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The initiation costume and mask crowned with valuable parrot feathers is made by young Ovimbundu men during a period of seclusion as part of the ritual of initiation. The Ovimbundu people are related to the Chokwe and Luvale people of west central Africa who also practice collective initiation of boys.

Artist unknownOvimbundu people, Southern AngolaOshimoma/ Initiation outfi t for boy20th CenturyVegetable fi bre, feathers, paint, textile,wood supportISANG study collection

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Layout of Exhibition Space

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Imagining Beauty:INITIATION OUTFIT, ANGOLA

Imagining Beauty:THE MERCEDES-BENZ SOUTH AFRICA AWARD FOR FASHION DESIGN

Imagining Beauty:RECYCLING AND WEST AFRICAN CEREMONIAL ADORNMENT

Imagining Beauty:BEADWORK AND CEREMONIAL ADORNMENT FROM SOUTH &

CENTRAL AFRICA

Imagining Beauty:CURATORS’ CHOICE FROM THE IZIKO PERMANENT COLLECTION

Imagining BeautyA GUIDE TO THE EXHIBITION

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Many individuals, institutions, volunteers and creative specialists have given generous support to this project. The loan of precious works from far afi eld and the enthusiasm shown by so many has made it all possible. Iziko Museums is grateful for your support.

This exhibition has received generous support from Mercedes-Benz South Africa for the installation of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Awards for Design 2009. In particular, a great debt is owed to Bertha Keller of the Ralf Seippel Gallery who facilitated their involvement.

T he Iziko installation team of William Visagie, Majiet Isaacs and Quinton Fortuin brought the concept of Imagining Beauty to life.

Dedicated volunteers Rayna Odes, Sharon Ballard, Theo van der Merwe and Alice Gauntlett were unstintingly productive and helpful. Lawrence Berg generously gave us his time and expertise for the lighting. The Collections and Conservation staff of Iziko’s Art and Social History Departments have been most helpful, with valued input from Robyn Cedras, Fatima February, Iziko Social History staff and Lailah Hisham.

Curators Hayden Proud, Joe Dolby, Andrea Lewis and Pam Warne provided ideas and access to their collections and research.

The support of Iziko’s Senior Management, Human Resources, Finance Department, Customer Services, Art Library, Social History Department and all who contributed is welcomed.

The role of Dr Wayne Alexander, Annette Loubser and Caitlin Spangler from Education and Public Programmes in the support of this programme and publication is gratefully acknowledged.

Lenders to the exhibition

Seippel GalleryLauren FabianWhatiftheworld Gallery, Cape Town Dr. Nic Maritz (Tshwane)Kevin Friedman / Frankli Wild, GautengNatalie Knight GalleryAnna Richerby / Beloved BeadworkSteve ValentineAndrew PutterMichael Stevenson GalleryDoreen SouthwoodAthi Patra RugaZavick Botha /SupadogSuzanne Hins Family Trust, CanadaRayna OdesRobben Island Museum/Mayibuye ArchivesIziko Social History Collections

Body adornment is unique to human beings. Adorning the ‘blank canvas’ of the body with clothing, paint, minerals, fl owers, feathers, leaves or modifying it with permanent markings such as cicatrisation, tattooing, piercing, shaving or dyeing is common across all cultures. Enhancing or concealing the body with clothing or headdresses are cultural signifi ers that have swept through space and time since the beginning of modern human evolution.

‘Adornment’, as the term implies, is more about enhancing human appearance for a range of complex social and ideological reasons than it is about the practicalities of warmth and protection. The manner in which humans adorn themselves, is about imagining ‘beauty’ – and what is imagined as ‘beautiful’ is attached to power, status, prestige and desire.

After years in off -site storage, our African textiles, beadwork and items of body adornment from the Iziko SANG Permanent Collection have secured a new home at the Gallery. This allows us to showcase some of our treasures together with new work by young South African Designers who are inspired by the richness of our African heritage.

Central to this exhibition is the winning selection and the three nominees of the Mercedes-Benz South African Awards for Fashion, shown to acclaim in Berlin in 2009. The excitement around the 2010 FIFA World Cup has stimulated interest in South African design and creativity. South Africa has begun to meet the highly-competitive standards of the global fashion scene, leading critics to ponder whether the South is now ‘the planet’s new creative capital.’

Carol Kaufmann

CuratorIziko South African National GalleryCape Town 2011

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Editor: Carol KaufmannTexts by: Carol Kaufmann, Hayden Proud, Lakshmi PatherDesign: George ReevesLayout: Faye FrizlarPhotography: Carina Beyer, Pam WarneTranslator: Caitlin SpanglerPublished by:EPP Iziko Museums 2011

All images Iziko unless otherwise stated

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ForwardThe catalogue and education resource is based on the exhibition “Imagining Beauty – Body Adornment including young SA Designers” that was held during 2011-2011 at the Iziko South African National Gallery. This is another initiative by Iziko Education and Public programmes to seek meaningful learning resources and experiences to grow and develop its diverse audiences.

As part of this mandate the Education and Public Programmes division of Iziko regards this particular exhibition as being a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our uniqueness and diversity through the art form of fashion and design. The exhibition theme focuses on identity, culture, diversity and the diff erent ways of imaginative expression. This is in keeping with our constitutional mandate of ensuring that culture be shared and become accessible to all.

