What’s On No 6/2022

Wishing you a holiday season of sheer joy! 

Festive season operating hours: Closed from 23 December 2022 at 12:00 and reopen on 3 January 2023. 

TEXTURED SURFACES | Until 26 February 2023 | North Gallery

Staff from the School of the Arts at the University of Pretoria will partake in an exhibition titled Textured Surfaces in the North Gallery of the Pretoria Art Museum. The themes include human and non-human relationships, gender, identity, social economy and social injustices, human relationships with the world and African mythology. The works are visual interpretations on contemporary discourses that span issues on the Anthropocene, social injustices and visual culture.

An online catalogue will be available.

RORKE’S DRIFT ART AND CRAFT CENTRE | Until end of February 2023 | Henry Preiss Hall

Albert Ndlovu, The Israelites moving through the Red Sea, 1968, linocut print on paper	Esther Nxumalo, V Mncube, P Majozi, Elephants, handwoven wool	John Muafangelo, Adam and Eve, 1968, linocut print on paper

A Swedish artist, Bertha Hansson, visited South Africa in the early 1950s and met the Lutheran Bishop of Zululand, Helgé Fosseus, who lived in Rorke’s Drift. Both expressed concern about the degeneration of indigenous art and crafts. The Swedish Committee for the Promotion of African Art was subsequently established in Sweden. A young Swedish couple, Peder and Ulla Gowenius, respectively an art teacher and textile artist, were recruited to establish an art centre in South Africa. This rural centre was founded in 1961 at Umpumulo in Zululand as the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre, and was moved to Rorke’s Drift in 1962.

The Pretoria Art Museum owns several artworks from Rorke’s Drift artists. On exhibition are tapestries, prints and ceramics. 

THE AMADLOZI GROUP | North Gallery | Until end of February 2023

Ezrom Legae (1938–1999), Sacrifice, bronze	Sydney Kumalo (1935–1988), Mother and Child, bronze

Egon Guenter, goldsmith, gallerist and collector, formed the Amadlozi Group in 1961, along with Cecil Skotnes. Members included Guiseppe Cattaneo, Cecily Sash, Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae and Eduardo Villa. Amadlozi means “spirit of our ancestors” and artworks produced by the group reflect an African influence.

Guenther, who believed that a significant work of art should reflect its time and environment, was instrumental in encouraging these artists to draw on African inspiration for their work. Exposure to his significant collection of traditional African art at a time when these could not be seen often stimulated these artists to consider what it meant to make art in and about Africa, and placed them at the forefront of serious discussions about African art in southern Africa. Although it was a short-lived group, their impact on South African art is profound.

PELMAMA ART EXHIBITION – IN MEMORY OF FERNAND F HAENGGI (1934–2022)

15 November 2022 until 23 April 2023 | East Gallery

Fred Schimmel (1928–2009), Evolutionary Landscape, 1986, mixed media on board	Willi Lottering (born 1956), Gister, Vandag, 1986, oil on board

Since the opening of the Pretoria Art Museum in 1964, there has been a close relationship between the Haenggi family and the museum. Madame Fernande Marie-Louise Haenggi and her son Fernand F Haenggi were dynamically involved in the South African art market from 1961 until 1993. Fernand was also the driving force behind the Pelmama Art Collection. All the artworks that artists or private collectors donated to the Haenggi Foundation over the years have been donated to public museums in South Africa as part of the Pelmama Permanent Art Collection. In January 1991, 1993 and 2009, the Pretoria Art Museum received various donations consisting of paintings, graphic artworks, tapestries and ceramics.

This exhibition in memory of Fernand F Haenggi is a small selection of the large number of artworks donated by the Pelmama Permanent Art Collection to the Pretoria Art Museum.

A STORY OF SOUTH AFRICAN ART | Ongoing | Albert Werth Hall

This selection of artworks from the permanent collection of the Pretoria Art Museum briefly reviews South African art. It includes works by early twentieth-century painters, the Resistance artists of the 1980s and artists of the twenty-first century. The exhibition is based on the secondary school syllabus.

CERAMICS FROM THE PRETORIA ART MUSEUM AND COROBRIK COLLECTIONS | Ceramic gallery | Ongoing

Mellaney Roberts, Fragmented Moments, earthenware, Corobrik Ceramic Collection

View a selection of ceramic artworks from the Pretoria Art Museum’s, as well as ceramics from the Corobrik Ceramic Collection. Part of the Corobrik Collection, usually exhibited in the ceramic gallery, will be on loan to the University of Pretoria.q 

SPECIAL REDUCED ENTRANCE FEE AT CITY OF TSHWANE MUSEUMS:

R2,00 ON WEDNESDAYS

Visit the Pretoria Art Museum, Melrose House Museum or Fort Klapperkop Heritage Site on Wednesdays and only pay R2,00 entrance fee. 

GUIDED TOURS

No guided tours are available until further notice.

CENTURION ART GALLERY

Centurion Art Gallery is a commercial art gallery where local artists can exhibit and sell their artworks. The gallery aims to show a variety of art forms, exhibit emerging talent and promote Tshwane artists in particular.

For exhibition space, contact the gallery at artg@tshwane.gov.za or 012 358 3477.

Cost to exhibit:

Per exhibition for a one-month period:          R1 090

Per exhibition for a two-week period:            R547

Commission on the sale of artworks:              22%

The Centurion Art Gallery is open on Mondays to Fridays from 10:00 to 15:00.

It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Centurion Art Gallery, cnr Cantonments Road and Union Avenue, Lyttelton, Centurion