David Goldblatt

1930 - 2018
Born in 1930, in South Africa

Born into a Jewish family who had settled in South Africa in 1893, David Goldblatt became interested in photography at the age of 17. In 1948, he began exploring photography while enrolled in business studies.

Biography

In 1963, he turned entirely to photography. Preferring to shoot outside, Goldblatt worked for various media outlets while also developing his own projects, and in 1989, he founded the Market Photography Workshop in Johannesburg. His frequent collaborations with writers and journalists reflect his esteem for literary readings of his images. Goldblatt’s photographs appear as series in which he documents his country’s history. “In the 1980s and 1990s, I photographed structures that we, South Africans, created during Baasskap [apartheid], which was enforced from the 1960s to the 1990s, when whites gradually asserted their power over all of South Africa and its people. I was looking for and trying to illustrate the values that we expressed through those structures with images and words. Since 1999, five years after the first democratic elections which put the current African National Congress in place under Nelson Mandela, I’ve undertaken a similar photographic process.” Goldblatt worked in black and white during apartheid. In 1994, his transition to colour accompanied a hope kindled by the arrival of democracy. Since then, he has returned to shooting in black and white. “Black and white is also in sympathy with the feelings of anger, disappointment and fear that I feel at the trashing of democratic values that we are witnessing. Our democracy is very fragile. It could be lost.”

Bibliographic resources

Pagé, Suzanne ; Scherf, Angeline ; Mbembe, Achille... [et al.]. Etre là : Afrique du Sud, une scène contemporaine [Exposition, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 25 avril - 28 août 2017]. Paris : Editions Dilecta, 2017.

Lignel, Baptiste. David Goldblatt. Arles : Actes Sud, 2014. (Photo poche ; 151).

Stevenson, Michael ; Haworth-Booth, Mark. Regarding intersections - David Goldblatt. Göttingen : Steidl Publishers, 2014.

Loock, Ulrich ; Powell, Ivor. Intersections intersected : David Goldblatt : [exhibition, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto], 25 July to 12 October 2008. Porto : Civilização Ed., 2008.

Lawson, Lesley. David Goldblatt. London ; New York : Phaidon, 2001. (55).

In The Collection

*"Remains of households in a children's game called onopopi, and the shells of incomplete houses in a housing scheme that stalled. Kwezinaledi, Lady Grey, Eastern Cape"*, 2006

David Goldblatt

*"Incomplete houses, part of stalled municipal developpment of 1000 houses. The allocation was made in 1998, building started in 2003. Officials and a politician gave various reasons for the stalling o*, 2006

David Goldblatt

*Squatter camp of foreign nationals between nationals between N1 and railway property at Woodstock Cape Town*, 2006

David Goldblatt

*Diepsloot. August 2009*, 2009

David Goldblatt

*In commemoration of and protest against farm murders, Rietvlei, on the N1 near Polokwane*, 2004

David Goldblatt

*Uitkyk, Bushmanland*, 2004

David Goldblatt

*Overflow at Hytkoras, Namaqualand. 30 December 2003*, 2003

David Goldblatt

*Monument to the republic of South Africa 31 May 1961, Cornelia, Free State*, 2005

David Goldblatt

*Blue asbestos waste on the Owendale Asbestos Mine tailings dump, near Postmasburg, Northern Cape. 21 December 2002*, 2002

David Goldblatt

*Autumn on the sak river, Nuweveld, Karoo, Western Cape*, 2004

David Goldblatt

Collection : A Selection of African artworks

Exhibition of the Collection

From 26 April 2017 to 4 September 2017

The continent, artists and cultural influence of Africa are today essential to understanding the world’s artistic landscape.

Artists

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