In addition to the catalogue, a fi ve part worksheet that can be used by educators and learners has been designed to support learning and teaching. The current Department of Education curriculum focuses on both visual art and design and this exhibition catalogue and education resource provide a range of learning and teaching opportunities that can be applied in both formal and informal contexts.

Wayne Alexander

DirectorEducation and Public Programmes

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Clothing, a term which includes aesthetic trends and changes as well as the lives of the people involved in the production needs to be understood through its social and cultural context. According to Claude Savary, “clothing dresses up [the] human body according to the place or the time, the social or cultural environment, and the circumstances that the individual experiences in his/her life”.1 In contemporary South African society, fashion design reveals diff erent social issues: South African creation in a global context, aesthetic changes brought into the country by African immigrants, the way people interact in the fashion world, etc.

Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to clothing and lifestyle accessories created within the cultural and social infl uences of a specifi c time. In this art form, the fashion designer is an artist who conceives garments through combinations of lines, proportions, colours, and textures. Fashion design results from designers’ creativity, which then participates in the emergence of styles that are adopted by the general public. Designers can work alone or as part of a team. While some work for themselves, others set up their own label and sell their designs to fashion houses, shops, or clothing manufacturers. Another group may design for individual clients and own their shop. The very well-known brands are likely to be designed by a team of individual designers under the direction of a designer-director.

In addition to the pure creation of clothes, fashion is also a complete system through which many diff erent actors play a role. In South Africa, my research has permitted me to distinguish two distinct networks of the fashion world: the network of the South African Fashion Weeks2 represent the institutionalisation of fashion in the country; and the network of the “designers in the shadow”,3 a good number of which are at the same time fashion designers for individual clients as well as very good dressmakers/seamstresses working under the command of more well-known fashion designers. In this article, I will explain the function of each network and fi nally the relationship that binds them.

The institutionalised network of fashion

The fi rst South African Fashion Week took place in 1997, and ever since, this sphere has not ceased to expand and grow. The fashion weeks have multiplied in the country’s big cities – Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. The SAFWs routinely present dozens of designers grouped in diff erent categories for the runway shows. This institution was founded by Lucilla Booyzen 14 years ago, with an aim to construct and develop the fashion industry in the country.4 Open to the public up until 2010, they became events that attracted as many curious people as passionate ones; major magazines just as much as the professionals of the business. Since 2010, these events are no longer accessible to the public, but only to the media and buyers.

This network of the fashion institution that SAFW represents, the formation and legitimisation of an authoritative body within fashion. It is constituted of diff erent actors or social groups: fashion designers, journalists, fashion educators, fashion schools, departments of fashion in universities, fashion competitions, the SAFWs and their well-known runway shows. Through the competitions and the fashion weeks there is created a medium that acts as the ultimate stage for recognition of fashion designers and their creativity; it’s a complete social organisation that decides what is considered to be in fashion

and diff uses it into society, a fairly closed organisation, not to say elitist, distinguishing itself by a symbolic barrier, from the informal network.

In fact, Kawamura’s statement concerning French fashion designers is also applicable to South African couturiers: “The designers in the system, whom I call “elite designers”, reaffi rm their status through continuous participation in the regular fashion shows which serve as a ritual that reproduces and reinforces the symbolic meaning of fashion”.5 If this network is closed as well, as Bourdieu says, because there is a collusion of agents in the system6 (or in other words, there is a consensus), general accord is unconscious of that which should be fashion and its worth. From the point of view of this institution, and of all those that consider it as the only source of fashion, the creation of garments that is exterior to it is not fashion, but rather copying or simply sewing. Thus, fashion is also a system of believing in the creative capacities of the fashion designers, and in the appreciation that carries the other professionals of this fi eld on the clothes, together completing a fi gure of authority. The consumers are thus stakeholders of the network of interactions; they accept and believe in this fashion.

The fashion designers of this network have acquired recognition through their presence at the SAFWs, which is accompanied by a large media presence. Mostly qualifi ed with diplomas in higher education, their formation and position reinforce their legitimacy. In their work of creating, they combine diff erent fabrics: silk, taff eta, lace, embroidery, velvet, velour, muslin, tulle, satin, mohair; as well as African fabric and techniques: wax, batik, shweshwe,7 leather, embroidery, and beadwork. Their inspiration is multi-faceted: certain traditional jewellery styles (notably beadwork for the colours), social questions, their experiences travelling, or art. Some are afrocentric in the sense that Africa is their principal source of inspiration, while others have a global inspiration. In the two cases, the designers display evidence of a concern for aesthetics (to create something beautiful) and practicality (to create a comfortable garment), but they take above all other positions one of creating clothing that has meaning, and with a will to fi ght against the stereotypes imposed upon Africa.

