THE SOUTH AFRICAN
ART TIMES
October 2009
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Work by Namibian artist and “shared experiences” residency holder Jost Kirsten. Fire is a part of the process of the making of the artwork. See www.berlin-windhoek.org for more.
A & C World Summit closes on sobering note
Bongani Madondo chats with Brett Bailey
Staff writer
The outcome of the 4th World
Summit on Arts and Culture saw a
sobering look at South Africa’s role
in fostering intercultural dialogue
around the continent.
During the discussion Max Du
Preez commented that originally
Nelson Mandela and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu “seduced us into
the false consciousness” of a
ARTIST’S
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UA Y
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rainbow nation, while in practice,
we are still far from it.
Yet these observations were not
doomsday in tone, but served as
a source of inspiration for the likes
of poet and actress Lebo Mashile,
who said ‘we are over the euphoria
of being a rainbow nation now.
It’s time that we come up with real
solutions for the problems that we
are facing in South Africa’.
Artists’ Oil Paint
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Fred
Page
Artist’s feature
supplement
Goodman Cape loses stalwart of SA Art
Mashile fore-grounded the role of
branch in 2007, is no longer with some 25 years experience in the
the arts in transformation
the gallery. According to new field of curating and champion-
saying ‘we, as artists, are in the
owner Lisa Essers, the former ing contemporary African art, a
position and the places where we
Director took ‘voluntary retrench- particularly notable achievement
are doing the work. We are the
ment’ as part of measures taken by of Bedford’s was her involvement
agents of change’. However, as
the gallery to address the growing in an exhibition for the Forum for
the Sowetan reported, the sum-
recession. African Arts hosted by the 49th
mit failed to attract local artists,
Venice Biennale in 2001.
instead attracting policy makers.
‘The Cape Town market has seen
Despite this lack of support, a
some difficult times recently and When she moved to the Goodman
notable recommendation came
we are all doing what we have to’ Gallery in 2007 her announcement
from keynote speaker Njabulo
commented Essers further. Cape was greeted with international
Ndebele who, along the lines of
curator of the Goodman, Storm interest with Annie Coombes say-
the summits theme, the role of Emma Bedford
Janse Van Rensburg said that ing that the Goodman ‘couldn’t find
the arts in intercultural dialogue,
Staff writer Bedford’s retrenchment comes as a better equipped individual to get
called for a policy formulation that
‘huge shock and loss’ saying that the gallery started in Cape Town’.
‘allows for dialogue during a period
Lisa Essers cites recession for she will be sorely missed. Bedford’s contribution, not only to
of contemplation that will deepen
ushering in new changes at the the Goodman Gallery, but also to
understanding when strangeness
Goodman Gallery Cape. Before her involvement in the the development South African art
is encountered’.
private sector with the Good- locally and internationally has been
Effective Friday, Emma Bed- man Gallery, Bedford played an unparalleled, with her standing
Read Mary Corrigall’s in depth
ford who, under Linda Givon, unparalleled role as curator of as a luminary figure in the artistic
article in Business Art
established the Goodman’s Cape the Iziko National Gallery. With landscape.
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 Important Decorative & Fine Arts Auction N
Cape Town 20 & 21 October 2009

JH Pierneef, THE BAOBAB R 2 400 000 – 2 800 000 Pieter Hugo Naudé, FORT JESUS, MOMBASA R 200 000 – 250 000

Stanley Pinker Alexis Preller Ruth Prowse

SUNTAN STILL LIFE WITH AFRICAN HEAD AND HORSE SKULL ST GEORGE’S STREET
R 300 000 – 400 000 R1 200 000 - 1 600 000 R 140 000 – 180 000

Preview Auction Enquiries and Catalogues

Friday 16 October Tuesday 20 October 2009 Cape Town Office:
10am to 8pm at 10am, 2.30pm and 7pm 021 794 6461
Wednesday 21 October 2009 at 10am
At the Saleroom, Kirstenbosch
Saturday 17 October From Friday 16 October
10am to 3pm Venue Tel: 021 761 4288
Old Mutual Conference & Exhibition Centre, Fax: 021 761 2704
Sunday 18 October Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, e-mail: ct@swelco.co.za
10am to 5pm Rhodes Drive, Newlands, Cape Town www.swelco.co.za
South African Art Times. October 2009 Page 3

New trend of art project spaces in Cape Town and Jo’burg

A new trend is growing that is
bucking the recession; project
spaces. Galleries like the Good-
man and David Krut publishing
have opened satellite spaces at
Arts on Main in Braamfontein, and
now Whatiftheworld in Cape Town
is following suite.
Collaborating with design house
Doktor and Misses, Whatiftheworld
present Co-Op, situated at 68 Juta
Street in Braamfontein, opening on
the 8th of October in conjunction
with the Jo’burg leg of the Spring
Art Tour.
project space’ (according to its
owner Jonathan Garnham), Blank
Projects has finally found a new
location. Since relocating from
their old premises in the Bo-Kaap,
Blank has struggled to find a
suitable venue. Opening a 150
square meter venue opposite the
old Bell Roberts on Main Road in
Woodstock, a new era of Blank will
be born geared to project driven
contemporary art exhibitions with
their first offering presenting a
video-installation by Swiss based
artists Marianne Halter and Mario
Marchisella.

According to Ashleigh Mclean ‘we The YoungBlackman has opened

feel that there is a gap / need with-
in the Jo’burg gallery landscape
for a more dynamic space that
works with emerging contemporary
artists, and introduces collectors to
some new names’.
Introducing the design element to
the project space with Doktor and
Misses side will have a workshop
in the space separate to the exhibi-
tion space that will see collabora-
tions that will include none other
than David West.
In Cape Town, the country’s ‘first
next to the Book Lounge in con-
junction with the launch of Sue
Williamsons new book South
African Art Now. The project
space, a collaboration between
Ed Young and novelist Matthew
Blackman, will aptly debut with
a showing of Williamsons video
piece ‘Better Lives’.
(Right) The new iArt Project Space
aimed at a younger audience living
at Wembly Square, (Below) Young-
blackman project space who’s
large shopfront window capitalises
on location and passing traffic

Sue Williamson launches long awaited book:

South African Art Now
South African Art Now, the highly
anticipated publication by Sue
Williamson was launched at the
Book Lounge on Tuesday the 29th
September.
Publications dealing exclusively
with contemporary South African
Art are surprisingly few and far
between, which is why Sue Wil-
liamsons newest addition to the
growing discourse is sure to be
met with huge interest.
Williamson is known to be a
respected commentator on South
African art with her previous two
texts, Resistance Art in South
Africa, published in 1989 and
South African Art: The Future
Present, co-authored with Ashraf
Jamal published in 1996, gaining
canonical status.
Spanning a period of some 50
years from the 1960’s, South
African Art Now aims to document
the role of art and artists in the
evolution of today’s post-apartheid
South Africa, thereby taking the
pulse of South Africa’s rapidly
growing art scene.
Page 4
Night of 1000 Drawings is a one-
night-only art exhibition showcas-
ing the vast and varied creative
talents of the city. Cape Town,
Johannesburg, Amsterdam and
Dubai will host the event – each
city adding its own spice to create
something specifically suited to
its unique arty flavour. For its third
year running, Cape Town’s Night of
1000 Drawings is set to surpass all
expectations. For the main event
on 5 November 2009 at the Wood-
stock Industrial Centre on Albert
Road, in excess of one thousand
A5-sized artworks will be on sale
for R100 each and all profits go
to three carefully selected charity
organisations: Write on Africa,
an urban rejuvenation project
incorporating murals, food tents
and capacity development in Cape
Town; Paballo ya Batho, an inner
city feeding project in Jo’burg; and
Princess Alice Adoption Home in
Jo’burg.
With an epic task to collect more
than 1000 drawings, Cape Town’s
Night of 1000 Drawings team is
Night of 1000 Drawings
asking everyone from professional
artists and designers to school
kids, business people and creative
doodlers to donate A5 drawings.
The brief – ‘draw anything, on
anything, with anything as long
as it’s A5’. Doodle sessions have
already begun in preparation for
the main event – these mini events
bring together potential doodle
donors in really cool environments
that inspire creativity. ‘Sketch
Away Thursdays’ happen on the
last Thursday of the month at
Woodstock Industrial Centre (the
Word of Art studio). Each of these
evenings is themed, so there’s
plenty to experience while doo-
dling. At the ‘Sketch Away Thurs-
day – Acoustic Doodle’, doodlers
enjoyed wine and great tunes
from some of the city’s up-and-
coming musicians.
Doodle and add your A5 creation
to the eclectic mix. This exhibi-
tion knows no boundaries – every
donation goes on display.
• ‘Doodle Earth’ will see a dedi-
cated drawing tent set up at
South African Art Times.
Earthdance – the outdoor party for
peace and environmental change
that happens simultaneously all
over the world from 25 to 27 Sep-
tember. Partygoers can chill-out
and draw in the ‘Doodle Earth’ tent
where all stationary and equipment
will be provided.
• ‘Doodle at the Daisies’ will see
a doodle tent full of creative
surprises at Rocking the Daisies,
South Africa’s premier eco-friendly
music and lifestyle festival from 9
to 11 October.
• The ‘Doodle on the Mountain’
session on 15 October will see
doodlers creating magic on the
top of Table Mountain. The Table
Mountain Aerial Cableway has
come on board and offered a free
cable car trip up.
• To put your name on
the mailing list, e-mail
capetown@1000drawings.co.za
and get involved in these and
many other doodles. A5 artworks
can also be donated at one of the
designated drop off points:
October 2009
Woodstock Industrial Centre,
Deckle Edge stores throughout the
Western Cape and the g-mo foot-
wear stall at the Neighbourgoods
market at the Old Biscuit Mill every
Saturday.
At the main event on 5 November
2009, the Woodstock Industrial
Centre will be transformed into
a large-scale exhibition space.
Rus Nerwich and the Collective
Imagination in collaboration with
other artists will entertain while the
crowd enjoys an art extravaganza
like no other. Absolutely everyone
is welcome!
The 1000 Drawings Jozi will be on
12 November 2009 at a mysteri-
ous new venue in the JHB city
centre (TBA). Drop off points at
any Lulu coffee shop across the
city (www.eatlulu.com). Sign up to
info@1000drawings.co.za to keep
in the Jozi loop.
Website: www.1000drawings.co.za
South African Art Times.
Alexander Podlashuc 2009
Well-known South African artist
and art educator Alexander
Podlashuc has died in Cape Town
at the age of 79. Born in Pretoria
in 1930, he and his late wife
Marianne (died 2004) became
a famous artistic duo who were
founder members of the Blo-
emfontein Group who exhibited
extensively. ‘Pod’, as he was
affectionately known by family,
October 2009
OBITUARY
Alexander Podlashuc (1930-2009)
Photo: Hayden Proud
friends and students, was a superb
graphic artist and painter. His life
encompassed separate careers in
Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Port Eliza-
beth and Cape Town. In Pretoria
as a youth he moved in the circles
of Frans Oerder, Alexis Preller and
Walter Battiss. His formal artistic
training began when he was only
16 at the Michaelis School of Fine
Art at UCT. Here, under the con-
servative and reactionary Melvin
Simmers and Edward Roworth,
Podlashuc’s critical and somewhat
rebellious nature, as well as his
interest in modern art saw him
clash with his mentors and he was
expelled from the School. He then
went to London where he trained
at the Central School of Art under
some of the most notable British
artists of the day, including Mervyn
Peake, the famous author of the
Ghormenghast trilogy. His other
mentors were the graphic genius
Gertrude Hermes, Victor Pasmore,
Keith Vaughan and William Rob-
erts. From Roberts he absorbed
some of the stylistic aspects of
British Vorticism, which became
a trademark of his later South
African work.
Pod’s London training pointed
him in the direction of becoming a
graphic artist and a caricaturist for
Punch magazine. He moved freely
in the world of post-war Britain
and as a portraitist and cartoonist
he became a familiar with many
notable cultural and political
figures of the day, including Peter
Ustinov and the brilliant military
tactician Basil Liddell-Hart. A hint
of caricature always informed
the best of his oil paintings and
prints. After a period spent in the
Netherlands, he returned to South
Africa in the early 1950s, settling
in Bloemfontein, where he worked
in the magazine and publishing
industry with such publications
as Outspan, The Friend and
Personality. It was here that he
met and married his Dutch-born
wife Marianne in 1957. Exhibiting
as members of the Bloemfontein
Group, and widely elsewhere as a
Page 5
husband and wife team, they came
to national attention.
In 1964 ‘Pod’ was appointed to the
Port Elizabeth Technikon School
of Art and Design, where as its
head, he influenced generations
of students. Here, as art critic to
Die Oosterlig, he also became
known for his forthright opinions
on artistic matters. By this time
his work was represented in all
the major galleries in the country.
Continuing to practice as an artist,
he became a prominent member
of the cultural world of the Eastern
Cape. His print portfolio The Pas-
sion of Judas Iscariot (1978-1981)
was a major artistic achievement
in this period. Pod and Marianne
retired to live and work in Cape
Town in 1990, where they held a
number of exhibitions and where,
after her death in 2004, he wrote a
number of novels. In 2006 he was
honoured by the Suid Afrikaanse
Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns
for his contribution to the visual
arts. A great raconteur on the ar-
tistic and political worlds of Britain
and South Africa in the post-1945
era, his vitality and sharp intellect
will be missed.
Alexander Cecil Podlashuc, born
19 March, 1930, Pretoria; died
Cape Town, 5 September, 2009.
Married to Marianne Podlashuc
(1932-2004). Predeceased by
his son Boris (1967-1984). He is
survived by his son, Leopold.
Hayden Proud
Curator of Paintings and Sculpture
Iziko South African National
Gallery
 Daniel Novela

Cattle in the water and the boy Man riding a bicycle near Lydenburg

Two men cutting grass Orange Houses and water carriers in a farm near Lydenburg

“It’s clear that local and international collectors see more in Novela’s work than his extraordinary
technique and love for his subject. They see Novela as a good investment” New homes Magazine.

Daniel has exhibited regularly in Gauteng and completed a successful tour in Europe. In
September 2006 Daniel had his rst international exhibition in New York at the Sankaranka
Art Gallery. Firstly the works are special and have integrity, secondly, a Novela canvas is fast
increasing in value.

As a relatively recent discovery, his true worth has yet to be established. So he is therefore considered
a good investment opportunity.

“His rened landscapes are inltrating galleries and private collections as his especial brand of African
impressionism becomes better known. His success is a result of years of hardship in an almost stereotypical
story of an artist who would not let go of his dream”. Business Weekender by Elizabeth Donaldson.

To book an appointment please contact the studio at:

018 489 1780 or 082 262 3600, info@danielnovela.co.za

To view Daniel Novela’s work go to: www.danielnovela.co.za

 Exit To Bleaks Domain 1971, Private collection

FREDERICK HUTCHINSON (FRED) PAGE

1908-1984

Supplement to The South African Art Times

“I get an emotional impact from architecture. These strange old buildings with blank faces.... You know
there’s some activity inside - you don’t know what it is...it becomes sinister. It takes you away from other
elements in the picture and gives you a feeling of utter remoteness....It helps in a composition. “

