Cecil Skotnes

Female figure , Carved and incised painted panel

Written and researched by Emile Maurice and Jo-Anne Duggan

“As chronicler of the South African situation, I could not think in European terms. My approach had to originate here, otherwise my art would be a lie of little importance”
Cecil Skotnes was born in a poor
neighbourhood of East London. His
father was an ordained Lutheran
minister and missionary, and both
he and his mother were active
members of the Salvation Army. It
was from his parents that Skotnes
absorbed his concern for the
welfare of others.
Skotnes fought against fascism in
World War II in Italy with South Af-
rican troops, after which he stayed
on to study painting in Florence. On
returning to South Africa, he studied
art at the University of the Witwa-
tersrand from 1947 to 1950.
After completing his BA Fine Arts
degree, Skotnes married Thelma
Carter in 1951. Their son John is a
goldsmith and sculptor and daugh-
ter, Pippa, a Professor of Fine Art at
the University of Cape Town.
In 1952 Skotnes was appointed
as cultural officer at a recreational
centre in Polly Street, Johannes-
burg, which offered adult education
programmes for black people. Un-
der his guidance the facility came
to be identified as an art centre and
developed into a significant training
ground for a generation of black
artists. In the early 1960s the art
centre moved to Eloff Street and
subsequently, as apartheid policies
became entrenched, to Soweto.
In 1963 Skotnes helped to establish
the Amadlozi group (the name was
chosen by him and means “spirit of
our ancestors”). This group, which
also included Guiseppe Cattaneo,
Cecily Sash, Sidney Kumalo,
Edoardo Villa and later, Ezrom
Legae, sought to work at the inter-
section of traditional (or classical)
African and European art.
Having lived in Johannesburg since
1946, Skotnes made Cape Town
his home in 1978. Here he resumed
painting after decades as a print-
maker, and continued to engage
with younger and less privileged
artists, establishing the ceramics
section at the Nyanga Art Centre
and teaching at the Community Arts
Project in the 1980s.
 Cecil Skotnes, fragment of a once larger incised and painted wooden panel on the theme of the death of Shaka. Undated

Analysis of the artist’s work, key stylistic influences

Skotnes’ early woodcuts were
abstract landscapes in a horizontal
format. In Europe, landscapes
were traditionally rendered through
painting. What Skotnes sought
through making landscapes in print
form was, however, not simply to
engage local places and spaces,
but to distinguish his work as an
African artist from that which was
produced in Europe.
One of Skotnes’ primary concerns
was to tell a story through serial-
ised imagery, and the first of his
famous narrative print portfolios
was The Assassination of Shaka
(1973), which was accompanied
by an epic poem by poet, writer
and academic Stephen Gray.
When the portfolio of 43 prints
– most of which deal with mo-
ments of action, like ‘Shaka kills
the mamba’ – and poem were
launched as an exhibition at the
Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg
in 1973, the show was a sell-out.
In 1976, a few months after the
Soweto uprising, Skotnes wrote
an article for the Rand Daily Mail
(3 November 1976) in which he
commented: “South Africa is at
present embroiled in a classical
revolutionary situation and that the
stimulation arising from the situa-
tion should affect all elements of
the creative society and in particu-
lar the artist…and if the times have
little influence on the artist’s work,
especially such momentous times,
he should seek a new profession.”
Skotnes took his words seri-
ously, as some of his works from
the 1980s allude to the political
turbulence of the times, as seen,
for example, in Township Martyr
(1986) and other prints from this
era.
Alongside the famous public
persona, there was also the more
private Skotnes, represented in
works that are intimately entangled
with his personal life. This was the
cornerstone of his last exhibition
before death claimed him – CECIL
SKOTNES: A PRIVATE VIEW:
Images from the archive of Cecil
and Thelma Skotnes (2008), at
Iziko South African National Gal-
lery, Cape Town, and the Standard
Bank Gallery, Johannesburg. What
the show reflected, amongst other
things, was how Skotnes used art
to build family bonds and express
his love towards his wife and kin.
What links Skotnes’ more private
works, his African-inspired land-
scapes, which draw on everything
from thorn bushes to primeval
rocks and sun-baked earth, and
his more politically orientated
works from the 1980s is a strong
engagement with life and the en-
vironment. Ultimately, though, his
place in South African art history
rests on his quest for a hybrid art,
combining European modern-
ism (he was strongly influenced
by German Expressionism and
Cubism) with a distinctly African
identity, a seed first planted in his
days with the Amadlozi group in
the 1960s.
As he once said when speaking
of his search for an African idiom
in art,
“As chronicler of the South African
situation, I could not think in
European terms. My approach had
to originate here, otherwise my art
would be a lie of little importance”.

(Left to Right) Shaka kills the mamba, 1973. Woodcut. According to poet Stephen Gray, such was the demand by collectors when the print portfolio, The Assassination of Shaka, was launched at the Good-
man Gallery, Johannesburg, in 1973, that “frenzied buying and reselling occurred on the spot”. Lithograph “Shaka’s Regiment in Horn Formation” Signed & Dated 73.
Shaka the king,1973. Woodcut. Famous author Kurt Vonnegut, writing to Stephen Gray, had this to say about the The Assassination of Shaka portfolio: “The Assassination of Shaka is the best present I
have received. You and Mr. Skotnes took control of my head and made me feel big things very foreign to me. It is the most successful collaboration between a poet and an artist that has ever come to my
attention. It is better than the collaboration between William Blake and William Blake.” Mhlangane Stabs Shaka Woodcut. Pippa Skotnes, the artist’s daughter, has said of her father, “Watching him make
prints was a process which seemed to me to be deeply rooted in some kind of magic.”

