduring  this  intense  period  with  great  fortitude  and  tenderness.  To  my  beautiful   children  Hamza  and  Bilal,  three  years  seemed  like  a  very  long  time  but  you’ll  both   be  happy  that  I  can  finally  emerge  out  from  under  ‘the  book’.  Thank  you  to  my   incredible  sister,  Ibtisaam  Lilla  for  her  generosity  as  well  as  her  invaluable  help   across  academic/family  life,  for  her  help  with  archival  citations,  IT  support  and   with  countless  meals  and  childcare.  Thank  you  to  my  mother,  Nazley  Lilla,  who   believed  that  my  voice  had  to  be  heard  and  my  story  told.  I  only  truly  felt  that  this   project  was  worthwhile  when  I  saw  the  excitement  and  recognition  in  her  eyes.   My   father,   Abdulrahman   Lilla,   who   survived   because   of   education   and   who   passed  on  the  yearning  and  passion  to  me.       To  my  dear  friends  who  have  shown  me  such  love  and  generosity.  I  am  blessed  to   count  you  as  kindred  spirits.  Kylie  Thomas  who  is  compassionate,  caring  and   ambitious,  who  generously  shared  so  much  of  her  knowledge  with  me.  Mary   Coombes   who   has   come   a   long   way   from   Rhodes,   who   survived   art   school   stronger  and  wiser.  Thank  you  for  kindly  allowing  me  to  include  your  beautiful   drawings.  Carole  Thompson  who  believed  that  there  was  life  beyond  the  trenches   of  Doha.  I  thank  you  all  deeply.     I  would  like  to  acknowledge  and  thank  the  National  Institute  for  the  Humanities   and  Social  Sciences  (NIHSS)  for  the  financial  support  over  the  period  of  the  study.     III Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za   Table  of  Contents   List  of  Figures   IX   INTRODUCTION     Background  and  context   2   Theoretical  framework   4   Chapter  outline   6   Race   11   Premise   14   CHAPTER  ONE                                                                                                                          Setting  Art  Apart       1.1    Introduction   16   1.2      South  African  National  Gallery   17   1.3    Doing  theory   20   1.4    Visual  culture  and  the  postcolonial   26   1.5      Postcolonialism  and  the  subaltern  subject   29   1.6    Postcolonial  Theory   33   1.7    Decolonial  Thinking   34   1.8    The  subaltern  and  border  thinking   35   1.9    Syntheses:  Whiteness  and  the  construction  of  national  identity   39   1.10    Conclusion   42   CHAPTER  TWO                  Shaping  a  Field  of  Contention  at  the  South  African  National  Gallery    (1895–1947)       2.1    Introduction   44   2.2    Origins  and  Background  of  a  Colonial  Art  Museum  (1895)   47   2.3    Classical  Casts  for  the  Colony  (1908)   48     IV Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 2.4    The  Aesthetics  of  Union  and  the  South  African  National  Gallery  Opens   (1910  to  1930)   52   2.5    Conservative  rhetoric  in  the  Cape  Town  art  world  (1940–1947)   57   2.6    The  Art  Sales  and  the  Commission  of  Enquiry  (1944–1947)   62   2.7      The  Modern  art  debate  revisited  (1947)   68   2.8      Good,  Decent,  and  Uplifting:  The  Bailey  Collection  (1947)   70   2.9      Conclusion   72   CHAPTER  THREE     The  power  of  public  and  private  spaces:  Remapping  the  city  and  the  South  African   National  Gallery  (1949-­‐1970’s)       3.1    Introduction   74   3.2    Eliding  blackness:  The  South  African  National  Gallery  (1950’s)   76   3.3    John  Paris  (1949-­‐1963)   78   3.4    Displaying  whiteness:  temporary  and  permanent  exhibitions  (1950’s-­‐1960’s)   79   3.5    Founder  Nations  (1958)   83   