Frederick Hutchinson Page occupies a niche in South African art as a so-called
surrealist painter. Labeled as a Surrealist early on in his career because of
the dark and sometimes macabre tenor of his subject matter, Page however,
does not entirely conform to the established tenets of the European Surrealist
movement although he must have seen and been aware of them as there are
traceable evidences of their influence in his work. Today, he should be seen
more as magical realist rather than a surrealist. The most distinctive aspect
of his work is the recognisable skylines or buildings in Port Elizabeth which
feature in nearly all the images he made.
Page is quite unique and much more of a maverick than is commonly acknowl-
edged, especially when seen in the context of Apartheid-era South African
art at the time which was largely cut-off from direct interaction with the main
European and Western art movements. Unimpressed by modern art move-
ments or main stream trends, his working life took place in Port Elizabeth which
was well away from the main centres of South African art-making anyway and
which, at that time, was backwater with a distinctly English colonial flavour to
all its cultural activities. His mature career took place over a period of about
40 years where he worked almost totally in isolation without having much to do
with other artists, following his own peculiar interests and obsessions. His work
arose as a direct consequence of his lonely childhood which developed and
consolidated his emotional hardiness, an army career which he entered into
with reluctance which kept him alive during two World Wars and the reclusive
solitary existence he lived out in the suburb of Central in Port Elizabeth.

Flamingoes 1962, Private collection
Too bad about the polony 1974, Iziko Museum CT
About the Work
Page’s work has never been popular.
However, his strangely perceptive
images have earned him a devoted
band of private collectors who, for
the most part, do not know why the
works attract them but somehow
understand that they unerringly tap
into the universal zeitgeist of human
angst and undeclared fears. The library
of strange characters that eventually
came to inhabit his paintings range
from normal people executed in a curi-
ous cartoon-like format to the oddest
of characters and creatures. Most are
clothed in a wardrobe of either long
Edwardian semi-formal clothes or
quasi-military uniforms or in the case
of young women, mini-skirts - which
became fashionable during the ‘60s
and 70’s. Most of the protagonists wear
sun-glasses, a signature device which
Page used to hide eye expression. His
characters include amputees, stunted
figures, beggars, clowns, babies, shop
dummies and animals and insects
from the real world and a variety of
imaginary creatures from the world of
fables and stories. In some of the enig-
matic rituals taking place in the images,
sharp bits of either medical or scientific
equipment feature, often brandished at
the point of being stuck into someone.
Using the geometric formalities and
details of masonry in the compositions
to establish a sense of stability, his
living subjects are arranged in theatri-
cal tableaux. There appears to be no
rationality or logic in the events taking
place and the images resonate with a
heightened sense of psychic tension.
The titles to each piece, where they ex-
ist, are often deliberately obscure, often
whimsical or satirical and may have
literary or historic references. Most
events were drawn from anecdotal
snippets from his own life or from
actual events which cropped up in his
social experience. A male figure that
looks remarkably like Page himself is a
leit-motif throughout his work, appear-
ing throughout the years to age at the
same rate as the artist. Although never
acknowledged as an autobiographical
figure, there is no doubt that Page was
a central protagonist in his images –a
ring-master who directed events.
GALLERY
All the Pies in the Sky She Said With A Giggle 1978,
NMMAM, Pen and ink
The Key 1970,
Private Collection
Influence of the Artist’s style
Page’s work reflects an idiosyn-
cratic, obsessive and well-hidden
interest in the darker aspects of
human relationships which he set
against the architectural backdrop
of Port Elizabeth. Best known
for his eerie portrayals of the old
buildings of the inner city suburb
of Central, these cityscape images
have a characteristic sense of fore-
boding and dereliction highlighted
by his signature use of blank black
window frames and doorways and
decaying fragments of masonry.
It is only when looking at the body
of his oeuvre that one becomes
aware of the powerful underlying
themes of alienation, loneliness,
cynicism and emotional starkness
which haunt the works. Page
himself was principally a voyeur
of life’s events – a detached
observer who gazed inwards from
the front of the canvas recording
impassively the febrile dramas and
sometimes sordid aspects of hu-
man interaction. The cartoon-like
drawing of the characters and their
The Salad 1960s lino, NMMAM
The Ethelredas 1972, University of Cape Town
anodyne appearance often belies
the nature of the interchange
taking place. It’s easy for the
casual observer to miss the artist’s
barbed and often covert dis-
semination. Page’s paintings are
complicated and full of anomalies.
Because they are dark and almost
monochromatic, details are often
murky and hidden away like clues
in a puzzle. Early in his career,
he chose to work with a limited,
dark palette and with acrylic paint
which suited his dry arid style. He
produced very few oil paintings.
Where images can be collated with
their titles, they reflect a honed and
sophisticated intellect which was
incisive, indeed obsessive about
revealing the sub-texts of human
interaction. Page is one of the
few artists who have successfully
negotiated the interstices between
visual information and mental
states without stating the obvious
– an acknowledgement of things
which remain better unsaid.
Joan Wright Birdman Fanatic N.D.
 The artist as a person

