Art Times March 2010 - baixardoc

ART TIMESTHE SOUTH AFRICAN

March 2010

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Patrick Burnett

Members of the art community

are questioning why R150-million

for soccer-related projects has not

already been disbursed or, if there

wasn’t money in the first place, why it was promised. Nearly 160 applica-

tions - to run projects that included

festivals, exhibitions, public art and

displays of new works - were made

for the funding.

Meanwhile, there is speculation that

the money is being held up because

of reports that a forensic audit of

world cup funding is taking place

at the department. But the DAC

has denied that R150-million was

promised in 2010 in the first place. Instead, the amount was to have

been disbursed over three years,

with R75-million slated for 2009/10,

following on amounts of R20-million

in 2007/2008 and R54-million in

2008/2009. DAC spokesperson Lisa

Combrinck said: “I don’t know why

people think this is an art bank.”

She refused to provide details on

the forensic audit, saying it was sub

judice, but did state: “The perceived

delay in issuing funds to 2010 World

Cup related projects has nothing to

do with the forensic audit.”

She said due process was being

followed in terms of DAC’s funding

procedures and announcements

would be made as soon as the proc-

ess was finalized. In 2009, Minister Lulu Xingwane, noting that the world

cup presented a “rare opportunity

for us to showcase our rich cultural

heritage through our craft, music and

dance” established a 2010 task team

which was responsible for evaluating

the proposals.

The task team was disbanded at the

end of January and one task team

member contacted by SA Art Times

said the amount of money available

had never been communicated. “I

don’t know about the R150-million.”

Meanwhile, another member of the

task team, National Arts Council

CEO Annabell Lebethe, said

recommendations had been made

to Xingwane, but the task team had

not been responsible for apportion-

ing funds.

She said the focus in selecting

between 50 and 100 projects had

been on less marginalized com-

munities and the promotion of artistic

excellence. Those who submitted

proposals fear that time is running

out. Market Theatre artistic director

Malcolm Purkey said the lack of

clarity made it difficult to plan.He said the end of February would

be the cut-off time for receiving

funding to put together their pro-

posed programme, which involved

showcasing 10 classic South African

plays at the National Arts Festival in

Grahamstown. “If it comes there will

be a scramble and a panic,” he said.

Sibikwe Art Centre artistic director

Phyllis Klotz said a proposal had

been submitted that would involve

a partnership with Mozambique for

dancers at national parks during

the event, but they had not heard

anything. “I have been in the NGO

business for 40 years and it is

getting progressively worse. One is

just at a stage where one can’t even

engage.” She said the centre could

still do the project but would “need to

know pretty soon”.

Purkey said it would be “very sad” if

there was no formal arts and culture

programme. “We have a chance to

showcase our arts and culture at the

world cup. Where is the money?”

Lebethe agreed that funding would

have to be made available by the

end of February. “If you are working

backwards [from kick-off], if it doesn’t

happen by the end of February then

there isn’t time.”

“Personally, we don’t know what

soccer fans want to see…but we

don’t want to miss out on the oppor-

tunity. It provides the opportunity to

showcase.” Combrinck said the DAC

2010 project office was processing these project applications.

“We will soon announce those that

have been successful. There is suf-

ficient time for work to be done bythose who will receive funds.”

With four months to go until the 2010 World Cup kicks off, hopes for an arts and culture programme to accompany the event are waning, with millions promised by the Department of Arts and Culture yet to materi-

Dept. of Art & Culture’s R150m soccer art flop

“Botha’s team was told to cease construction several weeks ago

after a man in a black SUV stopped on the freeway, where the

sculptures were being built from stone and steel gabions, and

ordered that the work be halted – apparently because the

elephants are a symbol of the IFP and Durban is an ANC city. That

man was identified by the workers as John Mchunu, regional chair-person of the ANC, although Mchunu has reportedly denied this.”

SA Art expression under political siege again?

Read Peter Machen’s article on page 3

Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi’s painting House of light, Oil on canvas. See Ndikhumbule’s profile on page 13

This exhibition will be held

from 10am Sunday

28 February till

5pm Saturday 20 Marchat

CARMEL ART66 Vineyard Rd

Claremont, Cape Town

All enquiries

please phone

021 671 6601

or

Leonard Schneider

083 252 8876

All exhibition workscan be viewed

and purchased from6pm on Friday 26 February

at

www.carmelart.co.za

“Pieter van der Westhuizen provided discerning art lovers throughout the world with many amazing and vibrant works during his lifetime. I can truly say however that this selection of paintings is amongst his nest ever and will delight and surprise his large band of admirers for their quality, variety and uniqueness. Anyone who is considering acquiring one of these exceptional works as an investment or just for the pure joy that all his

work brings should seriously consider availing themselves of this nal opportunity to do so.” Leonard Schneider – Pieter’s agent

A documentary on the life and work ofPieter van der Westhuizen

has been completed.

View the trailer at www.chickenscan y.co.za

Screenings will be announced onthis website in due course

Carmel Art is also pleased to announcethat they will be relocating

their Claremont gallery to the

Cape Quarter27 Somerset Road

Green Point from 1 April 2010

phone 021 421 3333

is privileged to offer for salepreviously unreleased works

together with the last works by the late PIETER VAN DER WESTHUIZEN

South African Art Times March 2010

By Peter Machen

The fate of the elephants construct-

ed by sculptor Andries Botha and

his team of workers on a freeway

island in Durban remains unknown

at the time of writing, although

clouded with rumour. It has now

been widely reported that Botha’s

team was told to cease construction

several weeks ago after a man in a

black SUV stopped on the freeway,

where the sculptures were being

built from stone and steel gabions,

and ordered that the work be halted

– apparently because the elephants

are a symbol of the IFP and Durban

is an ANC city.

That man was identified by the workers as John Mchunu, regional

chairperson of the ANC, although

Mchunu has reportedly denied this.