Designers in the shadow

Parallel to the institution of fashion, an immense informal network comprised of unknown designers and seamstresses – many of which are African immigrants – pulses to the rhythm of the demand from individual clients and well-known fashion designers. At the heart of this informal network of fashion one fi nds diff erent types of both designs and designers. In certain buildings in the city there are many diff erent people rubbing elbows: dressmakers, young South African fashion designers trying to increase their business, and fi nally fashion designers (many of whom are immigrants) who are simultaneously executing works for other fashion designers as well as for their own clients. Among immigrants, the Congolese and Malawians are known for their established skills of sewing and fashion. It appears, through dozens of interviews conducted with creators of the informal network, that the well-known designers call upon mostly Congolese and Malawians to fi nish their collection before a fashion week.

Installed en masse in the heart of big cities,8 all these seamstresses and

Clothing creation in South Africa:its diverse networks

Lakshmi PatherWith a BA in sociology and a Masters in Art History (speciality:

African arts), she is presently a PhD student of Art History supervised

by Prof. Jean Polet, at the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.

fashion designers in the shadow work in their “boutiques-ateliers” – one singular space where they both sew and sell their clothing. They can have either boutiques selling right on the street, or independent studios within a building in the city. These are often little teams composed of a boss and his two or three employees, or individuals who work alone.

Some of them specialise in the so-called “traditional” clothes. The creations are often suspended from the ceiling or scattered around the walls of the rooms: outfi ts of printed or embroidered materials which come from all over Africa (Nigeria, Congo, Kenya, etc.) and South African clothing (Zulu, Xhosa, Pedi dresses made from shweshwe cloth). They create clothing that is stylistically African in the combinations of cloth, worn for marriages, funerals, heritage celebrations, etc. This production, part of which is qualifi ed by people and couturiers themselves “traditional”, is at the heart of an unprecedented evolution in the forms and colours, notably thanks to the addition of embroidery and the introduction of new cloth9 by immigrants from west and central Africa, as well as the utilisation of beadwork as decorative elements in the clothing. The aesthetic of these garments thus refl ects the new identities that have surfaced in the country since the beginning of the new millennium.

This network is on the margins of the institutionalised network. The media that has such an important role in the process of legitimising fashion is absent outside of the institution. Nevertheless, it constitutes a fi eld/domain of production parallel to other channels of recognition – the street and word of mouth. As Kawamura describes it, “according to Katz and Lazarfeld (1955), informal person-to-person communication infl uences everyday situations, and their study showed that verbal personal infl uence was the most eff ective type of communication in fashion situations”.10 Thus, their clothing becomes fashion through a process of informal diff usion, through the everyday communication of individuals where the role of the clients is twofold: they both consume and diff use information and new products.

The sociologist adds: “For a new style to become fashionable, it must in some way appeal to a large number of people. The clothing habits of an individual are the result of group life”.11 In the same manner, a large number of people are attracted by this informal fashion that responds to their life habits. In urban South Africa, the cultural practices lead to the necessity of certain types of dress worn for special occasions and ceremonies as well as marriages. Here, legitimization is achieved through the social and cultural value of the dress, which is defi ned by the wearers.

The two networks

In South Africa, the system of fashion is characterised thus by a double structure in which the two networks seem separated by a rift. The actors of the sphere of the SAFWs have a discourse more or less exclusive, through which sometimes a very obtuse defi nition of what is the fashion and of that which a fashion designer should be, excluding thus all the actors who fi nd themselves outside of those norms. The fashion designers in the cities fi nd themselves outside of the system, while they are at the same time indispensable to the established fashion houses when they are fi nishing their collections.

Seraphin, Congolese dressmaker and the author, 11th fl oor London House,Loveday Street, Johannesburg.

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The unoffi cial network happens to be much more inclusive, because of the diversity of people implied: young South African fashion designers, immigrant dressmakers and fashion designers working for other designers and their individual clients. They are employed by others, or independent workers. This network shuffl es and mixes diff erent types of knowledge (embroidery, beadwork, pattern maker, seamstress, design, buttonry, etc.) and cultural origins.

Even if the two networks seem to communicate very little between themselves, the fashion designers that punctually off er their services to well-known fashion designers fi nd themselves to be straddling the border line between the two networks. They are part of the informal milieu, but contribute to the institutional network thanks to their technical capital. Unfortunately, these interactions between well-known fashion designers and shadow designers are still of a market, and not creative, nature. It remains simply the payment of a sewing service; there is no real collaboration.

An important link is missing, and its absence means that, even when a fashion designer wants to work with a good fashion designer or seamstress, he doesn’t really know where to fi nd one. In fact, to fi nd a good seamstress, one has to physically go into the heart of the city and search for one. They are not easily seen, they do not usually have an email address, and even less frequently do they have websites. It is thus blindly that one launches into the search. Moreover, the diff erent actors are spatially far away from each other and very few top designers have their studios in the down town areas of cities; yet it’s there where one can fi nd their workforce. In the end, the bridge that would permit a linkage of the two networks to construct a real and solid system of fashion – where all the actors communicate – is collaboration. Many actors of the formal network convince themselves that they are collaborating with the actors of the informal network while, in reality, this so-called collaboration once again means regularly paying for the services of a seamstress. The collaboration, inferring the notion of reciprocity, should be constructed through an exchange between individuals, based on the recognition of the contribution of each person. This recognition can be material (to better pay one’s employees), intellectual (to give more freedom to the colleague to express his ideas in terms of creation), or social (to offi cially integrate into his team a person who does excellent work).