Reconstruction of the artist’s room NMMAM

person, he was reticent, diffident

The Insect 1964, Private Collection
Page’s House, Cuyler Crescent,
Port Elizabeth
When questioned about the con-
tent of his images, Page was disin-
genuous and would side-step any
explanation, denying that there
was any particular theme or mean-
ing to the events taking place. In
and courteous and was always
willing to talk about art – just not
about his art. Those who knew him
said that he was a quiet man with
a sardonic sense of humour and a
sharp intellect. His speech was al-
ways considered. However, he did
not suffer fools gladly and could be
taciturn and blunt when provoked.
When he gradually became less
physically able he began to use
a Box Brownie camera to record
hundreds of architectural details.
He developed these photographs
in the make-shift darkroom back in
his digs and then used the infor-
mation to form the background or
the subject matter for his images.
Money was to be a constant prob-
lem throughout Page’s working life
and was it not for the discrete and
unpublicised financial support of a
small committed band of
collectors, art museum personnel
and patrons, he would probably
never have been able to sustain
his output of work. At one time,
he worked as a doorman at the
King George VI gallery as a way of
supporting himself. Although never
really poverty-stricken, he often
lived frugally on sardines, bread
and tea.
As he became older and frail, he
became increasingly reclusive,
seldom moving out of the poorly lit
confines of his rooming house in
Cuyler Crescent in the older part of
the city just above the harbour. He
developed a crippling spinal
Fred Page as a young man
arthritis which bent him almost
double. When he could no longer
sustain himself, he was persuaded
with great reluctance to move to
a Frail Care home where he died
quietly at the age of 76. To the end
he kept and pencil and pad on the
table beside his bed.
The stooped figure with a cane
who walked all over Central is still
talked about and remembered as
one of the beloved eccentrics of
Port Elizabeth. According to some
sources, Page may have been one
of the first full-time artists in South
Africa who tried to live solely off
his work

The Look-In at Brinkleys 1972, Kerbel Collection

Donkin Street Houses Vicinity Albany Road 1970, Private collection

The Last 365 Days 1970, Private Collection

The Sower 1954, F. Scott Collection What happened to Aunt Gerty 1980, Private collection The Angel Seller 1971

l’Afrique:
A Tribute to Maria Stein-Lessing and
Leopold Spiegel
Curated by Nessa Leibhammer and Natalie Knight at
Museum Africa, Newtown, Johannesburg
running until December 24, 2010

Launch of the Educational programme

September 30, 2009 at Museum Africa
Taxi Hand Sign Book for Blind People by
Susan Woolf: Full colour teachers guide and
20 questions for learners: Essay competition
Discovering my Heritage through l’Afrique Cecil Skotnes, Reclining Figure, 1970 Barotse wooden bowl Maggie Laubser, Woman and Baby,
painted wood panel, woodcut Collection Natalie Knight 1922; Collection University of the
Further information www.knightgalleries.net Collection Johannesburg Art Gallery Witwatersrand

