The Iziko South African National Gallery is the national

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

of South Africa located in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. It became part of the Iziko collection of museums – as managed by the Department of Arts and Culture – in 2001. It then became an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture. Its collection consists largely of Dutch, French and British works from the 17th to the 19th century. This includes

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

s and some early 20th-century British paintings. Contemporary art work displayed in the gallery is selected from many of South Africa's communities and the gallery houses an authoritative collection of sculpture and beadwork.

History

At a meeting in the Cape Town Public Library, convened on 12 October 1850, proposals were discussed to erect a building in the

Company's Garden The Company's Garden is the oldest garden in South Africa, a park and heritage site located in central Cape Town. The garden was originally created in the 1650s by the region's first European settlers and provided fertile ground to grow fresh ...

for the purpose of exhibiting art. This occasion was the inaugural meeting of the South African Fine Arts Association, founded by

Thomas Butterworth Bayley Thomas Butterworth Bayley (1744–1802) was an English magistrate, agriculturist and philanthropist. Background He was from an old Lancashire family, and his mother was one of the Dukinfields of Dukinfield, Cheshire. Shortly after completing ...

and Abraham de Schmidt. The Association went on to arrange the first ever exhibition of fine art in South Africa. This took place on 10 May 1851 in the school rooms in the Company's Garden in Cape Town. Its primary raison d'être remained the establishing of a permanent home for a National collection. The National collection was founded in 1872 with a bequest of paintings from the estate of Thomas Butterworth Bayley. In 1875, the Association was able to purchase premises in the current Queen Victoria Street where the nucleus of the Art Gallery was exhibited. By the South African Art Gallery Act of 1895 the South African Government took over the collection in trust and purchased the premises from the Association for R12 000. A board of five trustees were elected in 1896 to manage the collection. The National Gallery Act made provision for the building of new premises, but foundations were only laid in 1914. The collection was kept in a wing of the

South African Museum The Iziko South African Museum is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present site in the Company's Garden since 1897. The museum houses important A ...

from 1900 and the current building only officially opened to the public on 3 November 1930, by the

Earl of Athlone The title of Earl of Athlone has been created three times. History It was created first in the Peerage of Ireland in 1692 by William III of England, King William III for General Godard van Reede, 1st Earl of Athlone, Baron van Reede, Lord of ...

Notable contributions by Dr Alfred de Pass, Sir

Abe Bailey Sir Abraham Bailey, 1st Baronet (6 November 1864 – 10 August 1940), known as Abe Bailey, was a South African gold tycoon, politician, financier and cricketer. Early years Bailey's mother, Ann Drummond McEwan, was Scottish by birth while his ...

, Sir Edmund and Lady Davis and Lady Michaelis expanded the scope of the collection over the years. In 1937, the building was expanded to accommodate purchases that included South African artists. The first pieces by South African artists, by

Anton van Wouw Anton van Wouw (27 December 1862 30 July 1945) was a Dutch-born South African sculptor regarded as the father of South African sculpture.Burger, E. ''Die Huiselike Omstandighede van Anton van Wouw''. University of Pretoria, 1941, p. 21 Biogra ...

(''African Head'') and

Neville Lewis Alfred Neville Lewis (1895–1972) was a South African artist. He was born in Cape Town, Cape Colony, and educated there and, later, at the Slade School of Art in London. His father was the Reverend A. J. S. Lewis, who was Mayor of Cape Town ...

(''Adderley Street Flower-sellers''), had been purchased in 1926.

