David Goldblatt
David Goldblatt ( born November 29, 1930 in Randfontein, South Africa) is a South African photographer.
Life
David Goldblatt was born on 25 November 1930 in Randfontein, South Africa, the third son of Eli Goldblatt and Olga Light, who had emigrated as a child with her parents to South Africa to escape the persecution of Lithuanian Jewish communities in the 1890s. His interest in photography was sparked during his school days at the Krugersdorp High School. After his matriculation examination in 1948 he tried in vain to work as a photojournalist for magazines, one in South Africa at that time almost unknown area of work. After having been employed in parental menswear business and a Degree in Bachelor of Commerce from the University of the Witwatersrand, he turned to photography. After the death of his father in 1962, Goldblatt sold the textile business and financed with the proceeds of its entry into professional photography.
David Goldblatt has since worked for both magazines as well as a commercial photographer. Of these commissioned works ( professional work ) he strictly distinguishes his artistic work (personal work). He dedicates his free work at critical explorations of South African society. In the early years resulted in several episodes that were later published in books, such as the reports from the working life On The Mines and Shaftsinking, a collaboration with Nadine Gordimer. Some Afrikaners Photographed, as well as the later work in Boksburg portray aspects of the lives of members of the apartheid -supporting group of white " Afrikaners ". In these series, Goldblatt gives insight into ways of life and also in the heterogeneity of a seemingly unified social layer. At the same time Goldblatt began to document the living conditions of the apartheid language classified as " colored " and "black " people. He launched the up to now (2005 ) the continued long-term project " Jo'burg Intersections " and described the life in the suburbs and townships around Johannesburg. Because Goldblatt followed the differentiated depiction of very many and very different cultures and social conditions, he was accused temporarily from the political opposition, not to devote his photographic work to direct political struggle.
Towards the end of the apartheid era founded Goldblatt 1989 " Market Photography Workshop " in Johannesburg, a place of learning for dependents, in particular the discriminated social groups. This institution still exists today. His goal is to provide visual skills and photographic knowledge. In this photo school now members of all backgrounds to work together - a successful contribution to the defeat of apartheid in their minds. Some of the graduates of the school photograph now professionally.
Published in 1998 one of his most important works on which he had worked for 15 years: South Africa: The Structure of Things then. It shows South African sites of memory that reflect the social turmoil in the country. In the selection and compilation of Memorable Goldblatt forms of cultural memory in South Africa, a new chapter. At the same time, this book marks the end of his black - and-white photography. For Structures Goldblatt received in 1995 the Camera Austria Prize. Outside of South Africa, David Goldblatt was seen only sporadically for decades. The curator Okwui Enwezor was equal to three times involved care to present gold leaf since the late 1990s in internationally acclaimed exhibitions. These is the major retrospective " 51 Years", organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona ( MACBA), 2001ff. A ceremony learned Goldblatt in 2001 with the awarding of an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town.
Photography since 1999
In decades David Goldblatt developed an aesthetic that never lagged behind the message of his documentary images. Aware that with the beginning of the government of Nelson Mandela in a new era had dawned in the country's history, Goldblatt was looking for new ways of expression. As the technical requirements were met, he turned to color photography.
David Goldblatt's project was an abandoned asbestos mine in Australia. In recent years, a new group, the " Platteland Intersections " was born. David Goldblatt traveled the South African province. His photos depict the changes in ways of life and landscape in a country whose people must be guided entirely new post-apartheid. Beside her, he continues, which began in the 1960s series " Johannesburg Intersections ", which focuses on views of the metropolis. Goldblatt's oeuvre is characterized by constellations between political and real geography, made visible in the transformations of the city and the country. This results in a new image of the country in the 21st century.
A new way: color photography
David Goldblatt had until the 1990s, photographed exclusively in black and white. He turned to 1999, the color photography. He could do this because the photo technology had developed so that he was able to realize his intentions picture with their help. A color image can be open, free design, than the specified on the light-dark contrast black and white image. The interplay of hues can customize according to his ideas of the artists in the computer. However, he never tampered with in his artistic works the image object, does not add anything, takes nothing away and not modifying any proportions. However, in addition to the color scheme it also changing the focus. His technique allows, starting from a large-format analog picture by conventional means of the magnification technique is not achievable contrast differences. The final image is printed with a pigment ink on cotton- based paper. Since 2006, gold leaf photographed in color or black and white.
Solo Exhibitions
- MACBA Barcelona ( organization);
- Witte de With, Rotterdam;
- Modern Art, Oxford;
- Palais des Beaux -Arts, Brussels;
- Lenbachhaus, Munich;
- Johannesburg Art Gallery
- David Goldblatt - Intersections. museum art palace, Dusseldorf;
- Camera Austria, Graz
- Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg
- Berkeley Art Museum
- David Goldblatt. Photography - Forma. Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Milan
- Joburg. The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
- Museu Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
- Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam
- Konstmuseum Vasteras, Vasteras
Group Exhibitions
- House of World at Martin-Gropius -Bau, Berlin cultures;
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago;
- P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York
- Head North. Bildmuseet Umeå, Umeå, Sweden
- Museum art palace, Dusseldorf
- Photography from South Africa. Galerie Christine König, Vienna
- Eye Spy: Photography from the Permanent Collection. MCASD Downtown, San Diego, USA
- Faces in the Crowd - Picturing Modern Life from Manet to Today. Whitechapel Art Gallery, London;
- Museo D' Arte Contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin
- 8 South African photographers. Det Nationale Fotomuseum, Copenhagen
- Hayward Gallery, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
- Eyes Wide Open - New to the Stedelijk & The Monique Zajfen Collection. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
- Summer 2007 / 8th Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
- Apartheid - The South African Mirror. Centre Contemporary Culture of Barcelona ( CCCB ), Barcelona
- Contemporary art from South Africa - Art Museum Bochum
- Masterworks. The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
- Homelands - Land Marks: Contemporary Art from South America. Haunch of Venison, London
- Disguise: The art of attracting and deflecting attention. Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
- Reality Check - Iziko South African National Art Gallery, Cape Town
- Input - Colecção Sindika Dokolo. Museu Nacional de História Natural, Luanda
- World Stars of Photography - winners of the Hasselblad Foundation. Reiss - Engelhorn Museum, Mannheim
- On The Mines. With Nadine Gordimer. Cape Town 1973
- Some Afrikaners Photographed. Johannesburg 1975
- Cape Dutch homesteads. With Margaret Courtney -Clark and John Kench. Cape Town 1981
- In Boksburg. Cape Town 1982
- Lifetimes: Under Apartheid. With Nadine Gordimer. New York 1986
- The Transported of KwaNdebele. With Brenda Goldblatt and Phillip van Niekerk. New York 1989
- South Africa: the Structure of Things Then. Cape Town; New York 1998
- Lesley Lawson: David Goldblatt. London 2001 ( Phaidon 55)
- David Goldblatt Fifty -One Years. Barcelona 2001
- Particulars. Johannesburg 2003 (the " Prix du Livre " XVIe Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie Arles 2004)
- David Goldblatt - Intersections. Munich et al 2005, ISBN 3-7913-3247-3
- David Goldblatt: Photographs: Hasselblad Award 2006, ISBN 3-7757-1917-2
- David Goldblatt - South African Photography 1952 - 2006th Winterthur 2007 ISBN 3-85616-294-1
Works in public collections
- Museum art palace, Dusseldorf
- Durban Art Gallery
- Johannesburg Art Gallery
- Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg
- South African National Gallery, Cape Town
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
- FNAC, Paris
- University of South Africa, Pretoria
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco