Moving in Time and Space
by Kim Gurney
Interior designer Annabel Rosholt and art historian Michael Stevenson were briefed to assemble a new collection of South African art for IT giant Dimension Data. They picked an ambitious but intriguing theme that also forms the narrative of this book: the shifts between abstraction and representation in post-war South African art.
A couple of the artworks in the collection - notably by Walter Oltmann and Kevin Brand - were made specifically for Didata's new Johannesburg office complex in which the collection is housed. The rest were acquired thematically to illustrate these shifts.
'Moving in Time and Space' is really three narratives in one. It comprises an essay by Stevenson on aspects of abstraction, concise textual references about individual artists featured, and sumptuous illustrations that form a visual trail of interest throughout.
Stevenson's intriguing essay on the shifts between representation and abstraction in post-war South African art takes as its starting point newspaper articles and reviews written in South African papers between 1950 and 1970. This idea proves an effective tool for articulating the essay and bringing it to life with real voices from the past.
It is, however, a tool also firmly rooted in its historical context. Coupled with the somewhat arbitrary nature of both newspaper reports and Stevenson's selection thereof, this tool cannot serve as a comprehensive basis for exploration of both black and white artists in this country.
Stevenson does a good job of filling these gaps. His text includes a wide range of artists - from the more obvious masters of abstraction like Walter Batiss to lesser known self-starters, artists in exile and up-and-coming names. It is an eclectic choice that brings home the variety of the abstract aesthetic and its implementation.
Somewhat frustratingly, though, the essay is interspersed throughout the book rather than condensed into one solid section. Stevenson's register also assumes a certain familiarity with art discourse. The closest to a definition one gets is the comparison between abstract art, described as pure, optical and sensory, and conceptual art, which often leaves clues for the viewer.
Particularly intriguing in Stevenson's text is his discussion of the expectations placed upon black South African artists. He describes how exploration of the abstract aesthetic in black artists' work was in the past often ignored by critics in favour of figurative or conceptual work. The great paradox, of course, lies in how particular dramatic developments in modernism were sparked by African art. Meanwhile, encounters of black artists with Western art were often labeled degenerate or untraditional.
This kind of pressure upon black artists is arguably still with us today although the barrier is being repeatedly broken with work that seamlessly integrates with a global aesthetic and shuns any type of labeling.
The animosity towards abstract art in South Africa, particularly during the early 1950s, is interesting to recall in an age when its import is generally taken for granted. Perhaps it was not the aesthetic itself but its complete break with the past that threatened the sensibilities - as progressive art will do. As one artist quoted by Stevenson wrote: "Real art must be a jump ahead of the public otherwise there can be no cultural progress. It is the critics' duty to be a link between the two" (p.51).
As Stevenson states, South Africa was, during the post-war years, looking outwards towards North America and Europe and had to catch up with international trends after the demise of apartheid. Now, 10 years after democracy, it is interesting to note how these same countries are looking towards this fledgling democracy.
Our exhibitions are traveling the world and our contemporary artists are earning a name for themselves in the global marketplace. This book helps put such developments into perspective.
'Moving in Time and Space' was written by Michael Stevenson and Annabel Rosholt and published by Michael Stevenson Contemporary, 2003.
