Strauss & co - 20 May 2019, Johannesburg

10 ‘Crump was driven throughout his distinguished career by a fearless vision of excellence’, 1 which he applied not only to teaching and mentoring, but also to curating, publishing and arts administration – he was influential in local biennales, worked with various galleries and public and corporate collections, sat on acquisitions committees and advisory boards, and shaped the Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, in a number of important ways. A master printmaker and water­ colourist, Crump’s own art-making ranged from esoteric conceptual etchings like the Wedge Series (1978), to the monumental large-scale mining landscapes of breath-taking beauty and technical dexterity that antithetically magnify the ravages and degradation they depict (1993), and the reduced macro focus of the exquisitely delicate and subtle camphor tree studies of 2001. In the catalogue for the posthumous retrospective held at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2011, Freschi writes that Crump was ‘an extraordinary man and a brilliant artist, whose legacy is the professionalism and bold fearlessness that characterises the contemporary South African art world that he helped to shape’. 2 The calibre of the artists who benefited from coming into his ambit – Jane Alexander; Deborah Bell; Kim Berman; Candice Breitz; Kendell Geers; Neil Goedhals; Moshekwa Langa; Karel Nel; Walter Oltmann; Joachim Schönfeldt and Diane Victor – is an indicator of the veracity of that statement. 1. Federico Freschi (ed) (2011) Alan Crump: A Fearless Vision , Johannesburg: Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, page 9. 2. Federico Freschi (ed) (2011) Alan Crump: A Fearless Vision , Johannesburg: Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, page 10. The Polly Street and Jubilee Art Centres The Polly Street Centre in Johannesburg began in 1949 as a centre for adult education and recreation. It offered literacy classes, music lessons, boxing and ballroom dancing and, although art classes were established, it was only after Cecil Skotnes was appointed as the full-time cultural recreation officer in mid-1952 that Polly Street was to effect ‘a minor cultural revolution’and become ‘the launching-pad for the first large-scale venture of urban black South Africans into the plastic arts’. 1 The Polly Street Art Centre – and later the Jubilee Art Centre following a move to Eloff Street towards the end of the 1950s – providing training for many who would become renowned professional artists, and teachers who would influence the course of art history in South Africa. Classes took place initially only once a week, materials were in short supply and, other than Skotnes, the teachers, including Fred Schimmel and Larry Scully, were volunteers. Although Skotnes stressed the importance of sound technical training in a variety of media and the development of a personal style, a lack of funding prompted the focus on inexpensive two-dimensional media – drawing with pencil and charcoal and painting with water-based paints – and modelling in clay, which did not require expensive equipment. Polly Street seems to have been more of an art workshop than an academic art school. Past students remember working predominantly from imagination, following their own ideas and participating in constructive discussions. The role of the teachers seems to have been to guide students, rather than set specific assignments or follow a curriculum. Ezrom Legae recalls that Skotnes would never tell students how to do something, but was rather intent on ‘making people think with their eyes’. Durant Sihlali stresses how important the Centre was as a meeting of their time. Kumalo left the Centre that year to devote himself to a professional career as an artist, and he was replaced by Ezrom Legae. Skotnes resigned the following year. The authorities became increasingly less tolerant of a thriving black project in what was designated a white area and the centre finally closed in 1970. Other artists associated with the two centres include Ben Arnold; Wilfred Delporte; Louis Maqhubela; Pat Mautloa; David Mogano; Ephraim Ngatane; Winston Saoli; Lucas Sithole and Moses Tladi. 2 1. Esmé Berman (1983) Art and Artists of South Africa , Cape Town: AA Balkema, page 338. 2. Adapted from Elizabeth Rankin (1996) ‘Teaching and Learning: Skotnes at Polly Street’, in Frieda Harmsen, Cecil Skotnes (Retrospective catalogue), Cape Town: South African National Gallery. See also Elza Miles (2004) Polly Street: The Story of an Art Centre, Johannesburg: The Ampersand Foundation. place in the city for practising artists, and successful black artists continued to make use of the facilities that the Centre offered and to participate in the discussions. When Sydney Kumalo was appointed to teach in 1958, it provided him with the opportunity to focus on his own art- making, and furnished a role model for other aspiring black artists. By 1964, both Skotnes’and Kumalo’s personal careers were flourishing and demanding more Cecil Skotnes Sydney Kumalo Fred Schimmel Ezrom Legae Larry Scully right Lot 298 Karel Nel  Presence: Leaf Shrine, North Island, Seychelles (detail)