If the designers possess the creative capital, the dressmakers leasing out their services – often African immigrants – possess a technical capital transmitted through many generations, and often spent under a master tailor in their country of origin. Many amongst them master all the steps of production of clothing, from the creation of the patterns to implemented design and the fi nal touches of a clothing item.

It would be important to create an internet platform in the cities where the shadow designers and

seamstresses would have free access to the internet, email, and perhaps a website, with the aim of having better visibility and communication with the houses of couture.

In closing, the 2010’s represent a crucial period of development of the fashion industry in South Africa, with the arrival of immigrants from West, Central, and Southern Africa, who contribute to a defi nite change in the development of clothing creation. Thanks to these infl uences coming from all over Africa, the aesthetic of clothing in South Africa is transforming, giving birth to a “Panafrican” style of clothing. For example, a Ghanaian designer has created an ensemble in Xhosa orange embellished with expansive oriental style embroidery on the chest. The infl uence of his Islamic culture and the clothes worn in his country of origin thus seem fl agrant. The boubous, the loincloths, the outfi ts worn by Nigerian women, all are equally becoming appreciated more and more by South Africans.

The diversity of the origins of the fashion designers and dressmakers working in the cities and the new clothing infl uences that they bring as well as an exceptional skill of couture make these immigrants indispensable actors in the system of fashion, representing a cosmopolitan South Africa. The gap between the two networks will close when all the actors of the system – immigrant designers and dressmakers, South African fashion designers, and SAFW – work hand in hand.

Footnotes1 C. Savary, Man does not go naked, under the direction of Engelbrecht Bernhard, 1989, p 117. 2 SAFW.3 Term I invented to talk about fashion designers with no media coverage and who work in an informal network. Most

of them are African immigrants from west, central and southern Africa. 4 Interview with Lucilla Booyzen, 21st of October 2010, SAFW offi ces, Design District, 2nd fl oor, Cnr 7th avenue and

Keyes Rosebank. 5 Y. Kawamura, Fashion-ology An Introduction to Fashion Studies, Berg, Oxford, New York, 2005, p 71. 6 P. Bourdieu, (french sociologist), Haute couture et haute culture in Questions de sociologie, Paris, Les éditions de

minuit, 1984/2002, p 205. 7 Two-toned fabric with printed patterns (geometric, fl oral, etc.) introduced in South Africa by Germans in the 19th

Century. Produced in the country for decades now, it is available in three principal colours: blue, red, brown.8 Cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town in the context of this study. 9 Wax (west and central Africa), bazin (West Africa), bogolan (Mali), batik (Mozambique). 10 Y. Kawamura, Op. cit., p 75. 11 Ibidem., p 76.

Boutique atelier, Cape Town Boutique atelier, Prince, Johannesburg images, courtesy of Lakshmi Pather

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“South - The Planet’s New Creative Capital”The excitement around the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa generated a global curiosity regarding South African creativity and design. The imaginative architecture of the stadia sparked intense international interest in local fashion and art.

Imagining Beauty:The Mercedes-Benz South Africa Award for Fashion Design

Craig Nativeleft: “Blanket Boogie” Ethnic Shawl (2008)right: African Robot Hoodie (2008)Fabric, Mixed Media

Black Coff ee left: Draped Rope Dress with African Baby Bag (2008)right: Long Draped Skirt/Dresses (2008) Fabric

Darkieleft: Tie Guy/Recycler (2008)right: Tie Lady/Non-conformist (2008)Silk and polyester ties, cotton mix

“Taking Modern South Africa as our theme, we decided to look at the history of South Africa’s traditional

dress and how that could be interpreted in a modern way. Our inspiration was the silhouette created

when African mothers wrap their children in blankets and carry them on their backs. Taking this as our

starting point, we reinterpreted the traditional head-to-toe clay colour of the Himba of Namibia in a

high-performance man-made fabric with spandex to give it an uncompromisingly modern twist.”– Black Coff ee (Jacques van der Watt & Danica Lepen)

“I chose these garments as infl uences of real traditions and real practical life styles of South Africa, maintaining

heritage, but executing it in a modern way. I focus on the unseen, unheard, undocumented aspects of South

African culture and society.” – Craig Native

Palesa Mokubung for Mantsholeft: Layered Bubble Dress (2008)right: Skater Skirt with Shirt, Waistcoat and Tie (2008) Fabric

“We have to destroy in order to rebuild, live by the ‘re-re’ words, recycle, refresh, redesign, recreate, remake,

rethink, and rejuvenate and so on. The brand is inspired by vintage and all surrounding old things such as furniture,

cars, buildings, curtains and people on the street.” – Themba Mngomezulu for Darkie

At the same time as this showing of the work of Black Coff ee – winner of the 9th Mercedes-Benz SA Awards – another show of their extraordinary Himba-inspired red garments is being presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and Design in New York. Powerful affi rmation that South African design has rapidly evolved since 1994’s fi rst democratic elections, to meet the highly competitive standards of the global fashion scene.

