![]() Summary: South African studio pottery of the later twentieth century has consistently been described as ‘Anglo-Oriental’, because it was perceived to adhere to the standard forms of utilitarian wares in plain or subdued colours and decorations, as promoted by the Anglo-Oriental tradition of studio pottery. ![]() These wares challenge the political neutrality or complicity of much contemporary South African art and craft production. The interstitial agency of Drostdy’s Bushman wares was asserted via the triangulation of textual markings on their bases iconography and design and compounded by their relative quantitative “weight”. This article contends that Drostdy’s Bushman wares both espoused and contested contemporary realities. ![]() It is argued that Drostdy’s Bushman wares offer a partial reflection into the complex, evolving and frequently contradictory public sentiment of the 1950s regarding the provenance of San rock art its raison d’etre its public profile in the media, literature, popular fiction, scientific literature, the arts, festivals and exhibitions. At first glance, Drostdy’s Bushman wares appear to resemble clichéd copies of Helen Tongue’s (1909) reproductions. In this article I focus on reproductions of San rock paintings on domestic crockery produced by Grahamstown Pottery’s Drostdy Ware in the 1950s. South African commercial and production pottery is a highly neglected field of research. Some images of African women and San parietal art conform to pejorative and theoretically problematic modernist cannons of the'other', while some are subversive and undermine the dominant pictorial and ideological artistic conventions. Similarly, images of San parietal art are investigated within their historical context of a growing public and academic interest in the Bushmen and a surge in publications containing reproductions of San parietal art. Imagery of African women is considered within the framework of the native study genre in South African painting, sculpture and photography from 1800-1950 and Africana ceramics from 1910-1950. Wares of all three of the studios reveal a predilection for figurative imagery, especially images of indigenous African women and iconography derived from reproductions of Southern San parietal art. Significant primary research was conducted into the present status of South African studio ceramics from the 1950s in the collections of our heritage institutions. The establishment and demise of the South African studio ceramics industry and requests for tariff protection were considered within this context. This dissertation analyses the broader socio-political and ideological paradigms that framed South African art-making, as well as the international design trends that influenced the local studio ceramics sector. This dissertation elucidates the historical development, key personnel, the ceramics, as well as relevant technical information related to the Kalahari Studio, Drostdy Ware and Crescent Potteries. The oeuvre of the Kalahari Studio (Cape Town), Drostdy Ware (a division of Grahamstown Pottery, Grahamstown) and Crescent Potteries (Krugersdorp) is investigated within the historical context of the 1950s, a watershed period that witnessed crucial developments in South African cultural and political history. They are a means to augmenting and enriching art, craft and design history in South Africa, and beyond. These hypotheses open up new possibilities for understanding and re-evaluating the oeuvre of Makoanyane and other similarly neglected early Modern artists. Both hypotheses centre around the operation of professional workshop that (1) employed assistants and (2) used serial reproduction technology. The resultant article opens up a new framework for understanding Makoanyane’s oeuvre, and aims to engage with Modernist tropes and historiographies concerning connoisseurship via two hypotheses. A critical examination of these texts and images is synthesised with my knowledge of the ceramics technology, production techniques and professional studio practices. ![]() The second is a report by the artist, curator, teacher and development consultant, Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz. The initial is a booklet by Makoanyane’s agent, C. Research methodology includes a critical examination of images of works by Makoanyane in South African public collections, a literature survey of Modern South African and African ceramic sculptural traditions, as well as a detailed scrutiny of two key texts. This essay explores ceramic production in the Modern period in South Africa and Lesotho via a contemporary re-interpretation of the oeuvre of the pioneer Mosotho sculptor, Samuele Makoanyane (1909 – 1944). ![]()
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