Rorke's Drift

 

A visit to the Institute of Race Relations one morning in 1965 by Peder Gowenius, the founder of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre at Rorke's Drift, was an exciting event. I remember clearly the five beautiful rugs Peder spread out on the floor. They were a revelation, a completely new discovery of African art expression.

I often asked myself what was unique about the Rorke's Drift Art Centre, which succeeded artistically while other similar projects failed to make an important impact on South African art. So I wrote to Peder Gowenius in 1990 and asked him why he felt he and his wife Ulla had been able to draw out the talents of people so successfully. The following extract from his long letter in reply offers some explanation.

"We were very young and inexperienced. We had just completed our art training. We did not know anything about Africa, about art and craft in Africa...nor did we know anything about the political situation in South Africa...

"Why should two young kids from Sweden be able to do anything...good in South Africa...There were lots of people much more competent but it's possible that we managed due to our innocence or naiveness... our lack of experience... our strange hubris... a strong (belief) that we could do it.

"It is difficult to find a good balance...on the one side experience, knowledge etc and on the other side dreams...it is far too often that experience, knowledge and awareness kills our dreams and hope."

The Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre is in northern KwaZulu-Natal, about 40 kilometres from Dundee on a mission farm. It is on the site of the famous Battle of Rorke's Drift, between the Zulus and the British in 1879.

The Art and Craft Centre was initiated by a committee formed in 1961 in Stockholm, on the inspiration of Swedish artist Berta Hansson. Bishop Helge Fosseuss, the presiding Bishop of the Swedish Lutheran Church in South Africa, played an important role in raising funds in Sweden to help set up the centre.

Peder and Ulla Gowenius were sent out from Sweden in 1962 to work at the Ceza Mission Hospital in Zululand. The intention was that they would prepare women students as art and craft advisers to work with patients in the hospital. It was at Ceza that the seed of Rorke's Drift weaving was planted.

Patients were provided with simple looms and narrow strips were woven, all in natural wool colours. It was at the hospital that Allina Ndebele learned the art of weaving, and Azaria Mbatha learned about linocutting. Both were subsequently given bursaries to go to Sweden to further their studies - Allina in 1964 to study weaving and Azaria Mbatha in 1967 to study graphics.

After a short stay at Mapumulo, the headquarters of the black Evangelical Lutheran Church, the beginnings of the Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre moved in 1963 to the Rorke's Drift Mission buildings. Its aims were to nurture the unique artistic heritage of Africa, and to extend this heritage with new influences so that it would find its rightful place in an evolving and changing society.

The Centre also aimed to develop with the changing society, to extend its teaching influence and to find increasingly profitable outlets for work which would help raise the living standards of local black people by giving them work and an income.

Peder and Ulla Gowenius will always be remembered as the Centre's inspired and dedicated founders, and especially for training weavers. Not only did they impart technical skills of high standard, but they allowed weavers to develop their own designs.

The result was highly original products. Technical skills extended to the spinning and dyeing of raw, mostly karakul, wool. Allina Ndebele returned from Sweden to become a master weaver and teacher, and was joined in this capacity by Jessie Dlamini.

After leaving Rorke's Drift the Gowenius's started up weaving projects, first in Lesotho and later in Botswana at Oodi Lentswe. The Art Centre's special relationship with Rorke's Drift continued with the equally talented and dedicated teachers from Sweden who followed. Among them were Ola Granath and his wife, and Malin and Otto Lundbohm, who went to Rorke's Drift in 1968. Malin specialised in textile printing and Otto in graphics and sculpture.

They remained at Rorke's Drift until 1976. This was a period when the weavings, ceramics and silk screen printed fabrics of Rorke's Drift art students were promoted by the African Art Centre. Marietjie van der Merwe, the well known Cape Town potter and only South African consultant, made a great contribution to the development of the ceramics department.


A Rorke's Drift artist working on the four elements tapestry for the Royal Society


In 1969 the Institute was invited to have three representatives on the Rorke's Drift Board. They were Profes­sor Walter Battis, Dr Jack Grossert and myself - a contact I continued to enjoy over the years.

The first showing of Rorke's Drift weavings in South Africa was arranged by the African Art Centre in April 1965, at the Alliance Francaise club in Syfret House. The hitherto unknown, magnificent rugs and tapestries were recognised immediately by a few South Africans as a major new and exciting artistic expression.

