South African Journal of Art History Volume 27 (2012)

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When the ‘Law’ no longer suffices: "Dexter"
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Olivier, Bert
What are the hidden underpinnings of what may broadly be described as ‘vigilante’ stories, such as those in popular television series or films? What leads one to suspect that there are such out-of-sight presuppositions on which they are predicated, is their lasting appeal, which may be framed in terms of the tension between the ‘law’ and the (moral) ‘Law’, or alternatively, between the ‘law’ and ‘violent justice’. This suspicion is pursued via an examination of the popular, multi-season American television series, "Dexter". It is argued that in such films one witnesses the valorization of clearly unlawful acts of murder, which are justified, intra-cinematically, with reference to the inability of the ‘law’, or law-enforcing agencies, to combat a certain kind of crime. In "Dexter" there is an implicit distinction between the ‘law’ and the ‘Law’, as well as between the ‘law’ and ‘justice’, albeit violently enacted. These narrative nuances are explored in terms of the idea of the complex interbraiding of what are usually seen as mutually exclusive concepts, such as crime and law-abiding activities, and by drawing on the work of Derrida regarding justice, as well as Lacan and Kant on the Law. In particular, it is argued, in the light of what is thematized in this television series, the universalist claims (regarding the ‘categorical imperative’) of Kant’s moral philosophy is there replaced with what one might term the ‘quasi-universalist’ imperative, characterized by complexity. Bauman, Žižek and Kearney further allow one to probe the relationship between these vigilante killings and the ‘monstrous other’.
Signs behind Rossetti
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Van Staden, Pieter Schalk
This article investigates related themes of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) in relation to his idealized representation of the human figure. Rossetti often represented the female figure in a significantly idealized and sensual manner. Semiotics is used to analyse the artwork of this artist in order to develop a greater understanding of these artworks, and to investigate possible meanings that certain signs might signify. The possible symbolism of these signs are from the key symbolist theorist, Juan Eduardo Cirlot (1916-1973), from his methodical study of symbolic signs. This article pinpoints semiotics’ validity as a system for interpreting signs, and aims to show that there are deep and multifaceted meanings, imbedded in a painting. Semiotics as an interpretive mechanism could be used to explore other art disciplines and theories, because it provides a richer and in-depth understanding of meaning. Semiotics is also philosophical: it suggests that reality does not exist beyond individual interpretation, but that reality is a system of signs.
A critical reassessment of the explorer artist Charles Davidson Bell’s (1813-1882) "Cattle Boers' Outspan" (n.d)
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Swanepoel, M.C. (Rita); Strydom, Richardt
This article investigates the depiction of Afrikaner ancestry in Charles Davidson Bell’s (1813-1882) "Cattle boers’ outspan" (s.a.) (fig. 1) within the genre of explorer art. This critical revisiting of Bell – better known to philatelists as the designer of the much sought-after Cape triangular stamp – is regarded as important because it give[s] rise to questions such as how Bell and his contemporaries employed critical devices and visual codes that served to entrench and naturalise debasing perceptions of the subjects of their depictions. It is argued that Bell’s work within the genre [of] explorer art generally falls distinctly within the category of social documentation, which served the purpose of illustrating the curious and exotic within a South African historical context for a European audience. We also suggest that in the light of the scientific bias during the Victorian age that underpinned the depiction of colonised peoples, the notion of persuasive imaging is not only confined to the depiction of landscape but also to colonial depictions of Lacanian notions of O/others and O/otherness.
The influence of "botho" on social space in Botswana since independence
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Steyn, Gerald
Since independence, Botswana has developed from one of the poorest countries in the world to a middle-income country. In spite of rapid urbanisation and global capitalism, the ideology and philosophy of social interaction and ethics known in Setswana as "botho", has unquestionably survived as a cultural construct. The most pertinent physical manifestations of 'botho" are the "kgotla" (meeting place) and the family home. This article explores the current state of these institutions, once exclusively male and female spaces respectively, comparing how the spatiality of these architectural places has reacted to prosperity and change in rural versus urban settings.
The expertise of Architecture and its history
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Quek, Raymond
Many historical architectural constructions have been recorded and studied, but not all have been theorised. There seems to be a disconnection at several levels between the discourses of architectural history and the history of architectural ideas. The assumption that empirical description of implicit acts of design automatically results in theory also neglects the formative and contextualising role played by ideas, knowledge and interpretation in creative acts of architectural embodiment. Further, both Architectural History and the history of Architectural Ideas seem to be disconnected in the present given the dual dominance of the scientific and the moral–ecological paradigms. This split condition results in the view that theory can only be induced into architectural history from the present, thereby overlooking adjacent histories of ideas and intellectual currents available at the time of making. As temporal displacement and the theoretical reinvention of history increasingly overrule continuity, tradition and translation, architectural knowledge loses sight of its intrinsic transformations. This special edition of SAJAH examines the dialogue between architectural history and the history of architectural ideas.