All garments on loan courtesy of Mercedes-Benz South Africa.“what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Palesa Mokubung for Mantsho

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The installation of Supadog’s Human Jeannome Project playfully highlights our serious ecological predicament. For

hundreds of years resourceful artists from West Africa have recycled glass, unpicked and rewoven imported silk fabric

and fashioned costume and regalia from re-purposed materials. Frankli Wild, a community project in Gauteng/Limpopo

up-cycles discarded materials into trendy and valuable jewelry.

In 2008, Zavick Zaroff Botha aka Supadog stumbled across boro textile, a Japanese style of recycling old indigo fabric.

Boro means “ragged” in Japanese and is the term used to recycle cotton textiles from the Meiji & Taisho periods (from

the 1800s to World War II). For Botha this was a fundamental discovery. He reworks his canvas or old jeans in the same

way that these Japanese people did.

In 2005 Botha became very interested in DNA and genes. Genes are something that we all have in common and

something that connects us to each other – human genes with human jeans.

In 2005/2006 Botha was collaborating with Dondup on a body of work made of imported Italian Dondup jeans. They

heard a dog bark, reworked the old adage ‘dog – man’s best friend” “jeans, man’s best friend”. They fi nished that thought

with the dog icon.

Imagining Beauty:Adornment from recycled materials

Zavick Botha [aka Supadog] (born 1970)1st Cannon-Fired Jeans (2010)Cannon-fi red with gunpowder & recycled Denim Jeans fabric, mixed mediaOn loan courtesy of Associates Communication

Zavick Zaroff Botha [AKA Supadog] (born 1970)Human Jeans Project, installation and map (2010)Mixed media with recycled jeansOn loan courtesy of the artist

P. Mahlangu (born 1969)Rough collarCirca 2008Rough amethyst and citrine crystals, glass beads, fi shing lineOn loan courtesy of Frankli Wild

P. Mahlangu (born 1969)Rough collarCirca 2008Rough amethyst and citrine crystals, glass beads, fi shing lineOn loan courtesy of Frankli Wild

M.T. Jiyane (born 1968)Circles Neckpiece (2010)Wire, glass beads, crystals, silver plated wireOn loan courtesy of Frankli Wild

M.T. Jiyane (born 1968)Circles Neckpiece (2010)Wire, glass beads, crystals, silver plated wireOn loan courtesy of Frankli Wild

“A lifelong fascination with the distinctive arts and crafts of South Africa has proved a valuable inspiration for my

work, like the Ndebele bead and diamond choker I designed. It was awarded the De Beers Diamond International

Award in 2000 and was modelled by Charlize Theron! I work closely with Ndebele artists in meaningful community

development projects that benefi t both the community and South Africa.”– Kevin Friedman , Frankli Wild

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Sandals“These are the most important of the elements the king touches and wears.

It is considered a catastrophe if the king’s feet ever touched the ground, but

when the king is standing up, he places his left foot fi rmly onto the ground

very carefully to make sure he will not stumble or fall whilst standing. The

feet are also very important, because the king is always raised higher than

everyone else, and what they see at eye level are his feet. They also wouldn’t

look anywhere else besides his feet in any event, as a sign of respect. The

king can change sandals multiple times a day, to denote his emotions

and messages. He does not wear them out of necessity of protection.

They always show a message he wishes to convey. For instance, if there

is a theft in the village, or an unmarried girl has fallen pregnant, or some

other socially unacceptable event has occurred, he will wear sandals that

show that he is angry or upset with the people. Once the problem is solved,

he will wear sandals that show he is happy. The sandals are made out of

leather and gold emblems that carry the messages he wishes to convey.” –

Mohamed Coulibaly from Ivory Coast

Royal Regalia of the Akan Kingsof Ghana, West Africa

African leaders have attached enormous signifi cance to their art forms. The largest art forms of the Akan (Asante) and Ewe people of Ghana are the elaborate royal festivals held annually in most states which bring together regalia, art objects, music and dance in order to renew the state spiritually and politically. The royal costumes, crowns, staff s and regalia used in lavish public displays are intended to be bright, colourful and eff ective when seen from a distance. Art of the court was meant to impress the populace and signal diff erences of rank among its users, thereby enhancing the status of the leader and his domain.

One of the principal types of cloth worn by the Akan and Ewe and other nearby royals for occasions of state, is strip-woven cloth popularly known as kente. Heavier, more elaborate or costly kente are reserved for kings, chiefs or specifi c members of royalty. Akan men typically wear huge cloths in a toga-fashion over the left shoulder. Women wear two or more smaller fabrics, one as a wrap skirt and the other as a shawl.

Narrow strip weaving on horizontal looms worked exclusively by men, is widely distributed across West Africa, yet it takes on a particularly elegant and complex form among Akan and neighbouring Ewe weavers. Most kente alternate plain weave and inlay designs in over 300 named patterns in asymmetrical, and sometimes random, compositions.

Imagining Beauty:West African Ceremonial Adornment

The technology of strip weaving is thought to have been introduced from Western Sudan during the 16th Century or earlier. Silk, a favoured material reserved for royalty, was originally unravelled from imported cloth. The demand for silk yarn increased as the Asante kingdom developed from the 18th Century. Silk was used in a group of cloths called asasia, traditionally reserved for the Asanthene (king), and featured the most complicated “fl oat” designs, incorporating large amounts of yellow – the colour of the Asante nation.

Regalia of the Akan Royalty

The rise in political and economic power of Akan royalty in Ghana was due to a fabulous trade in gold that lasted from c.1300-1900 bce. Gold dust was the circulating currency of the Kingdom and Ewe weavers incorporated elements of Asante iconography into their textile designs, in the belief that these motifs would bestow the good fortune associated with their wealthy neighbours on themselves. Akan (Asante) symbols such as the stool, comb, star and sword have been highlighted in luminous colours and gold silk thread against a silken background in a strip-woven man’s robe illustrated above.

Installation of Akan Royal Regalia, Iziko SANG Collection

An Akan king dressed in ceremonial regalia. Image reproduced by kind permission of Arthaud (2001) from the book, Rois d’Afrique, Daniel Lainé and Pierre Alexandre

Embellished Akan sandals

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Imagining Beauty:Beadwork and Ceremonial Adornment from Central Africa

These portraits, reunited here after almost 70 years, were possibly sketched on the same day in 1942 in Rwanda, formerly known as Ruanda-Urundi. This was on Irma Stern’s fi rst visit to the hilly, lake-fi lled paradise. She rented a villa on Lake Kivu in order to paint undisturbed. After many obstacles – mainly around transport, food and water – she returned to Kigali intent on drawing and painting the fabled Rwandan Royalty.

Infl uenced by romanticized accounts about the “Nilotic” ancestry, elevated status and physical beauty of the Rwandan nobility , Stern was consumed both with curiosity and the desire to paint/portray them. Well-connected with both the Belgian administration and the South African attaché, she found an opportunity to see the Royal party at the Fête Nationale, a day-long celebration that included royal processions and public displays of drumming, singing and dancing.

Stern records in her diaries that she had witnessed the Royal party all dressed in white, and carried into the stadium on palanquins. She noted further that they looked regal and very tall and that she was granted permission to draw the King, and presumably other Royals, on the following day.

The charcoal portrait of Queen Gicanda was purchased by the Sang in 1967 after Stern’s death. The companion piece (on loan) depicts her husband the Mwami Rudahigwa. It was purchased in Brussels where Stern had held an exhibition on her return from Central Africa.

Mwami Rudahigwa and Queen Gicanda are portrayed wearing beaded crowns with a frontal veil reserved exclusively for royalty. At the time Queen Gicanda was very young and had been married for only a few months. Mwami Rudahigwa died in 1959, precipitating a political crisis in Rwanda.

IRMA STERN (1894-1966)Portraits of Mwami Rudahigwa and Queen Jicanda wearing the Crown Regalia of the Rwandan Royalty (1942)Charcoal on paperleft: loan from the Suzanne Hins Family Trust and right: Iziko Sang Collection

Kuba prestige head dress The Kuba live in the central area of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The laket or small skull caps made and worn by Kuba men are transformed with glass trade beads, feathers and other objects as a man ascends various social levels within Kuba society. A person’s standing within the hierarchy is perceived in terms of wealth and rank, and material possessions serve to express such status. Each titled position has its set of emblems, symbols and praise songs. It is the desire of many to wear eagle feathers in the laket symbolizing the power and status of the highest rank, the king. Much Kuba art is associated with leadership and prestige.

Laket, Kuba prestige head dress, DRCIziko Collections

The Art of Dressing the Head

Headdresses are part of a system of total body modifi cation and are considered highly important in African adornment. Many explorers and early travellers recorded accounts of the supremely complex and fi nely woven hats, caps and headdresses in what is now the South Western part of the DRC and Angola in Central Africa.

The form, shape, materials and embellishments of woven headdresses worn and made mainly by men tell a story of prestige, elitism and the desire to be socially mobile in Central Africa.

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Imagining Beauty:Beadwork and Ceremonial Adornment from South Africa

“When you work with beads you are basically working with cells. There are even scientists who weave

beads together to illustrate molecular structures. You can replicate anything if you have the time and

patience to learn how something is made naturally. Often, even when you are not doing so intentionally,

woven beads become natural forms.

Finding this lotus-like shape felt a little miraculous. We took the Fibonacci Sequence, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,

34, 55... , which occurs frequently in nature, and applied it to Xhosa-style netting. Beads have unlimited

potential for beauty, for making shapes which evoke a deep sense of connectedness within us.”– Anna Richerby

Laurence Kapinga (N.D.) and Nomathamsanqa ConstanceMakhetha (born 1980)Bandolier (2010)Japanese glass seed beads, nylon thread, sterling silver claspOn loan courtesy of Beloved Beadwork

Front: Designed by Kevin FriedmanMother of pearl button collarGlass beads, thread, buttonsOn loan courtesy of Frankli Wild

Background: Anna RicherbyFibonacci Lace Necklace (2010)Japanese glass seed beads, nylon thread, sterling silver claspOn loan courtesy of Beloved Beadwork

Beadwork

One of the most enduring, widespread and popular forms of aesthetic expression in Southern Africa is beadwork. Myriads of tiny, imported glass beads are worked to create unique and spectacular clothing and personal adornment. Colourful, geometric art woven and worked in beads is the mode of visual expression of the long established and diverse societies who continue to populate the sub-continent. Greater quantities of tiny glass beads were imported to South Africa in the 19th century than any other country in the world.