As yet, there has been no formal

response from the City or the ANC,

other than the suggestion that the

elephants were not properly ratified by City Council. When contacted

for this story, City Manager Michael

Sutcliffe said “We really have noth-

ing to say at this stage”. However,

in an informal conversation with

Durban businessman John Charter,

who is a supporter of Botha’s Hu-

man Elephant Foundation, Sutcliffe

reportedly said, “We’re going to

take them down immediately. It’s

not your fault. It’s just not politically

expedient. Don’t talk about it”. It

seems, however, that Sutcliffe is

caught up in a political web that is

not of the City’s making.

Botha has already been paid a

half-payment of R750 000 for the

elephants and expects the city to

pay up the other half (through Rum-

del Cape, the contracting company

assigned to the Warwick Avenue

redevelopment, of which the

sculptures form a part), regardless

of whether they be allowed to stay

in their current location. Rumours

abound as to the elephants’ fate.

Some have suggested that the

three elephants, which Botha

designed so that they seem to be

emerging from the earth, might be

joined by additional elephants or

other members of the so-called

big five. Botha points out that the elephant is probably the strongest

symbol of Africa and that it is intri-

cately woven into local history and

culture. For starters, the elephant

is also the symbol of the Msunduzi

Municipality in Pietermaritzburg and

appears on the twenty rand note.

While the debacle has gathered a

smattering of national press, includ-

ing a column by Ben Trovato in the

Sunday Times, it’s gone viral on the

web, where it’s been discussed on

blogs and webforums and even

pitched up in the form of a ‘Save

the Elephants’ Facebook page.

In a narrative that is awash with

irony, the most ironic element of

the story is that Botha erected the

elephants on roughly the same

spot where the last free-roaming

elephant in Durban was purportedly

shot. Now there is the strong possi-

bility that these elephant simulacra

will also be destroyed or at least

removed from the public realm.

What is certain is that the breadth

of meaning of the elephant as

a symbol vastly outweighs any

political association with the IFP.

The city – or national government,

apparently the issue was to be dis-

cussed at a national ANC caucus

– now has two choices: to get rid

of the elephants or allow them to

stay. Either way, there will be egg

on their faces. But the egg will be

minimised if they back down. (A

third option would be to move the

elephant to somewhere less public,

which would incur considerable

expense and more egg).

There’s one more aspect to the

story which has received very

little attention. This is not the first time that the city has comissioned

public artworks from Andries Botha

which have yet to make their

way into the public space for one

reason or another. The artist has

previously been comissioned by the

city to produce a series of struggle

statues, including likenesses of

John Dube, Nelson Mandela and

Dorothy Nyembe, which were to be

installed in the historically important

area of Ohlanga. Additionally, the

city also comissioned a sculpture of

Isaiah Shembe from Botha several

years ago. The struggle heroes are

still sitting in the city’s architecture

department while the sculpture of

Shembe has not been installed

because of factional rivalry in the

Shembe community and also be-

cause to do so would apparently be

idolatrous to those of the Shembe

faith. It seems that public art in

eThekwini is bedevilled with difficul-ties, all the more so if your name

happens to be Andries Botha.

Photo’s page 1 and 3: Peter Machen,

on location with artist Andries Botha.

Botha’s elephants’ fate still undecided


The collection- including Pablo

Picasso, Pierre Soulages, Yves

Klein, Hans Hartung, Wassily Kan-

dinsky, or Ossip Zadkine- will be

on show for the first time in South Africa and will be entrance free.

This extraordinary Premiére will

also include works by outstanding

contemporary South African and

French artists: William Kentridge,

Judith Mason, Diane Victor,

Jacques Villeglé, Paul Klasen,

Jéremy Chabaud, Pontso Sikho-

sana, Philemon Hlungwani.

Elisabeth Pons’ father, renowned

master lithographer and artist Jean

Pons, established the original col-

lection in 1937.

The artists presented in the col-

lection all collaborated with Jean

or Elisabeth Pons in their studio.

Amongst them, renowned South

African artist Bettie Cilliers-

Barnard.

More then 100 South African and

French artists who have produced

lithographical works will be ex-

ceptionally regrouped together on

South African tour.

Exhibition dates and venues:

8th of October to 4th of November

2009: Main Gallery and Botanni-

cal Garden Gallery of The North

West University with exceptional

presence of master lithographer

Elisabeth PONS

11th November to 4th December

2009: The Gallery of the Centuary

Complex (Eeufees Kompleks) of

The University of the Free State

20th of January to the 24th of Feb-

ruary 2010: The Sasol Art Museum

of The University of Stellenbosch

3rd of April to 11th of April 2010:

KKNK art Festival- Oudtshoorn

14th of April to 28th of May 2010:

Main Gallery of The University of

Johannesburg (UJ)

Furthermore, 6 promising South

African artists will receive the

opportunity to take part in a

workshop at master lithographer

Elisabeth Pons’ studio of Lithog-

raphy in Paris. These artists will

be announced at a ceremony on

11th of February 2010 at the Hyatt

Regency in Johannesburg.

The exhibition is proudly supported

by Air Liquide- pty, The French

Institute of South Africa (IFAS),

Business and Arts South Africa

( BASA), Natixis bank, Squidart,

The Art Room, The Hyatt Regency

Johannesburg.

In collaboration with Mark

Attwood’s Artist Press Studio, near

White River, The Artist Proof Stu-

dio in Johannesburg at, Elisabeth

Pons Studio, this French- South

African was made possible.

For any enquiries or information,

contact: [email protected]

Rendezvous focus original lithography 2009/ 2011

The Rendezvous art project in partnership with French master Lithograph Elisabeth Pons is bringing a body

of lithographical works from extensive Pons’s collection (Paris, France) to South Africa.

Above: Litho by Hanneke Benade, printed at the Artist’s Press Studio.