A projective site: inhabiting the metaphorical interval between the instrumental and symbolic meanings of architecture
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Roberts, Nick
Historically, there have been two primary ways of perceiving space that have been considered opposed to one another. First is the analytical, measured space of representation - the drawings and models architects make, which have historically been called the ‘instrumental’ (as they are instruments in the description of architecture). Second is the sensory, embodied space of a direct perception of architecture as built. This is generally understood as our primary way of understanding space. This work challenges that they are independent and oppositional ways of understanding space.
Drawing and mark making in "Johannesburg 2nd Greatest City After Paris"
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Oppermann, Johann
In the animation film, "Johannesburg[,] 2nd Greatest City After Paris" (1989), of the South African artist William Kentridge, he combines his charcoal drawings and mark makings with photography, in what he calls Drawings for Projection. This article investigates how Kentridge combines the graphic technique of drawing and trace with the photographic imprint, or the chemistry of the hand and the eye. Johannesburg and Paris are two great cities that played important roles in the private life of William Kentridge. Kentridge was born in Johannesburg and is still living there. In essence Johannesburg is a mining city with visible industrial souvenirs like the huge mine dumps, highways, billboards and mine shafts in the desolate landscape - a city built on speculation. By contrast, Paris is the city where Kentridge studied mime (1981 – 1982) at the École Jacques Lecoq and gained international exposure. With this film Kentridge remembers both Soho’s capitalist interior and the isolated barren landscape of the miners and the other workers.
Worshipping with the fourfold at the temple complex at Delphi, Greece, the Inner Shrine at Ise, Japan, and St. Peter's Basilica at Rome
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Mare, Estelle Alma
The aim of this article is to critique Martin Heidegger’s fourfold as a static concept and to reformulate it as a dynamic concept to be applied as a criterion to assess the architectural excellence of the temple complex of Apollo at Delphi, Greece, and the Inner Shinto Shrine at Ise, Japan, both exemplifying nature religions, as well as the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome, the most influential Christian church.
Political imaginings in the visual art of South African Indians
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Moodley, Nalini
During times of pain, trauma and disempowerment, the creative field of fine art affords an opportunity for communication and self-empowerment. In the 1980s, which was one of the most turbulent decades in South Africa’s political history, art students from the University of Durban-Westville used their creativity to engage with these struggles. The artworks presented here are a small sample extracted from a broader corpus of work, approximating 1 000 pieces, which have been identified over a research period of four years and which have yet to be located within a more inclusive space in the art history of our country. This article attempts to engage with this marginalisation in our art history and intends to bring into the dialogue those South African artists who have been consigned to invisibility. This dialogue and narrative are vital nationally as South Africa embarks on the process of regeneration and affirms both national and cultural pride in the South African histories and heritage. Further, at a time when the South African Indian community has just celebrated their 150th year in this country, the space has arrived through the post-colonial discourse to write back to the centre those who have been consigned to the peripheries of our society.
Iconic bodies: Ndebele women in ritual context
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Van Vuuren, Chris J.
Ndebele women of South Africa have become prominent visual artworks in the international world of commodity tourism and African art. Pictures of women clad in ritual beadwork against the backdrop of their art on homestead walls have spread since the 1950s. Some of them, like Esther Mahlangu, rose to fame as an individual mural artist. It will be illustrated how this bodily image of the Ndebele woman emerged from a small village north of Pretoria. Evidence will show how the Ndebele tourism body became completely estranged from the ritual bodily context. Following on this, it will be explained how Ndebele women use ritual to raise their statuses within the domain of a male dominated society. It will be contended that these women were not merely passive victims of marginalization but they have become powerful agents to manipulate and advance their own destinies. Arguments have been informed by discourses on the anthropology of the body, the efficacy and power of ritual, the notion of identity, ideas on commoditization and the anthropology of tourism.
Geomantic mapping of the human body in Japanese landscape design
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Van Tonder, Gert J.; Hare, Thomas
Harmony between the forces of nature and human activity was of great concern throughout the history of Japan. The divination of these important forces were governed through a canon of geomantic landscape design principles that developed significantly during the medieval Heian era (794-1185). In a nutshell, spaces for human occupation – whether at the scale of an entire city or an individual household – are divided into two bilateral symmetrical halves organized around a central longitudinal axis. Spaces are ranked hierarchically along the central axis. This type of physical setting intuitively albeit very loosely resembles human anatomy. One possible interpretation is that the central axis of symmetry typifies the central axis of the body from head to feet, with the highest function placed at one end. We suggest that the resemblance of this mapping to the human body and its repetition at various spatial scales enable its human inhabitants to more intuitively relate to their surroundings, whether in their own dwellings, neighbourhoods or at the level of the city as a whole.
