The Umtiza Arts Festival which is in full swing at the Guild Theatre, East London Museum and the Ann Bryant Art Gallery this weekend, opened on Thursday evening with an exhibition of 24 masterpieces created by iconic black artists who lived and worked during the apartheid era.
The paintings, drawings and sculptures by artists, such as George Pemba and Gerard Sekoto, form part of the prestigious De Beers Collection which consists of 2 500 pieces and is housed in the university’s De Beers Centenary Art Gallery at the Alice campus.
“These artists are in the history books,” said Ann Bryant Art Gallery curator Leon du Preez. “They are real masters and people who see their work in real life are absolutely awestruck.”
University of Fort Hare’s national heritage and cultural studies centre senior curator Vuyani Booi, said the collection was linked to the history of the struggle and was described by the world as resistance or protest art.
He said some of the earlier pieces had been collected by UFH’s department of African Studies in the ’40s and ’50s.
Vuyani said the impressive De Beers Gallery, which was funded by the diamond mining group, opened in 1989, and its collection was actually called the South African Contemporary Black Art Collection “although it is referred to as the De Beers Collection”.
“I am so excited that some of the collection is being exhibited at the Ann Bryant. Now East London people can appreciate the great art produced by black South Africans. These works are a great record of painful experiences, memories and stories of black people in apartheid South Africa.”
UFH vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu’s opening of the exhibition also signalled the official opening of the third Umtiza Arts Festival with its dynamic offering of opera, jazz, cabaret, comedy, art, food and museum talks which is on today and tomorrow.
He said he was particularly moved by the Pemba pieces because he became familiar with the artist’s works before he was 10 years old.
“His art was not a money-spinner. In fact, he had to do other things to make a living and I remember he illustrated school books and was so good at connecting his illustrations to the story.”
Buhlungu praised the initiative to exhibit the collection in East London.
“This is the first time they have been taken to the public, so it is an historical moment.”
The vice-chancellor, who moved from his University of Cape Town post as dean of humanities to head up UFH, said while he did not miss Cape Town, he missed its “vibrant art and culture”.
Many towns that aspire to be cities have festivals, so I don’t know why we have been left out for so long when we are a real city. I think that the public of East London has been thirsting for this.”
lFor a full programme of the festival events, see the Guild Theatre Facebook page. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Works of masters up close and personal
The paintings, drawings and sculptures by artists, such as George Pemba and Gerard Sekoto, form part of the prestigious De Beers Collection which consists of 2 500 pieces and is housed in the university’s De Beers Centenary Art Gallery at the Alice campus.
“These artists are in the history books,” said Ann Bryant Art Gallery curator Leon du Preez. “They are real masters and people who see their work in real life are absolutely awestruck.”
University of Fort Hare’s national heritage and cultural studies centre senior curator Vuyani Booi, said the collection was linked to the history of the struggle and was described by the world as resistance or protest art.
He said some of the earlier pieces had been collected by UFH’s department of African Studies in the ’40s and ’50s.
Vuyani said the impressive De Beers Gallery, which was funded by the diamond mining group, opened in 1989, and its collection was actually called the South African Contemporary Black Art Collection “although it is referred to as the De Beers Collection”.
“I am so excited that some of the collection is being exhibited at the Ann Bryant. Now East London people can appreciate the great art produced by black South Africans. These works are a great record of painful experiences, memories and stories of black people in apartheid South Africa.”
UFH vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu’s opening of the exhibition also signalled the official opening of the third Umtiza Arts Festival with its dynamic offering of opera, jazz, cabaret, comedy, art, food and museum talks which is on today and tomorrow.
He said he was particularly moved by the Pemba pieces because he became familiar with the artist’s works before he was 10 years old.
“His art was not a money-spinner. In fact, he had to do other things to make a living and I remember he illustrated school books and was so good at connecting his illustrations to the story.”
Buhlungu praised the initiative to exhibit the collection in East London.
“This is the first time they have been taken to the public, so it is an historical moment.”
The vice-chancellor, who moved from his University of Cape Town post as dean of humanities to head up UFH, said while he did not miss Cape Town, he missed its “vibrant art and culture”.
Many towns that aspire to be cities have festivals, so I don’t know why we have been left out for so long when we are a real city. I think that the public of East London has been thirsting for this.”
lFor a full programme of the festival events, see the Guild Theatre Facebook page. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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