Top: The Sasol Art Museum of The University of Stellenbosch

ANNOUNCEMENT:The Iziko South African National Gallery will be closed from 1 March - 14 April 2010

ISANG RE-HANGThe Iziko South African National Gallery will undergo repair and maintenance

during this time. A major re-hang, based primarily on the permanent collection,

will re ect on the country’s unique contribution to modern and contemporary art.general enquiries: [email protected] or 021 461 4663media enquiries: [email protected]//:www.iziko.org.za

Ne w Ho m e Off

Web: www.tlafoundry.co.za Email: [email protected]: 086 1112473 or 27 (0)13 7512435

& Sculpture Gallery

Gauteng & Mpumalanga


Staff writer

In recent years, Paul Emsley’s

career has reached new heights

both locally and internationally. He

does not consider himself a por-

traitist, and throughout his career

has preferred not to limit himself

with one genre. It is, however, in

the field of portraiture that he has enjoyed noteworthy successes

that warrant attention. In 2007 he

won first prize inthe prestigious BP Portrait Award

in London. In 2009, his portrait

of fellow artist William Kentridge

raised eyebrows at the Johan-

nesburg Art Fair, and sold to an

anonymous buyer despite a hefty

price tag. In the same year, he

was commissioned by the British

National Portrait Gallery in London

to paint the knighted author - Sir V.

S. Naipaul. It is under these

circumstances that Emsley

recently began his most significant project - to produce a portrait of

Nelson Mandela.

In order to obtain the material

required for such a project, Emsley

met the world icon at his offices in Johannesburg and undertook

all of the photography himself.

Portraying what is perhaps the

most famous face in the world, in

such a way that it not only cap-

tures the essence of the man, but

complies to the highest standards

of technical integrity (a hallmark of

Emsleys work) was undoubtedly the greatest challenge facing the

artist.

There were, however, other

unforeseen difficulties that had to be contended with. Emsley was

given a ten minute slot in which to

take the photographs. He explains:

“There were some difficulties and uncertainties, Mr. Mandela

being understandably rather tired

of being photographed. He was

as engaging and warm as I had

expected. He had about him a

definite atmosphere of benevolent authority. I had to ask him to stop

smiling as my intention was to do

a fairly ‘serious’ portrait.” Emsley

managed to obtain fourteen suit-

able photographs from which to

work.

The portrait is destined to find itself in one of the prominent

museums in Europe or the United

States (this process has not been

finalized yet), but South African audiences can judge this historical

work for themselves at the 2010

Johannesburg Art Fair.

Paul Emsley is represented by the

Redfern Gallery in London

(www.redfern-gallery.com) and is

associated with iArt Gallery in

Cape Town (www.iart.co.za).

Award winning Paul Emsley to be at the JAF 2010

Paul Emsley releases the likeness of Madiba from the paper with time, skill and charcoal.

Emsley was recently commissioned by the British National Portrait Gallery in London to paint the knighted author - Sir V. S. Naipaul.

The Onrus Gallery&

Hennie Niemann Artworks

Hennie Niemann and Derrick Benzien rst formed a friendship and then a unique partnership to market the works of both South African Old Masters and more contemporary artists by establishing The Onrus Gallery at the beginning of 2008.

Today Hennie numbers among the country’s senior and most revered living artists, with a career of virtually ve decades, nearly three of them full-time. His knowledge of South African Art is well regarded. Derrick has been dealing in art across the country for several years and has a sound rapport with many galleries, auction houses, collectors and artists.

Their shared passion about and expertise in art is evident in the tasteful manner in which they display works in an atmosphere that is conductive to promoting its dignity. Hennie’s own paintings are now marketed exclusively through The Onrus Gallery. An impressive CV containing of his best works is available to browse through.

Their gallery houses works by Stern, Gregoire, Buchner, Boshoff, Van Essche, Van Heerden, Wallace, Naude, and other important names. Corporate and collectors of investment art are well accommodated. The partners (who take turns in being available at all times) have a mission both to share their love of art and render advice (free of charge) to any visitors. “Anton Boonzaier”

Hennie Niemann

Fynbos Pickers

Hennie Niemann

Girl holding Lilies

Hennie Niemann

Harvesters

Hennie Niemann

Still Life Flowers and Fruit

Hennie Niemann

Still Life with White Lamp

Hennie Niemann

Young Girl holding Doll

“Free Evaluations”Monday – Sunday

9am - 2pm

Derrick 082 566 8324

2 Lagoon DriveOnrus River, 7201 Tel 028 316 2103Fax 028 316 2821

[email protected]

Dorothy Kay (Elvery) was born in County Wicklow in Ireland. She was one of seven children and in the tradition

of most Victorian households, she was taught at home by a governess until she was old enough to go on to a

small private school. One of several artistically talented siblings, her mother decided that she should learn to draw

although she also displayed considerable musical talent. She could have been a successful pianist, singer or

actress. It was decided that she and her older sister Beatrice should go to the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin to

learn painting and sculpture. Beatrice, who was five years older than Dorothy, recommended that Dorothy’s mother should move her from the Metropolitan art school to the Royal Hibernian School of Art as she regarded the tuition

at the former to be inferior. There Dorothy continued to draw from and paint from life, copy old statues and study

the drawing of drapery. One of the earliest influences in her life was a man who had been her parents’ best-man at their wedding and who apparently lived with or was a permanent boarder with the Elvery family. Mr Browning,

who had travelled widely - and who had been a Government Excise official in Dublin - introduced Dorothy to the art of French polishing, woodwork and soldering – skills which were to manifest much later as an interest in and

understanding of architecture, bridges and other engineering structures. She won several awards including the cov-

eted Taylor Art Scholarship which she won in 1904. Her sister had already won it three years in a row. She began

exhibiting with the “Young Irish Artists” and the Royal Hibernian Academy, acquiring a reputation as a fine water colourist. Much younger than most of the other students, Dorothy admired the work of Georges la Tour and George

Stubbs – both society painters. Stubbs was British and became well-known for his paintings of horses and their

owners. She was allowed to accompany her sister on a visit to Paris where she was exposed the work of people

like Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci for the first time. She left the Hibernian after four years study and returned to live at home and teach art and music to local children.