By 1966 Rorke's Drift had produced enough woven rugs and tapestries to warrant an exhibition in Durban, which the Art Centre arranged at Payne Brothers Department store. A large gallery was made available for 10 days, and 50 rugs and tapestries were hung. There were also hand printed fabrics and the work of several artists: sculptures by Eric Ngcobo, Elliot Nyawo, Solomon Sedibane, and Michael and Mandlenkosi Zondi, and linocuts by Azaria Mbatha.

And so African contemporary art and craft began to see the light of day and enter a slowly changing South African art expression.

A major and exciting outcome of the Payne's exhibition was a visit by Lord Holford, town planner for the City of London and consultant to the Durban Corporation. He was so impressed with the artistry and quality of the weavings that he commissioned a large tapestry for the council chamber of the Royal Scientific Society building in Carlton Terrace, London, which he was restoring and redecorating.


The four elements tapestry commissioned
by the Royal Society with detail below.

At the request of Peder Gowenius, no design was given to the weavers when they began to work on the tapestry for Lord Holford. Instead, they were told of the origin and the purpose of the Royal Society and were asked to illustrate, in their way, the four elements - fire, water, earth and air.

The tapestry took nearly a year to complete and was woven by Lidness Mahlaba and Victoria Mncube, though a number of other weavers helped finish the work. The weaving was exciting but hard work-and when a violent thunderstorm broke over Rorke's Drift the afternoon before the tapestry was due to be flown to England, the finishing had to be done by torch light as there was no electricity in the workshop.

A report in Durban's Daily News, headed London, Thursday November 23, 1967, read:

"The warm colours of a tapestry made in Natal caught the Queen's attention as she toured the headquarters of the Royal Society in London last night. Lord Holford, who conducted the tour, said the Queen wanted to know where and how the tapestry bad been made. She was very interested in the symbolism of the 20 foot by 10 foot hanging made by weavers of the Lutheran art and weaving centre at Rorke's Drift. Natal...

"'I told the Queen that it was based on the local Natal landscape,' Lord Holford said. 'It is a natural world, almost like Genesis.' He pointed out the pattern of snakes, rivers and birds incorporated in the design...Eight hundred distinguished guests toured the building after the Queen had opened it..."

There were two important aspects to the commission. Firstly, it was a much deserved accolade for the Rorke's Drift Art Centre and artists. Secondly, and more symbolically, it renewed the link with Britain nearly 100 years after the famous Battle of Rorke's Drift.
Further recognition of the Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre came in 1968, when an exhibition of weavings, ceramics and early works was presented by the Durban Art Galley in conjunction with the African Art Centre - the first Rorke's Drift exhibition in a South African public gallery.

There were 12 tapestries, and also on exhibit were 18 carpets, some from the Rorke's Drift Workshop and others from the Mhlangane, Enyathi, St Augustine's and Amoibe workshops. It was the aim of Rorke's Drift that workers should, after training, set up workshops in other areas. Some of the best work came from these centres. However, for reasons which have not been documented, as time went on all of the small workshops failed.

Some of the tapestry weavers who achieved particular merit on the exhibition were Jessie DIamini, Allina Ndebele - who in 1977 set up a successful workshop at Swart Umfolozi - Rosta Ndawo and E Xaba.

Gordon Mbatha and Bheki Manyoni, whose work was exhibited, both went on to become potters, and in Gordon's case, later to design important tapestry commissions - two more recently being Dick King's Ride, which hangs in the entrance of the Old Mutual Kingsfield Building, and The History of Durban, commissioned by the University of Natal for its new EG Malherbe library.


Three examples of early Rorke's
Drift tapestries

There were also linocuts by Azaria Mbatha, Paulos Mchunu, John Muafangejo, Albert Ndlovu. Caiphas Nxumalo, Dan Rakgoathe and Cyprian Shilakoe, at prices ranging from R5 to R 12 - which go to show that It's Never Too Early to buy art work.

The African Art Centre collaborated with the Durban Art Gallery again in December 1974, when a comprehensive collection of tapestries, rugs, ceramics and graphic prints from Rorke's Drift was exhibited in the Round Gallery. There was a particularly memorable collection of ceramics including work by Ester, Ivy and Dinah Molefe, famous for their coiled pots made in the traditional way.

Dinah Molefe - who worked as a potter at Rorke's Drift between 1969 and 1983 - in particular, achieved fame in the ceramics world, and today has pieces in most public galleries and in private collections. She exhibited at the 1974, 38th International Arts and Crafts Fair in Florence, Italy, and won an award at the Third Brickor Ceramic Art Competition in the same year.