Early life/ inspirations
Page was born in Utrecht in Natal in 1908. His father appeared to have
been a trader who frequently travelled away from the farmstead home
leaving two children with their mother Johanna. Johanna Page was
to die in the 1918 Flu pandemic leaving 10 year old Fred and his sister
to the mercies of an extended family of uncles and aunts who shunted
the children between them, finally depositing Fred in an orphanage in
Potchefstroom where he spent two and half years. This was in reality
a farming trade school where he was taught poultry husbandry, wagon
making and blacksmithing. The instruction also included long hours
working outdoors in the fields through the blistering summers and icy cold
winter temperatures. The only positive result of this peripatetic existence
was that the boy developed a life-long habit of reading voraciously what
ever he could find. He discovered the classics – Dickens and Jane Austen
- in the orphanage library and contemporary science fiction in the books
of (Rider) Ryder Haggard, Arthur C Clarke and Edgar Allen Poe tucked
away in neglected stacks in the loft of a bookish uncle. This self-instruc-
tive literary background was to form the bed-rock for his imagination and
his convoluted intellectual life and was to inform his quirky sense of the
ridiculous and the macabre. Throughout his life he remained a passion-
ate reader. He was also a discriminating classical music lover and had a
large collection of LP records and tapes which he always played while he
worked.
At the age of 16 with a Junior Certificate, Page left school and started to
look for a job as a poultry man. This was the era of the Great Depression
and work was impossible to come by so in 1929, in desperation, he joined
the South African Defense Force’s Mounted Artillery wing where he was
to serve as a Regimental Signaling Instructor for five years. He hated
army routine and in retrospect taciturnly acknowledged that all he had got
out of the entire experience was a roof over his head and enough food
to sustain him throughout the Depression years. He was discharged in
1934 and for a while went back to civilian life doing a variety of odd jobs
which included bar tending and working on goldmines in the Transvaal.
He then went to live in Port Elizabeth where his only sister then lived and
found a job as a tyre moulder in the newly opened Firestone factory. It
was a contingency job which he disliked intensely with its smells of burnt
rubber and constant noise and dirt. He also married briefly for short a
period, was then divorced and was to then remain single for the rest of
his life.
When World War II broke out, he re-enlisted as a volunteer signals
instructor in the 3rd Battery of the SA Field Artillery serving time in both
Durban and Port Elizabeth. He was awarded ‘The Kings Commendation’
for his military service.
Arts Hall circa 1966
Artistic breakthrough
On demobilization he was awarded a payment of 250 pounds and also
subsequently discovered that he was eligible for a government grant to
continue his post-War education. There is no record of when he started
to draw but he had attempted earlier to further his career as an artist by
trying art by correspondence course. He found this to be frustrating and a
waste of time.
Nursing a long-standing burning ambition to train as an artist he regis-
tered, in 1937, at the Port Elizabeth School of Art which was part of the
Port Elizabeth Technical College. The experience was to unleash his
creative imagination and was to provide him with the skills and intellectual
tools he needed to explore his private and inner worlds. For the following
eighteen months, he became a student under the prescient tutelage of
an Englishman called Jack Heath and his predominantly English teaching
staff.
John Charles Wood Heath was trained in Birmingham and at the Royal
College of Art in London. He was an accomplished draughtsman and had
an Associateship in Engraving. He had trained at a time when Post-War
British modernism was at its height. He was contemporary with people
like John Piper, Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore and Paul Nash. His
teaching principles included disciplines like academic still-life, drawing
from life and Art History with an emphasis on the traditional constructs of
Renaissance composition. Heath was also an ex-military man who had
taken part in the Normandy landings. He was a prize-winning Javelin
athlete with a large personality who was not afraid of mincing his words.
Page identified with him immediately. Page became a diligent and com-
mitted student enjoying the cut and thrust of studio practice under the
sharp wit and cuttingly incisive eye of the master. Heath, recognizing the
latent oddness and idiosyncratic nature of Page’s imagination, set about
teaching him the fundamentals of drawing and composition as a way of
liberating his mature student’s inner life. He was astute enough not to
meddle with Page’s subject matter or stilted drawing style but allowed
the man’s strange imagination to emerge at its own pace. As far as Page
was concerned, discipline and application were probably the two most
important attributes of Heath’s training.
Heath’s teaching staff had the same art background and training as he
did. Here at the Art school, Page was exposed to people like accom-
plished portrait painter Dorothy Kay and her daughter Joan Wright, both
teachers and artists in their own right. Betsy Fordyce, a graphic artist,
taught him how to make lino cuts which he could reproduce in series at
home using simple tools like the back of a spoon. Joan Wright was to
become a valued friend and was to encourage Page to routinely draw
and paint some of the old buildings around the area near the art school
in Russell Road which was known as Central when he needed money to
survive. Other people like sculptor Harry Adkins, painter Jane Heath-
Jack’s wife, and the flamboyant and extravert theatre designer Alexander
Kiddie were to encourage and support Page, drawing him into their social
circle. On leaving the art school he was awarded a bronze medal. His
early work reflects this English Romantic school training.
Cecil Kerbel and Joe Wolpe
Middle career
After leaving the art school, Page took a job with a local department store
as a ticket writer. He chafed at having to work full-time and at the nature
of the work but it provided him with enough to live on and was close to
Central, the area which fascinated him so much. In the evening and in his
spare time, he walked all over the area with a note book, recording details
and incidents for translation back in his bedroom cum studio.
Most of his friends and fellow artists belonged to the Eastern Province
Society of Arts and Crafts (EPSAC) which was an umbrella organiza-
tion which hosted exhibitions and theatre and music performances in its
own Arts Hall which was attached to the newly opened King George VI
Art Gallery in Central. Renamed the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art
Museum the gallery now belongs to the city. The EPSAC Gallery was to
become an important forum for Page’s public exposure. He began his
public career by participating in joint exhibitions there with fellow artists
and was later to hang in the main gallery of the King George VI itself. In
1958, he held his first joint show there with a ceramic artist called Barbara
Greig. Critics received him favorably if not with some confusion about
which category they could slot him into…. “Bizarre talent with an over-rid-
ing strong sense of design….nothing that could be called pretty….”.
In 1960, aged 51, he hung 82 works in a solo exhibition in the Arts Hall
selling the more conventional works quite easily. The exhibition was
transferred to Johannesburg in 1961 where SABC critic Harold Jeppe in-
troduced Page to his first serious collectors. As his confidence developed
he tried marketing with limited success through galleries in Johannesburg
who found the tenor of his work difficult to sell. In 1963, he was hung
by the newly opened Henry Lidchi Gallery in Cape Town who also gave
him solo exhibition in Johannesburg in July of 1965. In September of the
same year, six works were selected to be hung on a joint South African
showing at Eric Estorick’s Grosvenor Gallery in London’s West End- the
first international exposure of his work. The following year he was invited
to submit work for the prestigious Republican festival held in Pretoria
in May. By 1969, the National Gallery in Cape Town (now Iziko) had
purchased a work for its collection and Page was garnering increased
recognition by both institutions and private collectors. Cognoscenti began
to buy Page works – characteristically buying several works at a time.
He was also introduced to the art dealer who would champion and market
him for the rest of his life- Cape Town gallery owner, Joseph Wolpe.
Wolpe had been introduced to Page years before by Desmond Greig,
a journalist and close friend who ran an art magazine called ArtLook.
Wolpe, recognizing Page’s unique vision and fascinated by the strange
quirky images which he made, bought the artist train tickets so that he
could attend openings at Wolpe’s gallery in Cape Town. Page loved trains
and they feature frequently in his paintings. Wolpe also took Page to see
District Six and allowed him to use his own collection of photographs as
material for paintings which Page executed back in his Port Elizabeth
bed-sit studio.
Settler Houses in Donkin Street, Port Elizabeth
A year in the life of the artist
1974 was probably one of the artist’s best years. In September he sold
three works to the South African National Gallery ( Iziko) for almost
R1000 which in those days, for Page was a good price. Amongst these
is the “Nuptials of Samantha”, a strange work which has all the fantasy
elements for which he is becoming well-known – the bare-foot bridegroom
carrying his rigid bride – the two heads up to their noses in water in a pool
at his feet – the nude, the handless androgynous figure and the brown
fissures which appear on body parts – all enigmatic emblems of his style.
He also has the biggest exhibition ever at the Wolpe Gallery in Cape
Town where there are many paintings of Port Elizabeth which portray a
dream-like world of gaping black windows set in stark white walls. The
exhibition also included haunting images of District Six which no longer
existed. Page admits to following a theme when asked why there was
a particular involvement with the less savoury side of life to which he
replied: “Simply because I have not discovered the savoury side”.
1974 in the world
• Halie Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia is deposed
• Ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union
• Patty Hearst Kidnapped
• The Terracotta army of funerary statues of over 8000 soldiers and their
horses is discovered in China
• M. Nixon announces he will resign, the first US president to do so. Vice
President Gerald R Ford is sworn in as 38th president of the U.S.
• Beverly Johnson becomes the first black model on cover of a major
fashion magazine
• Stephen Hawking proposes new Black Hole theory
Hawking proposed the theory that radiation was able to escape the pull
of a black hole, which ran counter to Einstein’s theory that nothing, not
even light, can escape the pull of a blackhole
• The first pocket calculators become widespread
The introduction of cheap large-scale integrated chips made it possible
for a calculator to be cheaper and smaller.
• April 3, 1974 148 tornados devastated 13 U.S. States killing some 330
people and leaving over 5,000 injured, it is the largest reported tornado
outbreak in world history.
Sources: Wikipedia, timelines www.
1974 in South Africa
• A Whites only general election is held and won by the National party
• The Rosenkowitz sextuplets are born in Cape Town, the first sextu
plets in the world where all six babies survived
• Percy Montgomery the Springbok rugby player and Penny Heyns the
breaststroke swimmer are born
• Thabo Mbeki begins to train South African Students who escapes from
South Africa to join the African National Congress in exile.
• The World Council of Churches (WCC) calls for an end to multi-million
pound investment in South Africa by international banks, to help bring
about the collapse of the economy and the end of apartheid.
• The South African Olympic and National Games Association reports
that all South Africa’s attempts to secure re-admission to the Olympic
Games have failed, despite the tremendous strides made to comply
with the demands of the IOC.
• The Minister of Finance announces a change in the South African
exchange rate practice. Henceforward the Rand is tied strictly to the
U.S. dollar.
• Removals of thousands of Africans are taking place near Middleburg
in the Eastern Transvaal, and more are planned for the Eastern Cape
Albany district.
• The U.K. Department of Trade confirms that all arms sales to South
Africa are halted.
• In the United Nations Security Council ‘Pik’ Botha says that South
Africa will do everything in its power to move away from discrimination
based on race or colour.
Bibliography
1. Fourie, J. 1997. Beeld en Betekenis in die Skilderkuns van Fred Page .
Master’s dissertation, University of the Orange Free State
2. Fourie, J. 1982. ’n Interpretasie van Fred Page se Beelding. Honours
dissertation, University of South Africa.
3. Hillebrand, M. 1993. Fred Page. Ons Kuns 4. Foundation for
Education, Science and Technology, Pretoria.
4. Hillebrand, M n.d. Unpublished article on Page
5. Holliday, C. 1992. Unpublished manuscript comprising interviews and
commentary.
6. Kerbel, C. n.d. Newspaper cuttings, personal files and memorabilia.
7. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum (NMMAM) archives, formerly
the King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth
8. Slabbert N. 1971. Fred Page. College for Advanced Technical
Education, Port Elizabeth.
9. Slabbert N. April, 1975. The Logic of Darkness, Standpunte 118.
Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.
10. Podlashuc A. 1992 a. Peripheral Perceptions of the Surreal – The
Suburban Nightmare of Frederick Hutchinson Page. Opening address
for the exhibition at UNISA Art Gallery, September.
11. Podlashuc A. 1992 b. Fred Page 1908–1984. Essay in the catalogue
of the Page exhibition, UNISA Art Gallery
Researched and written by
Jeanne Wright
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 Rudi Neuland sculptures Red CoRRidoR
Gallery
Leszek Skurski paintings
Contemporary Art
Joanna Skurska textile objects
4 Main Road
L‘Agulhas 7287
++27 (0) 28 4357503
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Outstanding oil on canvas (72cm x 98cm)