The colour, pattern and composition of beadwork ornaments communicate important social, religious and even political meanings to other people. Diff erent styles indicate where people originate from and can be instantly recognizable to outsiders.

Beadwork functioned as a symbolic language and continues to do so today, although in a lesser form than in the past. Rivalling the artistic traditions of Central and West Africa in its expressiveness, spiritual depth and precise forms, this is sacred art. Ancestors are worshipped and placated when beads are worn and traditional beer is drunk.

The creation of beaded artwork is widely acknowledged as an important and exquisite art form. It was practiced exclusively by women until very recently. Now, new expressions of beaded wire work include those of men, previously unknown in this gendered art form.

IsidangoThis image by a colonial artist depicts a married Xhosa woman, and gives a good idea of how such artists often misinterpreted what they represented. The isidanga referred to in the title of this painting is incorrect, as it in fact depicts a collar worn by Xhosa women called an ingosha. An isidanga is actually a long ceremonial neckpiece of multiple strands of beads worn only by Xhosa men for ritual sacrifi ces. What is correct in this painting is the white rope neckpiece twisted around the woman’s neck, which informs her community that she is a recent mother. This is a spiritual device employed to protect for her baby from evil forces. Peeping through her black andwhite turban headdress is a Thembu-style head ornament in blue, white and black beads. Across her breast is an ochred cloth, which emphasises her marital status.

Installation view of Eastern Cape beadworkIziko Sang Collection

Evelyn Joyce McCrea (1905-1987), Irish/South AfricanIsidanga (c.1935-36)Oil on canvasIziko Sang 1124

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Fertility fi gures from South Africa, left: Pedi andright: Southern SothoIziko Sang Collection

This rare beaded cape (left) from the Drakensberg mountain region of Kwa Zulu-Natal is produced as a

collaborative expression of support and devotion by female relatives of the bride-to-be. Each senior relative

produces a strip embellished with a personal message in beadwork. In this example, the uppermost strip has

images of cattle, possibly referring to bride wealth or lobola paid for the bride.

The whole garment is rubbed with washing blue on completion and presented to the bride-to-be as a

richly signifi cant marriage gift.

Tholiwe Sithole (N.D) Phone African Art CentreSangoma doll, 2000Mixed MediaISANG

Marriage Cape, Unknown maker, Kwa Zulu-Natal (detail)Isikoti / Bridal cape, Circa 1995Fabric, glass beads, thread, washing blueIziko Sang Collection

The umbhalo displayed (right) is one of the most important items of ceremonial attire for a Mfengu man and

it continues to be worn in the Peddie District of the Eastern Cape. The cloak acquired special meaning from

being worn draped over the shoulders during sacrifi cial rites when an ox was off ered to the ancestors of

the family group. Sacrifi ces of this kind continue to be an important religious rite amongst Xhosa speakers.

Imagining Beauty:Beadwork and Ceremonial Adornment from South Africa

Fertility fi gures

The physical form of doll or child fi gures within the context of fertility is central to the belief systems of many southern African societies. This is illustrated by the examples here from the Ndebele, South Sotho, Pedi and Himba people. This engages with a wide framework of metaphor and changing meaning. South Sotho fi gures for example, embody a metaphoric language linking womb and home, containment and earth. The stage for female fertility is set through rituals in initiation.

Fertility fi gures, dressed as stylized miniature adult females are made by rural South African women from materials – frequently re-cycled – that have symbolic or religious connotations. Both the male and female principle is embodied in these forms. Some, such as the conical shaped Ndebele child-fi gures, may have medicines secreted internally. Meanings change with personal interpretation and use. The fi gures speak about relationships between women and their fertility, women and men, and in naming them as “children” evoke relationships of the future.

The selection of fertility fi gures on this exhibition have been included primarily because they also represent ways in which diverse southern Africans see and proudly present themselves.

Tsonga child fi gure

Mwana is the Tsonga name for a child-like fertility fi gure presented to a young Tsonga woman on the occasion of her coming of age ceremony. The fi gure’s cylindrical form is fi lled with ritual substances and dressed in beaded fi nery and a ceremonial xipereta skirt. A miniature beadwork token is pinned to the skirt. Made of imported glass beads, the colours and motifs combine to convey a secret message known only to the maker, a young Tsonga initiate. The Tsonga people live mainly in the Limpopo province, Northern KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique.

Mwana child fi gure from Limpopo, South AfricaIziko Sang Collection

Blanket for Man, Unknown Mfengu artist, Eastern CapeUmbhalo/ Cloak for a senior manCirca 1940 (detail)Woollen blanket, ochre pigment, calf skin, mother-of-pearl buttons, braid, thread, glass beadsIziko Sang Collection

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A selection from the Bailey Collection of British Art sets the context for two of Andrew Putter’s portraits of the imagined attire of 18th century European survivors wrecked off the Pondoland Coast in the late 1700’s.

“Over the last few centuries, many, many Africans have been forced to adopt the cultural values of Western Europe. These two artworks of mine look at the reverse: a historical situation where Western Europeans were forced to adapt to an African cultural world.

