David Goldblatt

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David Goldblatt (born November 29, 1930 in Randfontein , South Africa ; † June 25, 2018 in Johannesburg ) was a South African photographer .

Life

David Goldblatt was born in 1930 as the third son of Eli Goldblatt and Olga Light. His parents had emigrated to South Africa with their parents as children to escape persecution by Lithuanian Jewish communities in the 1890s.

Goldblatt's interest in photography was aroused during his school days at Krugersdorp High School . After his matric in 1948, he tried in vain to work as a photojournalist for magazines, an area that was almost unknown in South Africa at the time. After working in his parents' menswear business and studying with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Witwatersrand University , he turned back to photography. After his father's death in 1962, Goldblatt sold the textile business and used the proceeds to finance his entry into professional photography.

Photographic work from 1962

Goldblatt worked from then on both for magazines and as an advertising photographer. He strictly distinguished his artistic work (personal work) from this commissioned work (professional work) . He devoted his freelance work to critical exploration of South African society. In the first few years several episodes were created that were later published in books, such as the reports from working life On The Mines and Shaftsinking, a cooperation with Nadine Gordimer . Some Afrikaners Photographed and the later work In Boksburg depict aspects of the lives of members of the apartheid group of white “ Africans ”. In these series Goldblatt provided insights into ways of life and also into the heterogeneity of a seemingly uniform social class.

At the same time, Goldblatt began to document the living conditions of people classified as " colored " and "black". He started the long-term project “ Jo'burg Intersections”, which continued until 2005, and described life in the townships around Johannesburg . Because Goldblatt followed the differentiated portrayal of very many and extremely different cultures and social conditions, the political opposition accused him at times of not devoting his photographic work to direct political struggle.

Towards the end of the apartheid era, Goldblatt founded the “ Market Photography Workshop ” in a former post office in Newtown (Johannesburg) in 1989 , a training facility for members of the social groups that were discriminated against. This institute still exists today. Its aim is to impart visual skills and basic photographic knowledge. In this photo school, relatives of all origins work together - a successful contribution to overcoming apartheid in people's minds. Some of the school's graduates now take professional photos.

In 1998 one of his most important works, on which he had worked for 15 years, appeared: South Africa: The Structure of Things then. It shows South African places of remembrance that reflect the social upheavals in the country. In the selection and composition of the memorable, Goldblatt formed a new chapter in South Africa's cultural memory. At the same time, this book marked the end of his black and white photography. Goldblatt received the Camera Austria Prize for Structures in 1995 .

Outside of South Africa, David Goldblatt was only noticed sporadically for decades. The curator Okwui Enwezor was involved three times in presenting Goldblatt in internationally acclaimed exhibitions from the end of the 1990s. The major retrospective “51 Years”, organized by the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), starting in 2001, deserves special mention. Goldblatt received an honor in 2001 with the award of an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the University of Cape Town . In 2011 he refused to be honored with the South African Order of Ikhamanga for political reasons.

Photography since 1999

Over the decades Goldblatt developed an aesthetic that never fell short of the documentary message of his pictures. Aware that with the beginning of Nelson Mandela's government in 1994 a new era had dawned in the history of the country, Goldblatt looked for new ways of expression. When the technical requirements were met, he worked with the means of color photography .

One of Goldblatt's projects dealt with an abandoned asbestos mine in Australia. In his last years a new group of works emerged, the Platteland Intersections . Goldblatt toured the South African province. His photos depict the changes in the way of life and the landscape in a country whose people had to reorient themselves after apartheid. Alongside her, he continued the Johannesburg Intersections series, which began in the 1960s and 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 created a new image of the country in the 21st century.

David Goldblatt had only photographed in black and white until the 1990s. He turned to color photography in 1999. He was able to do this because photographic technology had developed in such a way that he could now implement his image intentions with its help. A colored picture can be designed more openly and freely than the black-and-white picture based on the light-dark contrast. The artist can adjust the interplay of the color tones in the computer according to his ideas. However, he never manipulated the subject in his artistic work, added nothing, took nothing away and did not change any proportions. In addition to the color scheme, however, he also changed the sharpness. Based on an analogue large format photo, his technique enabled contrast differentiations that could not be achieved with conventional means of enlargement technology. The finished image was printed out on paper containing cotton using a pigmented ink. From 2006, Goldblatt took photographs in both color and black and white.

Goldblatt died in June 2018 at the age of 87.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Books

  • 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 ("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 Photographs 1952–2006. Winterthur 2007, ISBN 3-85616-294-1

Works in public collections

Honors

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ^ Photographer David Goldblatt, Who Chronicled Apartheid, Dies. AP article on nytimes.com , June 25, 2018, accessed June 25, 2018 .
  2. ^ History. The Market Photo Workshop, accessed June 26, 2018 .
  3. ^ Goldblatt's letter to Zuma. In: Mail & Guardian . November 25, 2011, accessed June 25, 2018 .
  4. ^ David Goldblatt - South African Photographs 1952-2006. Retrieved June 25, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Leonie March: “I'm interested in who the criminals are.” Visiting photography legend David Goldblatt in Cape Town. In: Deutschlandfunk . February 15, 2013, accessed June 25, 2018 .
  6. ↑ In / sight: African photographers, 1940 to the present: [Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, May 24-September 29, 1996]. In: Internet Archive . Retrieved June 25, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Goldblatt, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goldblatt, Lewis David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African photographer
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Randfontein , South Africa
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 2018
Place of death Johannesburg