George Milwa Mnyaluza Pemba; South African 1912-2001; Open Air Concert
Provenance : Strauss & Co, Johannesburg, 7 November 2011, lot 300.
Exhibited : Strauss & Co, Johannesburg, Social Stances: George Pemba and Robert Hodgins, 1 to 30 July 2021.
Literature : Wilhelm van Rensburg (2021) Social Stances: George Pemba and Robert Hodgins, exhibition catalogue, Johannesburg: Strauss & Co, illustrated in colour on page 7.
Notes : Pemba typically captures the life of ordinary people as it happens around him. In the present lot, he depicts a musical concert watched by an informal audience sprawling on the grass in front of the performers - a singer holds centre stage, flanked by coordinated dancers and drummers, with a choir behind. The members of the audience are relaxing and enjoying weekend leisure time, a no doubt welcome break from their jobs as domestic workers and labourers, judging by their modest attire. As in many of Pemba's paintings, although all seems light and pleasant on the surface, the realities of the political situation in apartheid South Africa intrude - a uniformed policeman takes up his post in the shadows next to the stage, and his trained Alsatian police dog lies alert and at the ready. Pemba gently, but accurately, captures the social realism of the situation - providing the viewer with both the joyful communal spirit of the open air concert and the day-to-day realities of oppression and restriction.
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