From Ricky Burnett’s essay, Coming out in the Wash:

“The focus of this exhibition, despite the fact that it includes work made within a span of some thirty years and that it includes artists from eight African countries, is specifically, and, I hope even, provocatively, narrow. Simply stated, our curatorial brief was predicated on something that we have characterised as ‘the British influence’. On the face of it, this is dangerous ground as it immediately conjures up the spectre of colonialism and attendant complex demons. Our interpretation of the brief was to select just three examples of this ‘British influence’ and to select examples which, again on the face of it, did not arise from a programmatic or didactic inflexibility, or from ideological or nationalism fervour, or; particularly, from unseemly missionary zeal. In other words, given that human intercourse is the stuff of history, we are interested here in a type of ‘influence’ that can be best described as self-deprecating. It is always trying to write itself out of the picture, to take a back seat, to be most effective when least noticeable.”

Published on the occasion of Persons and Pictures: The Modernist Eye in Africa, an exhibition at the Newtown Galleries in Johannesburg, this catalogue features works by JB Alacu, Keston Beaton, Peter Binaka, Tubayi Dube, Garth Erasmus, David Nthubu Koloane, Atta Kwami, Louis Maqhubela, Marvelous Mangena, Andrew Matseba, Severino Matti, Patrick Kagiso Mautloa, Rantefe Mothebe, Boira Mteki, Charles Mukibi, Thomas Mukarombwa, Peter Mulindwa, Joseph Mandarika, Sam Nhlengethwa, Qmao Nxuku, Xladom Qomaxa, Kingsley Sambo, Shikhani, Souleymane Keita, and Sane Wadu. It features accompanying essays by Ricky Burnett, Ivor Powell and Robert Loder. The exhibition and catalogue were produced with funding from the British Council, South Africa.  

27 x 21cm | 64 pages | softcover

This second-hand copy of Persons and Pictures: The Modernist Eye in Africa has a lightly worn cover. It is otherwise in near-perfect condition.