Through her brother Phillip who was a student at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, she met a South African

medical student from Pretoria called William Hobart Ashburner Kay who was to become her husband. They sailed

for Cape Town in 1909 and were married there. On their honeymoon, they visited Port Elizabeth which was to

become their permanent home a few years later. William Kay became a government medical officer and he was posted to positions all over South Africa before they settled in Port Elizabeth. Their first real home was in Nylstroom where their first child, Joan was born. A second child was born in Pretoria where Dr Kay was the MOH for a pris-

oner-of-war camp and twins were later born at Illovo Beach on the south coast of Natal. In 1917, the family moved

to Port Elizabeth where he became the District Surgeon and Port Health Officer.Life with four children and a husband who travelled away frequently meant that most of Dorothy’s painting had to be

fitted around household arrangements. In 1920, the family moved to a “country” home in Mill Park which overlooked the Baakens valley and its wooded kloofs. Today Mill Park is part of busy metropolitan central Port Elizabeth. The

house was renovated to include an alcove off the living room which functioned as a studio.

Early Style Dorothy’s early work was not particularly popular. She said that “Landscape painting, I have always felt,

can be done by anyone, and it has never interested me much”.(Reynolds 1991: 45) Instead, she portrayed local

subjects who were often found for her by her husband like fishermen from the harbour, horse-drawn cab drivers and local African subjects. She also painted subjects like the stone quarries, fish markets and the salt pans in the Coega estuary. Architecture and mechanical subjects like the jetties, bridges, breakwaters and cast iron railings were

favourite subjects. Many of the early works were thickly painted on coarse canvases.

She notes that when she began working in Port Elizabeth “More and more I came to love portrait work. They tell me

that I have a happy knack of making speaking likenesses.” (Reynolds 1991:96).

Portraiture is a particular way of translating information about a particular person. It has to, by definition, represent an aspect of that person so that the viewer is offered a perspective of the sitter’s personality, physical presence and

psychic and emotional attributes. It is an impression which is filtered through the eyes of the artist so it may differ from either personal or public perception of the sitter. She was an accomplished draughtswoman and technician.

Her medium throughout her portrait career was oils although she did make smaller watercolour studies and detailed

drawings as well. Her astute observation of detail, her ability to empathise with her subject and her ability to convey

character brought her many important commissions.

Dorothy Kay Portrait, Figurative Artist and Illustrator 1886-1964

“Everything you do is a portrait of yourself”Dorothy Kay is regarded as a conventional painter in the sense that she produced work which was unpretentiously realistic and easily understood by the viewer. She is best known for her portraits

of civil dignitaries, social personalities and for her genre studies of ethnic African subjects. She was born in Ireland at the end of the 19th Century and was formally trained there, emigrating to marry a

South African and settle in the Eastern Cape in Port Elizabeth where she where she spent the rest of her life. Her art training was conventional and based on drawing from still life and the human form

–an interest which she retained throughout her long career. She seldom painted landscape unless as a background for her subject matter. She was to exhibit locally in Port Elizabeth to begin with, occa-

sionally sending work overseas to competitions or exhibitions. Many of her commissions arose from her social connections made by her husband who was a doctor. Her public artistic endeavors saw

her get involved with decorating halls for social functions, the design and execution of commissions for public companies and government buildings and many portrait commissions for private and public

figures including 25 portraits of the mayors of Port Elizabeth. Her private work was nearly always centered on her family to whom she was bonded in varying degrees of intensity. Throughout her life she also produced self-deprecating and insightful self-portraits of herself wearing a library of different headgear. She was not afraid of appearing ridiculous and saw herself in a way which was devoid of flat-tery. “Her late self-portraits are suffused with a wonderful honesty”. (Arnold 1996: 126) She also continued to sketch and draw all the time filling numerous notebooks with notes and fragments of visual information. She also made drawing trips to the Transkei and, during the Second World War as a War artist, to various military installations around South Africa to gather information for paintings. In the

latter part of her life, after her husband’s death, private concerns and a quest for new methods of expression took over, resulting in an extraordinary series of works which were quite unlike anything else

she had produced before. Although she is best known for her realisic oil portraits, Kay continually sought to explore new ways of expressing herself in other media. Her work ranges from thick impastoed

paint on coarse canvas to immaculately rendered watercolors, fine copper and dry point etchings, lithography, charcoal studies, illustrations for magazines, pencil studies, frescoes for public buildings and even, papier-mâché sculptures for dances and social events. She also made ceramic works in three-dimensions in clay for a period of three years.

Supplement to The South African Art Times, as part of The Great South African Art Masters Series

Self Portrait with Red and White Scaff. Oil. 1950

The artist as a young woman

Early years

Middle career

The Kays were very sociable people and moved into Port Elizabeth’s

colonial society with ease. Both were members of the One Hundred Club

where they learnt to tango and do the Charleston. According to their daugh-

ter Marjorie, boisterous parties were a frequent event in their home. Many

portraits produced at this time were of friends or people associated with

their social circle. Both were members of the Eastern Province Society of

Arts and Crafts (EPSAC), a cultural society which was a forum and meeting

place for artists, music lovers and theatre goers. Dorothy was a founder

member of the society which started in 1918. She was to exhibit continu-

ously in Port Elizabeth with the Eastern Province Society of Arts from 1919

– 1963, becoming President of the society in 1947.She was given a one-

man retrospective by the society in June of 1955.