Le Corbusier and the human body
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Steyn, Gerald
Le Corbusier (1887-1965), the famous Swiss-French artist, architect and town planner – celebrated as he is – is also widely criticised for allegedly dehumanising cities, ignoring the dignity of the individual and for introducing an alienating architecture and urbanism. Although the “Modulor” system he developed in the late 1940s in order to relate the human body to dimensions in the built environment is well known, in numerous manifestos and writings spanning fifty years, he also consistently confirmed his compassion for the human well-being and quality of life at all levels. Since his ideology is so diametrically opposed to that of which he is accused, this article explores the actual role of the human body in his work.
Body, psyche and symbol: the paintings of Kevin Roberts
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Stevens, Ingrid
According to Jung, everything is a manifestation of the psyche: thus the body in art is a manifestation of psyche, embodied in symbols. In the close link between body and mind, symbols relate to processes of human development. Kevin Roberts (1965-2009) was a well-known South African painter of beautiful, serene female figures in recognisable local landscapes, surrounded by ordinary objects that contribute to a layering of symbolic meanings. Although it makes a specific contribution to South African art, his work has been little investigated from a scholarly perspective. In order to interpret selected paintings, this paper uses a Jungian approach, because Jung’s theories on the collective unconscious, archetypes, anima, nature and symbols are well established and provide suitable frameworks or ‘myths’ for rich interpretations that elucidate the connections between personal and universal meanings. A theoretical framework concerning mind and body from writings by Jung and the writings of neo-Jungians, evolutionary psychologists and psychoanalytic critics, is used to interpret selected paintings by Roberts, taking into account the body and its inter-relationship with the mind.
Body construction and representation: anatomical waxes in the "Museo La Specola"
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Schmidt, Leoni
The "Museo La Specola" in Florence houses a large collection of anatomical waxes, an art developed in that city under the patronage of the Medici family in the 17th century for the purpose of teaching medicine. This article explores the waxes as representative of diachronically a key moment in the history of body construction, and specifically one where art and medicine interface; and also synchronically as a key strategy in body representation. In "Fragments for a History of the Human Body" (1989) Michel Feher distinguishes body construction on three axes: top to bottom – proximities between divine and human bodies; transversal – relationships between the inside and outside of bodies; and horizontal – connections between organs and the social functions of the body. This article argues that the anatomical waxes in Florence display aspects of all three axes and that they do so in surprising ways which can only be experienced within the context of their presentation in the "Museo La Specola" situated in Florence.
The women at Winburg’s Voortrekker Monument
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Peters, Walter
The Voortrekker Monument at Winburg resulted from an open architectural competition held in 1964. This monument followed the national Voortrekker Monument depicting a shrine surrounded by a literal ox-wagon laager by Gerard Moerdijk at Pretoria, 1938-49, and its procurement, architecture and architect could hardly have been more different. Entries were to symbolize, the "ordeliewende gemeenskap" as well as "die vrou in die Groot Trek", and, to everyone’s surprise the English-speaking, Durban-based, liberal, young modernist architect, Hans Hallen, won the competition from 36 entries. His was an abstract design that acknowledged each of the five leaders of the trek parties in an orderly assembly of towering, chamfered half-pipes of off-shutter reinforced concrete in a circular arrangement. These were turned to open outward while their backs symbolically defined a laager, and the submission proposed that a statue of a woman be the focus of the enclosed space for which one half-pipe was misaligned and the roof cut back that the figure would bask in natural daylight. But, the statue was never commissioned. This neglect left the monument itself - the body - to communicate the role of the women, the focus of this research.
El Greco’s representation of the body of Christ in the "Crucifixion with Donors" : its mediation between the divine and the human
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Mare, Estelle Alma
The focus of this research is El Greco’s representation of Christ on the cross in the "Crucifixion with Donors" (circa 1577-80, Musée du Louvre). This painting shows the semi-nude body of the centrally placed Christ figure gazing heavenward over his right shoulder. Notwithstanding the fact that crucifixion meant fatal torture, El Greco’s representation of Christ’s body, elegantly posed on the cross, omits references to violence, suffering and death, except for the shedding of a few drops of blood. It is argued that El Greco’s depiction of the Christ figure’s heavenwards directed gaze may be attributed to Plato’s belief that love should transcend physical reality and move upward to the great love of God. By transforming the sensual beauty of a semi-naked male figure into a spiritually exalted body the artist conformed to the dictate of the Council of Trente regarding decorum. However, the sensual beauty of the Christ figure in the "Crucifixion with Donors" may also be ascribed to El Greco’s tendency – as a presumably gay man – to sublimate male physical attraction in his paintings.