Selected collection highlights

Abraham Van Beerstraten - The village of Midlum - Google Art Project.jpg, Abraham Van Beerstraten Robert Gwelo Goodman - City Hall, Cape Town 1917 - Google Art Project.jpg, Robert Gwelo Goodman Thomas Baines - Wagon Crossing a Drift - Natal - Google Art Project.jpg, Thomas Baines Wolf Kibel - Interior - Google Art Project.jpg, Wolf Kibel

List of directors of the Iziko South African National Gallery

Notable artworks

* Adderley Street Flower-sellers * African Head * ''

Holiday Time in Cape Town in the Twentieth Century, in Honour of the Expected Arrival of a Governor-General of UNITED South Africa ''Holiday Time in Cape Town in the Twentieth Century, in Honour of the Expected Arrival of a Governor-General of UNITED South Africa'', or more simply known as ''Holiday time in Cape Town'' or ''Holiday Time in Cape Town in the Twentieth Century' ...

'' * ''

The Butcher Boys ''Butcher Boys'' (1985/1986) is a sculpture made by South African artist Jane Alexander of three, life-size, oil-painted plaster figures with animal horn and bone details, seated on a bench. The work formed part of her MAFA submission (University ...

Permanent collection artists (non-exhaustive)

Jane Alexander Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997 ...

(''

'') *

Willem Boshoff Willem Boshoff (born 1951, Johannesburg, South Africa) is one of South Africa's foremost contemporary artists and regularly exhibits nationally and internationally. Boshoff spent his childhood in Vanderbijlpark, which is a town located next to ...

Alan Davie James Alan Davie (28 September 1920 – 5 April 2014) was a Scottish painter and musician. Biography Davie was born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920, the son of Elizabeth (née Turnbull) and James William Davie, an art teacher and painter who ...

Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands. Life and work Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had ...

Robert Hodgins Robert Hodgins (27 June 1920 – 15 March 2010) was an English painter and printmaker. Life history Robert Hodgins was born in Dulwich, London, on 27 June 1920, and immigrated to South Africa in 1938. He enlisted with the Union Defence For ...

William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...

– The gallery contains Kentridge's series of five Soho Eckstein short animated films (1989–1996)''.'' * Ronald Kitaj *

Moses Kottler Moses Kottler (1896–1977) was a South African painter and sculptor. He is widely regarded, along with Anton van Wouw and Lippy Lipshitz, as one of the most important South African sculptors. This triumvirate had the distinction of also havin ...

Maggie Laubser Maria Magdalena Laubser (; 14 April 1886 – 17 May 1973) was a South African painter and printmaker. She is generally considered, along with Irma Stern, to be responsible for the introduction of Expressionism to South Africa. Her work was ini ...

Lippy Lipshitz Israel-Isaac Lipshitz, known as Lippy Lipshitz (8 May 1903 – 17 May 1980) was a South African sculptor, painter and printmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important South African sculptors, along with Moses Kottler and Anton van Wou ...

Kagiso Patrick Mautloa Kagiso Patrick "Pat" Mautloa (September 24, 1952, Ventersdorp, Western Transvaal) is a multi-media visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Early life and education At the age of two Mautloa's family relocated to Soweto and later att ...

Michael Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of t ...

Gerard Sekoto Gerard Sekoto (9 December 1913 – 20 March 1993), was a South African artist and musician. He is recognised as a pioneer of urban black art and social realism. His work was exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, and Senegal, as wel ...

Penny Siopis Penny Siopis (born 5 February 1953) is a South African artist from Cape Town. She was born in Vryburg in the North West province from Greek parents who had moved after inheriting a bakery from Siopis maternal grandfather. Siopis studied Fine Ar ...

* Kathryn Smith *

Irma Stern Irma Stern (2 October 1894 – 23 August 1966) was a major South African artist who achieved national and international recognition in her lifetime. Life Stern was born in Schweizer-Reneke, a small town in the Transvaal, of German-Jewish par ...

Diane Victor Diane Victor, (born 1964, Witbank, South Africa) is a South African artist and print maker, known for her satirical and social commentary of contemporary South African politics. Biography Victor was born in Witbank, South Africa. She received ...

References

External links

The Abe Bailey collectionIziko South African National Gallery
within

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

* {{authority control Art museums and galleries in South Africa Museums in Cape Town Art museums established in 1930 1930 establishments in South Africa

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...