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Tel: 082 659 1002 or e-mail: j.k.coetzee@ru.ac.za www. capeagulhas-arthouse.com · www.redcorridor-RSA.com · info@capeagulhas-arthouse.com
South African Art Times. October 2009
Painting outdoors and taking his
inspiration from the movements of
everyday life, Daniel Novela has
developed a distinct style that can
be described as African impres-
sionism.
‘The light is best in the morning’,
Novela exclaims, explaining that
this is when the best tonal value of
his subjects is revealed to him. ‘By
midday everything begins looking
all dull and washed out’.
Having exhibited extensively
abroad with shows in the United
States, Austria, Germany and
Switzerland, Novela has seen
things change dramatically in his
artistic career, with a definite high-
light being a show at the United
Nations in New York.
Born LouisTrichardt, on the 1st
of December 1964, Novela grew
up in Mozambique and returned
to South Africa in 1984 where he
found his way to Klerksdorp and
began painting for a living, where
he struggled to afford money for
materials, let alone support his
family.
It was not until 1998 that he was
given the opportunity to study his
life long passion by enrolling at the
Durban Art Gallery / 2nd Floor, City Hall, Anton Lembede St.
Durban Open Mondays to Saturdays 08:30 to 16:00 / Sundays
11:00 to 16:00 tel: 031 3112264/9 email: StrettonJ@durban.gov.za
Page 13
SA Art Times Contemporary Artist Profile
Long awaited
Daniel Novela Limited edition books
of
Vaal Triangle Technikon, where
he graduated as one of the top
students in his class.
of Art History from the University
of the North West, John Botha
describes Novela’s vision as being
Gabriel De Jongh
‘embedded in the long tradition finally available
Novela describes how he has of Impression that can be said to
found that he cannot be prescrip- have stared with Turner’.
tive when looking for subjects, say- With such praise levelled at his
ing ‘one day I will pass something work, Novela’s contribution to
in which I see great potential and South African painting cannot be
then the next day it looks totally underestimated with his future
different’. This has led Novela to looking increasingly bright.
paint directly from life, seen clearly
in the atmospheric quality of light www.danielnovela.co.za
his works manage to capture.
The plenitude of the highveld sky
finds itself that is communicated
gesturally next to carefully control-
led and detailed brushwork in the
figures, making Novela’s paintings
distinctive in their combination of
expression and attention to detail.
After his graduation things began
to change for Novela. When exhib-
iting at Zoo Lake with Artists Under
the Sun on the first weekend of
every month, Novela began to
be collected widely. It is here that
his work caught the attention of
Gambian gallerist Saihou Saidy,
who owns Sankaranka Art Gallery
in New York and specialises in
African art. To order: phone
Yet, whilst Novela might be Office 011 783 5080
described as an ‘African’ artist, he
does not see his style as falling so John Contat 083 2666 188
easily into such categories, citing or P-J 082 4506 598
influences such as John Consta-
ble, Trevor Chamberlain and Ri- Cost: R600-00, incl. vat & postage
chard Schmid that have infiltrated
his work. Here his paintings tell the
story of pastoral landscapes and of
the characters that people it.
Errol Boyley books
In his still life studies, Novela
also available at R750-00
shows a distinct understanding of
tone and colour and reveals an
eye intuitively adept in form and
composition. Associate Professor
New works by
Sharle Matthews
and Cecil Byrnes
8 Oct-12 Nov 2009
Sharle Matthews
In the work presented for this
exhibition,vulnerability,
abandonment,death, and memory
are explored.
Cecil Byrnes
Men's clothing is explored indicating
how it projects image, position,
status,power and eroticism.
89 Sir Lowry Road Woodstock CT email: info@rawvisiongallery.com www.rawvisiongallery.com
 UNISA Art Gallery