In the 1600s and 1700s, ships sailing from Europe to the East were sometimes wrecked along the African Wild Coast , where what we know as the Transkei is today. Those castaways who actually survived the shipwreck usually tried to leave the area, only to perish in the impossibly long walk to the nearest European settlement. A tiny handful of survivors decided to throw in their lot with the local Xhosa-speaking people. These Western Europeans learnt the local language, intermarried, and died as Africans.

My two works imagine how these Africanized Europeans might have looked. Both ‘Joao’ and ‘Lydia’ were real, historical characters. What they are wearing is a combination of artifacts, fabrics and skins that would have come from both Europe (and which would have washed up on the beach at the site of the wreck), and from the local cultures of the South East African coast.

Although we will never really know how these two characters looked after ‘becoming African’, careful research and the power of the imagination brings these forgotten, unexpected people back to life.” – Andrew Putter.

One culture’s concept of the aesthetically “beautiful” can sometimes be radically modifi ed by the impact of diff erent cultures’ aesthetic to form a new hybrid aesthetic which revolutionizes not only the original culture’s painting, but its fashion design, interior design and much else. Such a case was the impact of Japanese prints on European fi ne and decorative arts and fashion in the late 1800s. The new rage for all things Japanese was termed Japonisme, and it played a huge role in the development of modernism in the West.

After an 18-month visit to Japan with fellow-artist Edward Atkinson Hornel, George Henry consciously adopted a richer colour-key and a far more decorative approach in his painting. He and Hornel became known as part of an artistic grouping known today as “The Glasgow Boys”. Japanese art (and Japanese prints in particular) profoundly infl uenced the work of many other artists of the late 1800s, such as Vincent van Gogh and notably that of James McNeill Whistler. Whistler emphasised simple masses of dark, fl attened, silhouetted forms and the evocative power of colour. George Henry claimed that his sojourn in Japan had given him “a genuine awareness of Japanese colour”. His love of intense purplish-blue ultramarine in The Blue Gown is not only seen in the gown worn by this unknown and highly elegant female subject, but in the oriental blue and white porcelain in the background.

Henry’s portraits, like those of Whistler, tended to place much more emphasis on decorative composition, technical brilliance and skill rather than any rendition of the sitter’s character or personality. The actual title of the work, The Blue Gown, completely ignores the identity of the woman portrayed and emphasizes instead the aesthetic beauty of the image as a totality. The Blue Gown is typical of Henry’s portrait work, and is paralleled by other works such as his The Green Hat, also in the Iziko Sang collection.

Hayden Proud

Portraiture is directly and naturally related in many ways to fashion. People are always anxious to show that they are up-to-date, and they like to show off that they are ‘in step’ with the latest fashion ‘crazes’. At certain times in history, these crazes have often been about re-invoking and reviving the fashionable dress of the past. In late 18th-century England there was a revival of interest in the dress of the 17th century as represented in the courtly and aristocratic portraits of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, who had come to England to paint King Charles I in 1632.

This late 18th-century portrait of an aristocrat by Royal Academy President Sir Joshua Reynolds illustrates this revival of interest in 17th-century costume very well. The draped cloak, lace collars and slashed bodice and sleeves cover a body that is highly poised, making grandiloquent and theatrical gestures, as if he is on a modeling ramp or on a theatrical stage.

In a famous lecture delivered at London’s Royal Academy in 1776, Reynolds stated that representations of “fantastik dress” reminiscent of Van Dyck could make people in portraits appear to be “better… than they really were”, by which he meant that they would be made to appear much more socially exalted. In the 18th century the revived taste for Van Dyck costume appealed to educated viewers and elevated the people portrayed in such portraits above the here-and-now of their own mundane reality.

Imagining Beauty:Curators’ Choice from the Iziko Permanent Collection

Artefacts salvaged from the wreck of the Grosvenor off the Pondoland Coast, including gold jewellery made in India, semi precious stones set in gold, carnelian and coral beads, cameos, coins, metal buttons and belt buckles. All Circa 1750.(Courtesy of S Valentine)

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), BritishDavid Stewart Erskine as Lord CardrossOil on canvasSir Abe Bailey Bequest, 1600

Doreen Southwood (born 1974 - )Sea skirt (2010)Layered tulle skirt and black silk topOn loan from the artist, Cape TownAndrew Putter (born 1965)

Joao the Portuguese (2009)Archival pigment ink on cotton rag paperPhotography and compositing: Tony MeintjesLoaned by the artist

Andrew Putter (born 1965)Lydia Logie (2009)Archival pigment ink on cotton rag paperPhotography and compositing: Tony MeintjesLoaned by the artist

George Henry (1858-1943), ScottishThe Blue GownOil on canvasIsang Permanent Collection

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FURTHER INFORMATION

For a guided tour with specialist guides, contact the reception area or Annette Loubsertel: 021 481 3961email: aloubser@iziko.org.za

Opening times and entrance Fees: as from 1 April

Opening: Monday - Sunday10h00 to 17h0018 and under freeVisitors 19 and over R20Students and pensioners R10

Reduced rates for group bookings made through theIziko Education Departmenttel: 021 481 3800

Cover image: Pam Warne