Gordon Mbatha and Joel Sibisi - still the leading potters at Rorke's Drift, where Gordon heads the Ceramic Depart­ment - also exhibited. Nearly all of the 54 pieces were sold. A number were bought by the Durban Art Gallery and by collectors, including Mark Bernstein who in 1989 presented some of them to the EG Mallherbe Library, where they are on permanent display.

A catalogue of work exhibited shows there were 14 tapestries ranging in price from R200 to R1 600. In some cases they were designed by the weavers, which is the usual practice, but others were designed by Ephraim Ziqubu and Caiphas Nxumalo. Among the weavers were Mary Shabalala and Linas Magwaza, still master weavers at the Centre.

In addition to the tapestries were 47 geometric rugs, ranging in price from R47 to R750. Prices are mentioned to indicate how inexpensive they were relative to present prices. Their value, both in terms of durability and as an investment, was shown when a rug bought in 1975 for R75 was brought to the African Art Centre for resale in 1989 - and was snapped up by the Tatham Gallery for R850. Also on the exhibition were a large number of graphic prints - for which the Rorke's Drift school had become well known - paintings and sculptures.




Tapestry titled The History of Durban,
designed by Gordon Mbatha. EG. Malherbe
Library, University of Natal (below).
Detail on right

The sixth national Art: South Africa: Today exhibition was held in 1973 at the Durban Art Gallery, with Pauline Vogelpoel of the Tate Gallery in London being the sole selector. Among the black artists selected were several whose work had not been seen on the exhibition before. All - Raphael Magwaza, Judus Mahlangu, Vuminkosi Zulu and Paul Sibisi - had been or were at the Rorke's Drift Art School, indicating its growing importance.

Legendary American art critic, Clement Greenberg, agreed to be the sole selector for the 1975 Art: South Africa: Today while visiting South Africa. Greenberg was considered one of the most important critics and writers in the art world in the 1950s and 1960s, and was a selector for national competitions around the globe.

Organisers believed a foreign selector would add to the now prestigious national art exhibition – but, once again, selection for Art: South Africa: Today proved controversial. The works of several established artists were not accepted, including two or three by up and coming young artists who are now well established. There were criticisms that some of the selections were 'cliched' and that Greenberg had included what at the time was deemed to be craft.

Work by a number of black artists was included in Clement Greenberg's selection, among them George Msimang, Joseph Ndlovu, Zion Ndlovo, Charles Nkosi, Judus Mahlangu, Paul Sibisi, Vuyiso Sondlo, Kenneth Thabo, Vuminkosi Zulu and Tito Zungu. With the exception of Msimang and Zungu, all had a connection with the Rorke's Drift school.

In any event, Greenberg awarded the major Anglo American prize for a straight forward oil painting Qirl Reading by Christopher Haw. Once the controversy over selection wore off, I believe artists began to rethink their dependence on outside sources. This may have encouraged the emergence of a fresh artistic expression in the 1980s.

When I compared the list of artists represented at the 1968 and 1974 exhibitions, it became apparent that a number of new artists had emerged from the Rorke's Drift Fine Arts School, which was initiated in 1968. In the early days most students were from Rorke's Drift or nearby rural areas: by 1974 word of the Centre had spread and many students came from the Transvaal.

At that point the original aim of the Centre - to integrate art and craft - had become very evident. The student artists fed the crafts people and vice versa. In fact the crafts people, particularly the weavers, both literally and metaphorically fed the artists, as profits from their work contributed to the costs of training students. The integration of art and crafts was important in the creative development of both the 'artists' and the 'crafts' people.


Tapestry titled The History of Durban, designed by Gordon
Mbatha. EG. Malherbe Library, University of Natal (below).
Detail on right

In the main, the crafts people, especially the weavers, were women, while the students were generally young men. The meshing of both talents became less evident in the late 1970s, when a divide opened up and the School took on a more structured and conventional role. This may have been due to the departure of the Swedish teachers and consultants: there was little input from Sweden after the Lundbohms left in 1975. Students at the Fine Art School were required to study drawing, sculpture, ceramics, weaving, lettering and design, oil painting, watercolour painting, graphic art - which included lino and woodcuts - screenprinting and etching. Entrance criteria for the two year course were 'a talent for art', 'a great interest in art' and 'a fair knowledge of English'. Students were required to submit a portfolio of work. Later, educational levels were stipulated. The Fine Art School was not registered and neither were its diplomas. Nevertheless, 'graduating' became accepted as noteworthy, enabling students to pursue further studies, to work particularly in graphic art related fields, to teach in informal art schools and to become successful full-time artists. In all, 52 students graduated before, sadly, the School closed in 1982.

<<BACK TO MENU>>