History is returning to design
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Tzonis, Alexander; Lefaivre, Liane
I looked up “history” in the dictionary. The definition I liked best was, “study of the past.” Now any number of things can be the study of the past. Archaeology is the study of the past; it has more specific definitions than “history” does. How you choose to study history - whether as mainstreams, as isolated events, as typologies, etc. - however you choose to study it, there is no first rate and secondrate history implied by how you choose to study it - Lawrence Speck. When any field is undergoing development, it invents a simplistic framework on which things are hung. Then as the field expands, as it develops, the repertory begins to expand. I think we are moving out of that central spine on which everything was hung. We are moving into the study of social relationships, political relationships, vernacular, etc., and beginning to absorb more. The profession of architectural history is expanding. Many of these problems are resolving themselves - Dora Wiebenson. Whatever you propose to do, you have to make your own slides. Which means you have to have money to travel. I am struck by the fact that I teach courses to hundreds of students each year - mainline, bread-and-butter courses that go on year after year - but if I ask the university for the opportunity to travel, to see the buildings I am supposed to know something about, and to photograph them in ways that are appropriate for use in my lectures, they think all I am after is a summer in Europe - Richard Betts. While I have questions about this characterization of past historical scholarship, I generally agree with the authors’ aims. The danger in their proposed method is that it threatens to pull the researcher away from the object toward an analysis of society, rather than bringing relevant data to the object under investigation - Stephen Tobriner.
Ideas of space from Isaac Newton to Etienne-Louis Boullee
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Terzoglou, Nikolaos-Ion
This paper aims to prove that a fertile dialogue between architectural history and the history of ideas can open interesting perspectives for the understanding of the process of design. This dialogue, offering a reconstruction of the different mental contexts of each historical period, could prove to be essential for grasping the true meaning of design outcomes that belong to the same era. As a specific case-study, the present paper investigates the cultural interactions and the conceptual correspondences between the scientific spirit of the Enlightenment, philosophy and the architectural utopian projects of Étienne-Louis Boullée, based on the examination of various ideas of space. It is argued that after the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century and the major works of Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the notion of space assumed an increasingly important role in the philosophical and architectural discourses of the Enlightenment. In this context, a general outline of the possible affinities and divergences between those distinct domains of eighteenth-century knowledge is traced, through the analysis of various interpretations of natural and urban space from Isaac Newton and Voltaire to Étienne-Louis Boullée. This analysis is a preliminary attempt to [link] the complex relations between the Humanities and the natural sciences in their Modern genealogical interdependences and tensions. Moreover, it can form the conditions for a better understanding of the intellectual environment that constitutes the meaningful ground of Boullée’s design intentions.
Le Corbusier’s town-planning ideas and the ideas of history
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Steyn, Gerald
Since Le Corbusier so forcefully propagated a new urban and architectural dispensation, there is a misconception that he disregarded history and that he conceptualised projects rationally and without preconceived ideas. Focusing on his town-planning schemes, this article provides substantiation that Le Corbusier’s urban ideas are intrinsically connected to ideas essentially derived from historical sources.
Leonardo da Vinci’s architectural designs as thought experiments: the sources and influence of his ideas
(Art Historical Work Group of South Africa, 2012) Mare, Estelle Alma
It is argued that Leonardo da Vinci’s architectural designs are uniquely original due to his ability to connect ideas derived from a wide range of sources and his own empirical researches. This attempt at understanding Leonardo’s visual thinking that is the basis of his architectural designs commences with a reference to his decorative knotted puzzle, entitled "Concatenation", that symbolises a map of the universe, reminiscent of Aristotle’s world view, as expressed by Dante Alighieri. Leonardo’s empiricist approach to scientific research and artistic creativity also relates to Aristotle’s insight into matter, form and growth patterns. His creative process in art and design was inspired by thought experiments in which his mastery of "disegno" enabled him to express the mutation of living forms into mechanical and architectural forms, and vice versa, to imbue the latter with a life force. His representation of fictive buildings in his paintings is surveyed, followed by a review of his architectural sketches of which his designs of centralised and longitudinal domed churches are evaluated in some detail, taking into account his varied sources as well as his influence. Emphasis is placed on Leonardo’s originality as an architectural designer, especially with reference to notable domed churches on octagonal plans with side chapels that approximate fractal designs.

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