Both Kays were involved in the early funding raising projects for the con-

struction of an Arts Hall for EPSAC (now the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan

Art Museum) which was opened later in 1956. Hobart was an actively

supportive husband and often helped with the domestic chores and took

the children to school in his Chevrolet. His support was to play an important

role in both Dorothy’s perception of herself and her abilities. He was largely

responsible for persuading her to go on with her art and for providing mod-

els for her and for making suggestions and engineering opportunities for

her. He was also her main source of encouragement and affirmation. When he died, she was to undergo a personal crisis of artistic confidence.In 1921, she joined the Port Elizabeth Art School to learn how to etch.

Englishman Francis Pickford Marriott was head of the school which had a

staff of ex-patriot English people as staff members. He was to teach her the

intricacies of copper and zinc plate etching, aquatint and dry point etching.

During this phase of her career, she continued to produce a steady output

of oil paintings. In 1926, after a long period of grief over her mother’s death,

she submitted a portfolio of proofs to the Dominion Artists’ Exhibition in

London where one of her prints - “Romance” - was bought by Queen Mary.

She was to continue exhibiting overseas with the Royal Hibernian Academy

and submitted several works to the Water Colour Society of Ireland. In ad-

dition, she showed in London at the British Empire Exhibition (1924) and at

the Royal Society of British Artists. She was also elected a member of the

Royal British and Colonial Society of Artists

From 1928-9, Dorothy began to undertake commercial work illustrating

advertisements for clients like General Motors, a well-known shoe store and

The Outspan – a weekly magazine for which she produced, over a period

of 18 years, over 2000 illustrations for stories. Illustrating was demanding

and needed hours of accurate research to record details like how the bit

sat in a horse’s mouth or what a British “Bobby’s” helmet looked like. Over

the years she amassed hundreds of reproductions gleaned from books and

magazines from the Public Library which were then placed in numerous

scrapbooks. She also drew on the service of friends to pose for her. One

young man called George Walker who became a friend of the family when

they joined the Zwartkops Sailing Club was to feature quite recognisably

in numerous illustrations or action drawings. During the War, serving in

North Africa, he was to send her a ring made from shrapnel which he had

polished with toothpaste which she was to wear to the end of her life. She

produced two to four black-and-white illustrations per week using charcoal,

as well as designing front covers for the magazine in three colours when

required. The drawings were pasted on board, sprayed with fixative, cov-

ered with tissue paper and then wrapped in thick brown paper before being

mailed by Hobart to the magazine editor. Her magazine illustration activities

drew criticism from art critics who claimed that they spoilt her other work.

She however, denied this claiming that “It helped a lot to realize the value

of compositions and how to build them”. (Reynolds 1991:79) By 1941, she

had stopped making illustrations and had become a war artist.

In 1930, a Xhosa woman from Peddie in the Eastern Cape called Annie

Marvata joined the Kay household as their domestic “cook-general” helper.

“Cookie” was to remain with the family for 22 years, freeing Dorothy from

household chores, enabling her to enter the studio at nine o’clock every

morning from where she only emerged for lunch and returned to until tea

time. Later, Annie was to organize the special foods and timetables for

Hobart Kay when he became ill and she was to supervise the upbringing of

numerous grand-children who moved in periodically to live with the Kays.

In 1933, the Kay family sailed overseas to visit the Elvery family in Ireland.

At a reunion meeting in London Dorothy was finally able to gain perspec-

tive and distance herself emotionally from the aura of influence of her sister Beatrice whom she had always perceived to be more gifted than she was.

She also recognized, as many other ex-patriots do after a period of time,

that England was no longer “home” – and that South Africa was. These

intensely personal emotional shifts were to alter the tenor of her subsequent

work. The return boat trip was also to bring about introductions to influential business people which would result in the first of her large commissioned murals in 1936.

Her eldest daughter Joan had married the year before and settled in Johan-

nesburg. While on a visit to her, Dorothy arranged a meeting with the direc-

tor of Climax Rock Drills. She was to complete three 8,5 metre long panels

depicting rock drilling, illustrating the drilling processes as they occurred fifty years ago by candlelight, then later by acetylene lamp and finally by mod-

ern Climax rock drill. After her death, the panels were sold to the Africana

Museum Collection in Johannesburg. Her interest and her ability to handle

mechanical subject matter also resulted in a large technically experimental

work in which she portrayed surgeons and nurses at work in an operating

theatre. Interested in “an all white subject in shadowless lighting”, it is one

of the lightest paintings she made and was the result of visiting and observ-

ing at three hospital theatres. She made twenty-seven pages of sketches

recording detailed information on instruments and technical equipment. In

the final image, she portrayed members of her family as the central figures. Hobart is clearly visible facing the viewer. Characteristic of her preparation

for the subject matter of her paintings, she was obsessive about getting

body attitude and gesture right. She took many photographs of the way

in which instruments and equipment were used in mining, surgical and

military environments. These were never used for replication but only as an

informational tool.

Shortly afterwards, in 1938, she painted large oil depicting her family -“The

The Eye of the Beholder ,1953, NMMAM

Elvery Family: A Memory”. Arnold describes the work as an ‘audacious’

work. “Today this painting not only seems in advance of its time through the

use of devices which are accepted in a postmodernist vocabulary, but offers

fascinating material for understanding Kay’s womanhood…..Kay analysed

her nostalgia, personal history and her role as daughter, sister and mother

– in short, her womanhood” (Arnold 1996:127,128).

Dorothy’s family was a talented and unusual family bound together by

their love of singing – which they could all do - their love of the arts and a

penchant for the ridiculous in life. In her narrative style Dorothy explored

conceptual ideas like personal interaction, bits of personal history (memory)

the fusion of time and the use of quotation. The painting encapsulates

not only the idiosyncratic details of each family member’s character and

interests, but also juxtaposes different time frames from the Elvery family

histology in a single composition. “These strategies, connecting events em-

bedded in memory, render the painting similar to works made by later artists

– such as Penelope Siopis – who position themselves in a postmodern

and feminist framework.(Arnold 1996:129). The following year, she painted

Three Generations (1939) in which her four adult children are positioned

under the replication of the Elvery Family thus connecting past events to

those of the present.