Amasiko eSintu Craft Exhibition

Opening: 24 September - 16 October 2009

Theo van Wijk Building, 5th level, Goldfields entrance, Unisa Main Campus, Preller & Ridge Street, Pretoria, 0003
RSVP: 012 429 6823, ukun1@unisa.ac.za,
Gallery hours: Tue - Fri 10:00 - 16:00

art gallery

Cape Town’s largest contemporary art gallery

exhibiting works by leading South African artists

Exclusive

Carmel Art distributors of

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Ph: 021 671 6601
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Advertise with us in The SA Art Times in•fin•arT

Custom Picture Framers & Art Gallery

Front page : R 6 500

Inside Front cover Full page : R 7 500
P3 & P5: quarter page horizontal : R 3 200
quarter page vertical : R 3 600
P4 & 13: quarter page horizontal : R 3 000
quarter page vertical : R 3 400
P6: Full page : R 7 000 Wolfe Street • Chelsea • Wynberg • Tel: 021 761 2816 + Buitengracht Street • Cape Town • Tel: 021 423 2090
E-mail: gallery@infinart.co.za • web www.infinart.co.za
P 9/10: Artist’squarter page horizontal : R 4 000
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Feature adverts : R 1 500

Half Page : R 6 000
Prices exclude Vat and design
  ‘TRUTH’, HELMUT STARCKE, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 200 X 145 cm

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+27 21 418 4527 www.everard-read-capetown.co.za ctgallery@everard.co.za

 Wolf Kibel
Nude
R400 000 – 600 000

Inaugural Auction
Cape Town
Important Paintings,
Furniture, Silver and Ceramics
Including The Leslie Milner Collection

Thursday 8 October 2009 at 4.00 & 8.00 pm

The Vineyard Hotel

Colinton Road (off Protea Road), Newlands

Preview
Tuesday 6 October 2.00 to 5.00 pm
Wednesday 7 October 9.00 am to 7.00 pm
Thursday 8 October 9.00 am to 12.oo pm

Gallery Talk conducted by Stephan Welz

Wednesday 7 October at 11.00 am

Enquiries: 087 806 8780 / 078 044 8185

ct@straussart.co.za
www.straussart.co.za

We are currently inviting consignments for 2010

Vanessa Phillips Ann Palmer Stephan Welz Mary-Jane Darroll Bina Genovese
JOHANNESBURG CAPE TOWN
Tel: +27 (0) 11 728 8246 Fax: +27 (0) 11 728 8247 Tel: +27 (0) 87 806 8780 Mobile : +27 (0) 78 044 8185
jhb@straussart.co.za www.straussart.co.za Fax: +27 (0) 21 683 6085 ct@straussart.co.za
89 Central Street, Houghton, Johannesburg, 2198 The Oval, 1st Floor Colinton House, 1 Oakdale Rd, Newlands, 7700