On Distance: From art history to Ernest Mancoba

Ralphs, SCT

On Distance: From art history to Ernest Mancoba

Master Thesis

2007

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Michaelis School of Fine Art

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

In this thesis the central narratives of Western art history, specifically those related to modernism and African art, are considered in light of a climate of criticism concentrated over the past thirty years in Western and South African an historiography. In considering complexities of interpretation of the life and work of the African modernist painter, Ernest Mancoba, I address a perceived need for a critical discourse pertaining to early black South African modernist art. As a way of organising both my critique and contribution, I establish and use the thematic of distance. This work argues for greater consideration of individual motivation and circumstance in our understanding of early African modernist art production.

Keywords

Art Historical Studies

Reference:

Collections

Masters

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