One of the most authoritative portraits of any of her subjects was made

at this time. William Pagel, the “strong man” of Pagel’s circus is portrayed

seated impassively between a lion, a tiger, a lioness and leopard. To her

chagrin the painting was rejected for exhibition by the South African Society

of Artists of which she had been a member for many years and is reputed

to have been the reason for her resigning from the society. In December

of 1940, she was commissioned to paint two murals for the new Reserve

Bank to be built in Port Elizabeth. These two large works Commerce and

Industry incorporated some reworked figures from earlier works like the Old Oyster Woman and figures from paintings on mining subjects. They were completed two years later.

On a visit to Cape Town early in 1941 to a South African Society of Artists

exhibition, she made contact with Major J. Wright who was to facilitate her

acceptance as a war artist. She then began an intensive period of recording

aspects of military activities which included drawing at aerodromes, describ-

ing the searchlights and heavy guns of coastal and harbour defenses and

sketching at military field hospitals. For the best part of three years, she submitted numerous war-subject works. Most were rejected and some

sketches were confiscated by the Propaganda and Censorship section. Many works were either painted over or destroyed. Dorothy believed that

the continued rejection of her work was due to the fact that she was a

woman and as such, was not able to draw her material from its source

which was the battlefield. Relegated to what she considered to be “tame” subjects at home, she tried to get the backing of an American magazine to

send her to the front as a war correspondent artist but was without success.

However, eight of paintings from this period now hang in the South African

Military Museum in Johannesburg. She also received many private com-

missions for portraits of young men serving in the South African Army, Navy

or Air Force. “Far End”, the Kay’s Mill Park home became a meeting place

for many of the men serving in the local divisions of the Service forces. In

1943 and ’44, she completed as many as 27 portraits which included many

of young men in uniform either posthumously or as a record of their military

service.

A sketching trip to the Transkei took place in December of 1946 which

resulted in a freeing up of her customary meticulous technique. Using

various media, she and a friend spent two weeks in a make-shift hotel

studio (“ a sort of urinals at the back of the premises”) recording “millions”

of subjects (Reynolds:156). The images have a spontaneity and looseness

of technique which were to result in paintings like Xhosa Women and He

said his name was Paulumbaan. She returned home to start on a list of

portrait commissions which were interrupted by her husband’s collapse with

a heart attack which resulted in his hospitalisation, subsequently requiring

that she should monitor his health closely for the next 20 months. In June

of the following year, Hobart’s health was sufficiently improved for her to be able to sail to England for a reunion with a New Zealand-based sister whom

she had not seen for twenty years. Accompanied by two of her sisters, she

travelled to the Continent to war-ravaged Paris visiting art galleries both

there and back in London. She returned in October to juggle with her busy

painting schedule and to deal with Hobart’s deteriorating health which had

necessitated him returning to hospital. He was to die in October of 1949.

During this period she became friendly with Jack and Jane Heath. Both had

had academic training as artists in Britain. They had moved to South Africa

in 1946 where he took up a post at Rhodes University, subsequently taking

up the post of head of department at the Port Elizabeth School of Art a year

later. “Bohemenian” evenings took place where there was much intellectual

debate about aesthetics and life accompanied by copious amounts of food

and drink.

For a while, this interchange with the Heaths undermined Dorothy’s percep-

tion of her work. Dealing with her husband’s death had been isolating and

she floundered with over-whelming feelings of inadequacy about her abili-ties as an artist and agonised over whether an academic knowledge of art

would improve her performance. Veering away from photographic realism

for the first time, she dabbled in semi-abstraction, unintentionally laying the intellectual foundations for future work.

In 1950, amidst household disruptions from the new domestic staff which

had been hired to replace “Cookie” who had retired, she completed a

portrait of General Smuts, commissioned as gift for his 80th birthday.

The stiff formal portrait of “Grey Steel” incurred public criticism which she

dealt with good–humouredly. She also discovered a new medium – that of

ceramic sculpture. Records have it that she joined the pottery classes at the

Port Elizabeth Technical College as a part-time student some time in 1951

and remaining there until the end of 1953. Most of the sculptures depict

creatures or figures and are imaginatively treated. She was painstaking in the preparation of glazes and colours but ended up with a preference for an

all white “tin” glaze.

Hairdryer - Rome, Oil on canvas,1954

Crowning Glory, 1954, Oil on canvas

Dorothy Kay, 1944

Dorothy Reading Under the

Laburnam Tree, Watercolour

Mama, Oil on canvas

The Elvery family. a Memory, Oil on canvas, 1938, SANG

Three Generations,Oil on canvas,1939

Brass Tacks, self portrait ,1953,

Johannesburg Art Gallery

The Pink Bonnet,Oil on canvas, 1919 Joan, Oil on canvas, 1930

Collections consist of South African art (particularly

that of the Eastern Cape), British art, international

printmaking and Oriental art (including Indian miniatures

and Chinese textiles). These are supplemented by an

active programme of temporary exhibitions.

(Portraits by Dorothy Kay owned by Nelson Mandela Bay)

1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth, 6001Tel: 041 5062000 Fax: 041 5863234Email: [email protected]: www.artmuseum.co.za

Cookie. Annie Mavata, 1954, Pretoria Art Museum

Doorway Old Town House Cape Town, Etching

Miss Dorothy Savage,Exhibited

1924, Oil on canvas

Portrait of an Actor. John Hamber. 1955, Oil on canvas

Portrait of Herbert Hastings

McWilliams, Oil,1944. NMMAM

Portrait of Nancy McWilliams.