3.6    Forced  removals  and  white  collusion:  Cape  liberalism  and  early  apartheid   (1950’s-­‐1960’s)   87   3.7    The  last  days  of  District  Six  (1970’s)   92   3.8    The  District  Six  Museum   93   3.9      Forced  removals  and  looking  at  family  photographs   101   3.10      Re-­‐mapping  Cape  Town  and  the  District  Six  Museum   107   3.11      Conclusion   108   CHAPTER  FOUR                                                                              Inside  and  outside  a  divided  white  art  world  (1980’s)       4.1        Introduction:  Cultural  institutions  and  the  state  (1980’s)   111   4.2        PW  Botha’s  politics  and  Separate  Amenities  (1980’s)   117     V Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 4.3  Circumventing  state  censorship  at  the  South  African  National  Gallery  (1979)   121   4.4        The  state  of  art  in  South  Africa  conference  (1979)   124   4.5        South  African  Artists  Association  (SAAA)   131   4.6    The  Cape  Town  Triennial  and  the  Culture  and  Resistance  Arts  Festival   Gaborone,  Botswana  (1982)   134   4.6.1    Inside  the  white  art  world:  The  Cape  Town  Triennial  (1982)   134   4.6.2    Outside  the  white  art  world:  The  Culture  and  Resistance  Symposium  and   Festival  of  the  Arts,  Gaborone  (1982)   138   4.7        Thami  Mnyele:  artist,  activist   139   4.8      Apartheid  intervention  and  Operation  Plecksy  (1985)   144   4.9      People’s  art  and  the  state   146   4.10    Cultural  boycotts  (1981)   148   4.11    Valparaiso  Biennale  Chile  and  exhibitions  of  ‘good  will’  (1986)   148   4.12    South  African  Artists  respond  to  Valparaiso  (1987)   150   4.13    The  Esmeralda  and  El  Rostro  de  Chile  (The  face  of  Chile)  Pretoria   exhibition  (1985)   152   4.14      Arts  funding:  Foundation  for  the  Creative  Arts  (1989)   155   4.15      Conclusion   156   CHAPTER  FIVE                                                    The  black  body  imagined  in  a  white  art  world  (1990’s)       5.1    Introduction:  Life  drawing  and  art  instruction  at  Rhodes  University   158   5.2    The  art  history  syllabus   163   5.3    The  black  model  in  the  white  art  studio   167   5.4    Encountering  the  black  female  body  and  playing  at  having  a  white  eye   171   5.5    Apartheid  and  the  black  body   175   5.6    The  black  body  and  the  pursuit  of  knowledge   177   5.7    Invisibility  and  silence  on  the  fringes   181   5.8    Unknown  and  isolated:  black  experiences  in  academia  and  the  white  art   world   186     VI Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 5.9      Appropriating  the  European  life  class:  Los  Angeles,  USA   190   5.10    The  art  school,  university  and  art  museum   195   5.11        Black  women  in  the  museum   196   5.12    Conclusion   202   CHAPTER  SIX     Rebranding  the  South  African  National  Gallery:  Appropriating  Africa  and  the  black   body  (1990-­‐2000’s)       6.1    Introduction:  Redress  and  dressing  the  house  of  art   205   6.2    Visiting  the  museum  (1992)   206   6.3    Visiting  the  museum  (2016)   208   6.4    The  1990’s  political  context   210   6.5    Rebranding  the  South  African  National  Gallery   212   6.6    Marilyn  Martin’s  strategies   216   6.7    The  Foundation  of  Arts  (1989)   218   6.8    Quantifiable  gains   221   6.9    Lack  of  interference   222   6.10    Rapid  and  expanded  acquisitions  (1990-­‐1993)   223   6.11    Rebranding   225   6.12    Contradiction  and  redress   227   6.13    Changing  the  image  of  the  museum   228   6.14    Rebranding,  shape-­‐shifting   231   6.15    Redecorating  