Johannesburg Art Gallery
Encyclopedia
The Johannesburg Art Gallery is an art gallery
located in Joubert Park, in the central business district of Johannesburg
, South Africa
. The building was designed by Edward Lutyens and consists of 15 exhibition halls and sculpture gardens. It houses collections of 17th century Dutch paintings, 18th and 19th century British and European art, 19th century South African works, a large contemporary collection of 20th century local and international art and a print cabinet containing works from the 15th century to the present.
The initial collection was put together by Sir Hugh Lane, and exhibited in London in 1910 before being brought to South Africa. Florence, Lady Phillips
, an art collector and wife of mining magnate Lionel Phillips
, established the first gallery collection using funds donated by her husband. Lady Phillips donated her lace collection, and arranged for her husband to donate seven oils and a Rodin sculpture to the collection.
The current collection includes works by Auguste Rodin
, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
, Pablo Picasso
, Camille Pissarro
, Claude Monet
, Edgar Degas
and Henry Moore
, and South Africans such as Gerard Sekoto
, Walter Battiss
, Alexis Preller
, Maud Sumner, Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae
and Pierneef. It also houses an extensive collection of the work of contemporary local artists.
. The architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, came to South Africa in 1910 to examine the site and begin the designs, after Lady Florence Phillips had secured funding from the city for a purpose-built museum. The building was built with a South-facing entrance, but was not completed according to the architect's designs - no part of the museum was broken down to let in the light. It was opened to the public, without ceremony, in 1915 - just after the start of the First World War. The gallery was extended during the 1940s with East-West wings along the South galleries according to the Lutyens' design. The present North facade and galleries were constructed during the 1986/7 extension.
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
located in Joubert Park, in the central business district of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The building was designed by Edward Lutyens and consists of 15 exhibition halls and sculpture gardens. It houses collections of 17th century Dutch paintings, 18th and 19th century British and European art, 19th century South African works, a large contemporary collection of 20th century local and international art and a print cabinet containing works from the 15th century to the present.
Collection
Florence, Lady Phillips
Dorothea Sarah Florence Alexandra, Lady Phillips was a South African art patroness and promoter of indigenous culture...
, an art collector and wife of mining magnate Lionel Phillips
Lionel Phillips
Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet was a South African mining magnate and politician.-Early life:Phillips was born in London on 6 August 1855 to a family of lower middle-class merchants, who formed part of a growing group of Jews set to play a major role in the commerce and politics of...
, established the first gallery collection using funds donated by her husband. Lady Phillips donated her lace collection, and arranged for her husband to donate seven oils and a Rodin sculpture to the collection.
The current collection includes works by Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
and Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
, and South Africans such as Gerard Sekoto
Gerard Sekoto
Gerard Sekoto , was a South African artist and musician. He is recognized as the pioneer of urban black art, social realism, and more recently as the father of South African art and of his 8 daughters and 3 sons...
, Walter Battiss
Walter Battiss
Walter Whall Battiss was a South African artist, generally considered the foremost South African abstract painter and known as the creator of the quirky "Fook Island" concept....
, Alexis Preller
Alexis Preller
Alexis Preller was a South African painter. He trained at the Westminster School of Art from which he graduated in 1934 and later at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris ....
, Maud Sumner, Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae
Ezrom Legae
Ezrom Legae was a South African sculptor and draughtsman.Born in Vrededorp, Johannesburg, Legae studied at the Polly Street Art Centre beginning in 1959; from 1960 until 1964 he attended the Jubilee Art Centre and worked with Cecil Skotnes and Sydney Kumaol. In 1965 he became a teacher,...
and Pierneef. It also houses an extensive collection of the work of contemporary local artists.
History
The Johannesburg Art Gallery collection was opened to the public in 1910, before the gallery itself had been built, and was housed at the University of the WitwatersrandUniversity of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
. The architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, came to South Africa in 1910 to examine the site and begin the designs, after Lady Florence Phillips had secured funding from the city for a purpose-built museum. The building was built with a South-facing entrance, but was not completed according to the architect's designs - no part of the museum was broken down to let in the light. It was opened to the public, without ceremony, in 1915 - just after the start of the First World War. The gallery was extended during the 1940s with East-West wings along the South galleries according to the Lutyens' design. The present North facade and galleries were constructed during the 1986/7 extension.
Regeneration
As a major focus of urban regeneration programmes, the gallery provides the base for the Joubert Park Public Art Project and is developing links with awareness groups and community centres based in the surrounding urban area.Thefts
- June 2002 'St Thomas' by El GrecoEl GrecoEl Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
. - August 2002 'Suitcase' by Kendell GeersKendell GeersKendell Geers is an artist, performance artist, musician and film-maker. Geers was born in Johannesburg in 1968.Geers' commonly given birthdate of May 1968 is fictional. Freire Barnes, "", Artist Pension Trust, 4 October 2007. Accessed 15 February 2011. In Venice in 1993, Geers rose to...
. Sculpture recovered in a damaged state. - 1990s 'Talion' by Gavin Younge. This large cast-bronze sculpture was commissioned by the Gallery as part of its Centenary celebrations in 1986. Thieves stole it by cutting bits off using a portable generator and an angle grinder fitted with a metal-cutting disc. Despite an insurance payout, the Gallery never recast the missing sections.
- January 2011 'General Hoche' by Jules DalouJules DalouAimé-Jules Dalou was a French sculptor, recognized as one of the most brilliant virtuosos of nineteenth-century France, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.-Life:...
. - September 2011 'Mourning Woman' by Sydney Kumalo, 'Peter Pan' by Romano RomanelliRomano RomanelliRomano Romanelli was an Italian sculptor.Romanelli was born in Florence, the son of sculptor Raffaello Romanelli, who created works such as the "Monument to Garibaldi" for Siena, in a vigorously impressionistic 'verist' style...
and 'King of the Universe' by Ernest Ullman.