Oil, 1944, NMMAM

J A Riley, sergeant in the 1st City Regiment , Oil on canvas

GALLERY

The War Years

Flesh and Steel c 1942, Oil on canvas General J C Smuts, Oil on canvas, NMMAM Collection

Herman Buisman Esq.

1962, Oil on canvas

The Oyster Woman,

Oil on canvas,1922,

Albany Museum

Portrait of a Man wearing a suitMalay Driver, Etching 1923 The Watchman (Nongqai), Etching

He said his name was Paulumbaan, 1948, Oil on canvas

The Travellers, 1944, Oil on canvas

A Year in the life of the artist -1950

At the beginning of the year she accompanied friends to Durban where

she made contact with an artist who was working on a commission to

paint cricket fields for Lords Pavilion to be hung at the MCC in London. She was awarded the commission to paint the St Georges Park Cricket

Ground in Port Elizabeth. She also made numerous contè drawings of

Zulu men and women on this visit and on a subsequent return visit later

in the year.

“Cookie” retires and a period of domestic upheaval commences with

interruptions to her painting schedule because of having to make court

appearances at the trial of a burglar. She completes a portrait of Betty

Dunlop and has to cancel other sittings for two portraits.

Vasco De Gama, a large decorative panel depicting the explorer which

had been exhibited in 1946 was retrieved from the Arts Hall and is

reworked in painstaking detail.

She also began designing for a commission for panels for a Bulawayo

motor firm which had seen the designs she made for General Motors. She was to research both Cecil John Rhodes and David Livingstone in

depth as a background to the designs which were never completed. The

etching “Energy” is produced during this period.

She begins work on the Smuts portrait which is to be presented to him on

his 80th birthday. The work is completed and delivered by November.

The self-portrait of herself as an artist holding her palette is completed.

Her wardrobe is being “tackled’ as there was a possibility that she may go

to New York where her children were working.

Begins a portrait of May, Mrs Ivan Hunt which is ‘all white organdie and a

bit of glamour’ (Reynolds 1989: 237)

In the school holidays, she returns to Durban to make detailed sketches

of military insignia and flags which will be need for the Smuts portrait. More drawings were made of Zulu subjects.

Returns to Port Elizabeth in time to prepare and submit work for EPSAC’s

annual exhibition.

Dorothy Kay kept many diaries and note books throughout her life. Her

daughter Marjorie edited an autobiographical account of her mother’s

memoirs of family life in The Elvery Family: a memory” in which she

records her mother’s comments and thoughts many things which con-

cerned and interested her. She also published an in- depth biography of

her mother’s life and work. The most pertinent comment to come from the

artist herself is the one she uses to title the biography in which her mother

declares that “Everything you do is a portrait of yourself”.

Biography: Dorothy Kay

1886: Born to Anglo-Irish parents in County Wicklow

1902: Enters Metropolitan School of art, Dublin

1904: Wins Taylor Scholarship at the Royal Hibernian Art School at the

age of 16

1909/10: Becomes engaged and marries William Hobart Ashburner Kay

and emigrates to South Africa

1918: Moves to Port Elizabeth where Hobart becomes District Surgeon

and Port Health Officer and Dorothy begins to exhibit with EPSAC paint-ing local subjects and people.

1921: Joins Port Elizabeth School of Art to learn to etch

1922: First one-Man exhibition in Grahamstown

1924: Shows works at British Empire Exhibition in London and Canadian

National Exhibition in Toronto and Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin.

1926: Dominion Artists’ Exhibition, London

1927: Begins illustrating for Outspan magazine

1930: Annie Marvata joins Kay household as domestic manager

1936/37: Joan married and Dorothy is commissioned to design panels for

Climax Rock Drills and Gold Mining for Empire Exhibition in Milner Park,

Johannesburg. Commissioned to paint Bishop MacSherry. Produces

large painting Surgery.

1938/40: Paints The Elvery Family: a memory and Three Generations

and William Pagel Esq.

1940: Exhibits at Royal Academy, London. Commissioned for Reserve

Bank panels, Port Elizabeth

1941: Appointed Official War artist and travel to Transvaal to make sketches

1945: Commissioned by General Motors for murals and paints Vasco da

Gama mural

1948: Trip to Britain and Hobart dies

1950/3: Sketching trip to Transkei – records many ethnic studies. Begins

to make ceramic works. Cookie retires. Portrait of General Smuts com-

pleted. Self-Portrait Glue Pot is accepted for exhibition at the 1952 Van

Riebeeck Tercentennial Festival, Cape Town and subsequently bought by

SA National Gallery. Completes Brass Tacks.

1954: Portrait of Annie Marvata completed

1955: Paints Hairdryer. Rome. Shown at sponsored EPSAC exhibition

“Works of Dorothy Kay 1902-1955”.

1956: Exhibits first S A Quadrennial1960: Exhibits second S A Quadrennial and South African Graphic exhibi-

tion in Yugoslavia and Munich, Germany.

1961: Exhibits graphics Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil

1964 : Exhibits Third SA Quadriennal and Venice Biennale

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum’s staff and

librarian. Albany Museum, Grahamstown, William Humphreys Museum,

Kimberley, Pretoria Art Museum and Basil Brady

Biographical Sources :

1. Art and Artists of South Africa.Berman, E. 1994. Southern Book Pub.

2. “The Elvery Family: a Memory”. Reynolds, M. 1991. Carrefour Press. CT

3. “Everything You Do is a Portrait of Yourself”. Reynolds, M. 1989.

Private Publishing.

4. Women and Art in South Africa. Arnold, M. 1996. David Philip. CT

5. Archives. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth.

World Events in 1950

- Major events which started in this period are the outbreak of the Cold

War and the beginning of the decolonization of Africa.

- Klaus Fuchs, a Soviet spy confesses to passing on information about

British and American nuclear secrets to the Russians.

- In South Africa, the Group Areas act is passed formally segregating

the races and the Suppression of Communism Act is also passed a few

months later.

