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OPENING THE JOURNAL
Loading content…Art leaves a record. Return to the exhibitions, artists and ideas that continue to shape the conversation.
Browse by the original source publication date. Historical selections are reviewed and added over time; coverage is not exhaustive.
Browse daily editionsIn December 2010, the National Gallery of Jamaica announced a tribute exhibition to painter and printmaker Albert Huie, who had died earlier that year. Scheduled to open on December 30, the presentation drew from the national collection and covered work from the late 1930s to the late 1990s. The accompanying public gathering was to include poetry, music and participation by his daughter, Christine Huie-Roy.
Reporting on William Kentridge’s lecture at the New York Studio School, Hyperallergic traces how experiments in painting, acting and filmmaking informed the South African artist’s practice. Kentridge describes erasing and redrawing charcoal images on the same sheet, allowing their remaining traces to shape his animations. The account connects this open-ended process with his staging of Shostakovich’s The Nose and his MoMA retrospective.
ART AFRICA’s February 2010 auction preview highlighted South African works by Alexis Preller, Irma Stern, Maggie Laubser, William Kentridge, Colbert Mashile and Helen Sebidi. It also discussed sculptures by the Amadlozi Group and recalled the collective’s 1963 Johannesburg exhibition and Italian tour. The report described collector enthusiasm through auctioneer commentary; its estimates and buying advice belong to that historical sale, not today’s market.
The eighth Bamako Encounters brought work by more than 100 African photographers to venues across Mali’s capital around the theme of borders. Kerryn Greenberg’s review traced migration, war, trade, sexuality and social exclusion through works by Jodi Bieber, Bouchra Khalili, Baudouin Mouanda, Zanele Muholi and others. It praised the biennial’s artist-centred scale while questioning visa barriers, uneven curation and the difficulty of engaging local audiences.
Spier Contemporary 2010 selected 100 artists and 132 works from more than 2,700 submissions gathered through 13 centres across South Africa. The Africa Centre’s national exhibition was scheduled to open at Cape Town City Hall on 14 March 2010. A five-person curatorial team made the final selection, while architect Nabeel Essa developed an installation contrasting contemporary artworks with the Edwardian building’s historic interior.
Zanele Muholi received the Casa Africa prize for best female photographer and a Fondation Blachère award at the 2009 Bamako photography biennial. IRN-Africa also recognised Muholi’s contribution to research on sexuality in Africa with a Fanny Ann Eddy accolade. The announcement noted an Allegheny College residency and group exhibition, followed by Muholi’s planned participation in a Penn State colloquium on Sara Baartman.
A January 2010 ART AFRICA notice introduced a monograph on Cape Town-born painter Marlene Dumas. Its contents combined Dominic van den Boogerd’s survey, Barbara Bloom’s interview, a close reading of a painting of Josephine Baker, and the artist’s own writings. An update by Ilaria Bonacossa considered paintings and drawings made after 1999, placing the publication within Dumas’s developing international career.
TIME included South African artist William Kentridge in its 2009 list of 100 influential people, with a profile written by Lou Reed. Reed focused on Kentridge’s ability to translate interior states into charcoal drawing, animation, theatre and installation. Discussing works including Preparing the Flute, Artist and Model and Stereoscope, the profile presented his practice as an unusually direct expression of emotion, beauty and shared humanity.
ART AFRICA’s January 2010 notice described an official art-poster edition for the South African FIFA World Cup, distributed locally by David Krut Projects. Participating artists included William Kentridge, Marlene Dumas, Julie Mehretu, Hassan Musa, Barthélémy Toguo, Soly Cissé and Kay Hassan. The historical announcement documents a visual-art project around the tournament; it does not establish present-day stock or purchasing availability.
Goodman Gallery announced Eleven/TwentyTen, a biennial-style programme of site-specific exhibitions, performances, screenings and public-space installations planned for Johannesburg and Cape Town during the 2010 World Cup. Its international and African roster included El Anatsui, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Bili Bidjocka, Ghada Amer, Yinka Shonibare, William Kentridge, Robin Rhode and others. The project positioned contemporary art across both cities during a period of intense global attention.
ART AFRICA reported in January 2010 that David Goldblatt had received the 2009 Henri Cartier-Bresson Award for TJ, his ongoing photographic examination of Johannesburg. It said an exhibition would follow in 2010. The notice connected the project to decades of observing South African society and emphasised an approach attentive to complexity rather than propaganda or sensationalism.