Looking at South African Art: A Guide to the Study and Appreciation of Art

Looking at South African Art is an artbook with a difference: its aim is to guide both student and novice to greater enjoyment and understanding of art through a personal encounter with original artworks. It is a book primarily about art and less about artists. With South African art as point of departure, three highly professional critics and teachers examine and clarify the basics of art, such as pictorial and sculptural elements, subject matter, media and technique. Specialist art terms are explained and critical attitudes proposed which enable the novice to learn to appreciate art. To this end, examples are chosen from the complete spectrum of South African art, including rock and rural art. Reference is made to artists from the earliest Africana painters and sculptors to the young professionals who are only now beginning to establish themselves. The work of veterans such as Van Wouw, Naudé and Irma Stern is carefully considered and connections drawn with later artists such as Battiss, Preller, Skotnes and Judith Mason. Several major art works in public buildings are illustrated and discussed in detail. These include examples from the Transvaal Provincial Administration Building and the State Theatre in Pretoria, the Pierneef Station Panels in Johannesburg, the Conservatory of Music in Stellenbosch and the Paarl Municipal Council Chamber, the Royal Hotel Tapestry in Durban and Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Kroonstad. The aesthetic evaluation of sculpture is extended to an examination of important examples of public sculpture such as the Vrouemonument in Bloemfontein, the controversial Smuts statues in Cape Town and two equestrian works by Coert Steynberg,