The exhibition entitled Abstract South African Art from the Isolation Years: Part 2 is the second in a series of exhibitions presented by the Stellenbosch Modern and Contemporary art gallery (smac) to focus exclusively on the generation of post-war avant-garde artists who consciously embraced the modernist idiom and produced art of an abstract or non-figurative nature during the sixties, seventies and eighties.
Some of the artists included in this year’s collection are Lionel Abrahams, Bill Ainslie, Kenneth Bakker, Charl Buchner, Walter Battis, Bettie Ciliers-Barnard, Joan Claire, Christo Coetzee, Nel Erasmus, Barbara Burry, George Boys, Nils Burwitz, Charles Gassner, Cecil Higgs, Erik Laubscher, Dumisani Mabaso, Louis Maqhubela, Dirk Meerkotter, Georgina Ormiston, Douglas Portway, Fred Schimmel, Larry Scully, Cecily Sash, Henry Symonds, Gunther van Der Reis, Edoardo Villa, Gordon Vorster and Anna Vorster.
Also forming part of this exhibition is a unique collection of Ernst Mancoba’s (1904-2002) early paintings from Kattinge, Denmark.
The first exhibition hosted last year contained more than 100 artworks and was a commercial success. The second exhibition has been widely anticipated and the demand for this type of work is clearly growing.
SMAC maintains that these artist should form an integral part of the current revisioning process in South African art and their work must be reassessed and revalued in market terms.
Abstract South African Art from the Isolation Years: Part 2 opens on 18 June and will continue until the end of August.
Tags: Anna Vorster, Barbara Burry, Bettie Ciliers-Barnard, Bill Ainslie, Cecil Higgs, Cecily Sash, Charl Buchner, Charles Gassner, Christo Coetzee, Dirk Meerkotter, Douglas Portway, Dumisani Mabaso, Edoardo Villa, Erik Laubscher, Fred Schimmel, George Boys, Georgina Ormiston, Gordon Vorster, Gunther van Der Reis, Henry Symonds, Joan Claire, Kenneth Bakker, Larry Scully, Lionel Abrahams, Louis Maqhubela, Nel Erasmus, Nils Burwitz, Walter Battis
