Acclaimed curator and writer Emma Bedford has left the Goodman Gallery Cape, in what the gallery describes as a 'voluntary retrenchment'. Bedford's exit on September 11, 2009 signaled the end of her three-year relationship with the Goodman Gallery.

Bedford, one of the few curators in South Africa with an international reputation, commenced her tenure as the first Director of the Goodman Gallery's Cape branch in early 2007, after twenty five years at Iziko South African National Gallery (SANG) in Cape Town.

In an article...

Acclaimed curator and writer Emma Bedford has left the Goodman Gallery Cape, in what the gallery describes as a 'voluntary retrenchment'. Bedford's exit on September 11, 2009 signaled the end of her three-year relationship with the Goodman Gallery.

Bedford, one of the few curators in South Africa with an international reputation, commenced her tenure as the first Director of the Goodman Gallery's Cape branch in early 2007, after twenty five years at Iziko South African National Gallery (SANG) in Cape Town.

In an article on the SA Art Times website, Matthew Partridge quotes Goodman Gallery owner Liza Essers as saying 'The Cape Town market has seen some difficult times recently and we are all doing what we have to.'

It is common knowledge that the art market, always at risk in a weak economy, has already seen the closing of the doors of the Warren Siebrits Gallery in Johannesburg and the Bell-Roberts Gallery in Cape Town, but this removal of the most senior member of the Goodman Gallery curatorial staff was not anticipated.

Approached for comment on her shock departure, Bedford said, 'I am unable to comment at this stage.'

Bedford's career has included such illustrious achievements as co-curating 'Authentic/Ex-centric', an exhibition of contemporary African art at the Venice Biennale in 2001,  curating 'Intimate Relations' with Marlene Dumas in 2007/2008, and penning the accompanying catalogue. Bedford also initiated and oversaw the 'Fresh' series of artist's residencies at the South African National Gallery and the accompanying publications between 2000 and 2003. This project brought focus onto younger artists Berni Searle, Robin Rhode, Tracey Rose and Moshekwa Langa. She authored and curated 'A Decade of Democracy' in 2004, is a regular contributor to Art South Africa, and has written for ArtThrob.