the  museum   233   6.16    Two  exhibitions:  Ezakwantu:  beadwork  from  the  Eastern  Cape  (1993)  and   IGugu  LamaNdebele:  Pride  of  the  Ndebele  (1994)   236   6.17    Carol  Kaufmann  interview  (2016)   243   6.18    A  new  logo   245   6.19    The  same  storytellers  spinning  new  tales   247   6.20    Conclusion   256       VII Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za CONCLUDING  CHAPTER     Curating  difference  at  the  South  African  National  Gallery  and  student  activism  in   Cape  Town  (2010-­‐2016)       7.1      Introduction   260   7.2      The  exhibition    Pierneef  to  Gugulective  (1910-­‐2010)   263   7.3      ‘Whiteness  burning’  Shackville  Protests  (2016)   271   7.4        Rhodes  Must  Fall  (2015)   274   7.5        The  Trans  Collective   276   7.6        Conclusion   280   Bibliography   281   •           VIII Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za List  of  Figures     Figure  1:  Andrew  Lamprecht,  Ed  Young  and  Bruce  Gordon,  2002.   8   Figure  2:  Rhodes  art  school    Mary  Coombes  and  me,  1993.   15   Figure  3:  Company  Gardens  and  the  South  African  National  Gallery,  1930.   16   Figure  4:  View  of  the  South  African  National  Gallery,  1950.   18   Figure  5:  Nongqawuse  and  Nonkosi,  1858.   23   Figure  6:  Two  unnamed  men  hold  up  paintings  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  the  South   African  National  Gallery,  1948.   28   Figure  7:  South  African  National  Gallery,  1960.   31   Figure  8:  A  child  looks  at  a  portrait  of  the  two  English  princesses,  Princess  Margaret   and  Princess  Elizabeth.  South  African  National  Gallery,  1938.   38   Figure  9:  The  South  African  National  Gallery,  2014.   44   Figure  10:  Interior  door  of  the  South  African  National  Gallery  showing  a  cast  from   the  Beit  Collection.  1930.   52   Figure  11:  The  South  African  National  Gallery  ,  Cape  Town,  South  Africa,  c.  1930.   55   Figure  12:    The  gardens  of  the  South  African  National  Gallery,  1930.   55   Figure  13:  Art  sale  from  the  South  African  National  Gallery,  1947.   61   Figure  14:  Art  sale  from  the  South  African  National  Gallery,  1947.   65   Figure  15:  Collection  of  Alfred  Beit,  The  South  African  National  Gallery,  1953.   74   Figure  16:  Governor  General  of  Union,  opening  the  Robinson  Collection  of  painting,   Princess  Labia  sits  beside  him,  1959.   80   Figure  17:  South  African  National  Gallery  and  the  Dutch  art  exhibition,  1953.   81   Figure  18:  Colour  chart  illustrating  layout  of  permanent  collections  in  1958,   Guidebook  to  the  permanent  collection,  1958.   83   Figure  19:  The  atrium  at  the  South  African  National  Gallery,  c1960.   87   Figure  20:  Jansje  Wissema,  Last  days  of  District  Six.  c.1970’s.   92   Figure  21:  The  District  Six  Museum  crew  based  at  the  Moravian  Church  District  Six.   Seen  from  the  right  are  Menisha  Collins,  Tina  Smith,  Vivian  Lalu  and  me,  2000.   94   Figure  22:  Nazley  Jeppie  in  Harfield,  Claremont,  1962.   96   Figure  23:  Christmas  family  photograph  taken  in  Cape  Town,  during  Harfield  days.   On  the  photograph  appear  Nazley,  Braim,  and  Phaldie  Jeppie,  c.1960’s.   97     IX

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Next to Nongqawuse's and Nonkosi's photograph of 1858 on my wall is a recent The door panels however, represent the 'land of milk and honey' and engravings, which were to be exhibited in the open-‐air atrium, Audre Lorde's poem 'A litany of survival' speaks to women of colour living on
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