- L. Ron Hubbard publishes “Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental

Health” in America.

- The world’s tenth highest mountain in the Himalayas called Annapurna

is conquered.

- The Korean War starts and the world’s first jet dogfight takes place.- Peanuts - the comic strip drawn by Charles M Schultz is first published.- The first Gay liberation movement is founded in Los Angeles in America.

- Mount Etna erupts in Sicily.

- Myxomatosis is introduced to Australia to control the rabbit population

- Born: Jody Scheckter, SA racing driver; Mark Spitz, American Olympic

Gold medalist swimmer; Peter Gabriel, rock musician; Stevie Wonder,

jazz musician; Sir Richard Branson, Princess Anne and

Dr Phil Mc Graw.

- Died: George Bernard Shaw, George Orwell, Vaslav Nijinsky and Jan

Smuts. Source: Wikipedia.

Mature work

From 1951, subject matter in her painting changes to include still life

objects which masquerade as abstract compositions. Hair dryers, lamps,

spear–fishing equipment, umbrellas, shells and mirrors all feature as sub-

jects. She also completes the definitive portrait of Annie Mavata. Dorothy was to make one of the first democratic portraits of a black person where the intrinsic nature of an African woman’s personality is the dominant

ethos of the portrait. Most depictions of African subjects by European

painters in South Africa at this time were ethnic or romantically stere-

otyped. The portrait of Annie Marvata is a landmark image for its time.

The portrait was painted some years after taking a photograph of Annie

with a camera given to her by her husband. Because he was ill, she was

unable to execute the portrait until three years later. Dorothy regarded the

camera as a tool. “She was not interested in the mechanised, monocular

vision of the camera lens but in the subjective interpretation of the human

eye…. she considered her photographs as ‘notes’ to be adapted and

manipulated”. (Arnold 1996: 98). It is an interpretative and unsentimental

portrait of a woman who is wearing the clothes of a servant but who is a

confident independent personality. “ … it is not the didactic illustration of a cook in the kitchen”. (Arnold 1996: 99). Arnold goes on to note that the

portrait of Annie Marvata has to be seen against the political background

of the politically turbulent 50’s. Kay sold her work to a white art market.

“Acceptable and saleable subjects in these years included landscapes,

still-life paintings and portraits. Aesthetic considerations dominated

picture making, and the controversies of the period were concerned with

style and the claims of Modernism rather than the social implications of

the subject matter.” (Arnold 1996: 101).

A visit to Britain in 1954 was to galvanise her in new directions. In a semi-

nal painting called “Brass Tacks”, Dorothy depicts herself in a Braque-like

caricature of her nick-name “spike” which she superimposed on a Greek

bust. Recognizable objects which were part of the household objets d’art

were distorted and manipulated into a cubist-like composition in shades

of ochre, black and rust. It is an extraordinary departure from her normal

oeuvre and heralds a period of quasi-abstract works which are laced

with humour and fun. A second version which she submitted to the Living

Art exhibition in London was rejected. Visits to many prominent London

galleries convinced her that standards in art, in her opinion, had dropped

appallingly. One of the most striking works that she ever made was made

on a short visit to Rome. Again, a hairdryer forms the central topic of the

painting, herself featuring as the protagonist under the dryer. It is a hu-

morous, commanding image of the artist, her elbows resting on the arms

of the chair. In reverse on the front of the dryer is the word “Imperatrice”.

She referred to it later as her “Pope” picture. It is the apogee of a series

of unsentimental and insightful self–portraits executed over her life time.

Both “Cookie” and “Hairdryer, Rome” were submitted for a competition

arranged by the Trustees of the National Galleries of Australia.

In May of 1955, she presided over an EPSAC sponsored exhibition of

70 of her works in all media ranging from early 1902 to the present time.

No oil paintings were sold. Throughout her long productive career, she

produced in the region of three hundred portraits, many of them com-

missioned works of important local and national figures. She continued to work despite increasing health problems. Concern about her son’s

financial problems with his Farm at Addo near Port Elizabeth may have contributed to the heart attack that she suffered in April of 1957. Whilst

recuperating, she met a British Press attaché called Reggie Ross–Wil-

liamson and his wife. He was an artist in his own right and had studied

“monotypes” under John Piper, an eminent British artist. Dorothy was

unfamiliar with the media and asked to be shown how they were made

and after a demonstration, she embraced the new process with enthu-

siasm. The process is a reverse printing procedure where fabric paint is

rolled onto a plate of glass and paper placed on top and then incised with

a pencil or marked with fingers. Prints are then pulled off the glass. At the age of 71, Dorothy was to experiment with the new process combin-

ing the technique with careful drawing because she found the element

of chance irritating. She was to make a series of monotypes of ship’s

figureheads, romantic relics from old ships which she was to search for and find on trips around the Western Cape. Four years later she began to make abstract monotypes for inclusion in an exhibition to tour Yugoslavia.

These constructivist-like works are a far cry from her realistic portraits

which had been staple fare throughout her working life.

During the next three years she would produce quasi-abstract paint-

ings of objects like umbrella spines, shells and deckchairs which were

given conceptual titles like “astronaut”, “sentinel” and “ampersand”. She

continued to paint portraits, one of the last being an imposing portrait of

Herman Buisman, a long time friend and admirer. On a trip to Dublin with

her family in 1963, she had a stroke and was flown back to South Africa. She died at her home “Far End” seven months later.

Kay’s rising value

Old Oyster Woman was for sold R1.4 million

in Cape Town in 2009 by Strauss and Co. Art Auctioneers.

Surgery. Oil on canvas,1937, UCT Cape Town.

The glue pot, 1951, SANG

Manpower, Commission for General Motors 1945

Marine Power.Commission for General Motors 1945

Old Oyster Woman, Oil on canvas

Commissions

Researched and written by Jeanne Wright

Art Times March 2010 - baixardoc

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