Skotnes’s trademark style

Skotnes began to develop his trademark incised and painted
wood panels, a format that developed from his printmaking, in the
1950s. Although he never forsook painting, the woodblock was
to remain his preferred medium for a number of decades. These
panels, sometimes adapted to make doors and pelmets, and were
also used in public commissions, as in his 1820 Settler panels
(1984-86) for the Settler Monument in Grahamstown.
Skotnes made works about the landscape – nature was a major
inspiration – Christianity, political upheaval, confrontation, history,
heroes (Shaka and Wolraad Woltemade, for example), good and
evil, anguish and pain, and also focused on still-lifes and portraits
– all of which is held together by his trademark abstraction with
often spiritual overtones, highly structured composition, powerful
design sense and bold archetypal figures. As with all great artists,
his art is stamped by a very particular character, or signature,
embedded in the fabric of the work, and his work is instantly
recognisable.
 GALLERY

1820 Settler Panels Commission (1984-86)

In 1984 Skotnes was commis-
sioned by the 1820 Foundation in
Grahamstown to make a work to
mark the arrival of English settlers
in South Africa. His brief was to
symbolically convey the British-
speaking experience in South
Africa, from the time of the settlers’
arrival to their involvement in the
creation of an equal opportunity
society.
Skotnes’ work is allegorical and
uses the notion of the seasons
to convey the idea of decay and
regeneration. The theme is played
out in the four sections of the work,
each comprising six panels in a
vertical format. The first section,
a reference to autumn and winter,
deals with wars prior to 1820, both
in Europe and South Africa. This
is followed by the next six panels
making up The Frontier, where
the focus is on new beginnings
for all, both black and white – an
allusion to spring. The third sec-
tion, Towards a New Society, a
symbolic summer, is concerned
with harmony and equal rights.
The final section is dedicated to
the arts and creativity – the means
through which people can attain
the ideals of unity and freedom.
The panels were nearly de-
stroyed when a fire erupted at the
Monument on 13 August 1994.
Fortunately they were only dam-
aged by smoke and were restored
by Skotnes himself.

Mural for St. Charles Lwanga Church, Mbekweni, Paarl, Western Cape.
From the portfolio, The White Monday Disaster, 1975. Woodcut. Follow-
ing the print portfolio, The Assassination of Shaka (1973), Skotnes’ next
collaboration with poet Stephen Gray, the White Monday Disaster, also
took the form of what the artist called a ‘block book’. By this, according to Figures in an alien landscape, 1981. Acrylic on board. Landscape was a
Gray, “he meant a work in which the content was to be conveyed through major theme in Skotnes’ work over the decades.
the prints and words simultaneously”. Comprising 13 prints and 13 stan-
zas in ballad form, this work commemorates the heroic efforts of Wolraad
Woltemade, who, on horseback, rescued some of the shipwrecked from
the Jonge Thomas, when it sank in Table Bay in 1773. Like The Assas-
sination of Shaka, this work was also launched at the Goodman Gallery
– “to the usual satisfactory sell-out,” says Gray.

Cat, 1960. Woodcut. Pippa Skotnes recalls: “The image I remember most
clearly from my early childhood (he made this for me for my third Christ- Figures in an alien landscape : Cecil Skotnes, Figures in an alien land-
mas) was a large cat, roughly cut in wood and printed by hand with the scape, 1981. Acrylic on board. Landscape was a major theme in Skotnes’
back of a spoon on fine rice paper, which hung on my bedroom wall…” work over the decades.

Icon for my dead uncle II, 1998. Oil on wood
Untitled, 1980. Woodcut. Some of Skotnes’ work from the 1980s reflects
the political turbulence of the times. In this work, made to illustrate one of
Nadine Gordimer’s stories, a figure raises a clenched fist, symbol of the
anti-apartheid struggle.
For Thelma: For Thelma, Christmas, 1992. Conte on paper. Skotnes’ last
exhibition, CECIL SKOTNES: A PRIVATE VIEW: Images from the archive
of Cecil and Thelma Skotnes (2008), was a fitting and beautiful tribute
to an artist who occupies a central place in South African art history, and
something of a capping of a glorious career. Among the works on show
was For Thelma, Christmas 1992 – an exquisite drawing, made as a
present for the artist’s wife. It carries the inscription, “My darling a very
beautiful Christmas and wonderful things in 1993. Love me”.
 Cecil Skotnes’s Art life and legacy Important dates in the life of Cecil Skotnes The world in 1952

Cecil Skotnes in his studio, 1967. Photograph courtesy Pippa Skotnes Cecil Skotnes in his studio, 2008. Photograph by Paul Weinberg March in support of the ANC’s Defiance Campaign, 1952. Times Media Collection, Museum Africa

Early life and inspirations South Africa

Skotnes knew that he wanted to
become an artist while still at Twist
Street Primary School in Johan-
nesburg. But it was an experience
during World War II that finally
convinced him. As a young gunner
with South African forces in Italy,
he was among the troops sent
to liberate Florence. “Italy then”,
he said, “was a fantastic time
for people like me, experts gave
lectures to the soldiers, and there
were remarkable moments, like the
unveiling of the great David, which
had been hidden in the war years.
There it stood in its primeval great-
ness, and if I had any doubts as
to what career I was going to have
it fell aside, and from that point
on I lived on the basis of being a
professional artist”.
Artistic breakthrough
Skotnes started his career as a
painter but turned to printmaking
in 1954, when he met Egon Guen-
ther, a goldsmith and collector
of traditional African art who had
immigrated to South Africa from
Germany. It was Guenther who
convinced him to abandon painting
and to develop a new artistic path
by making prints.
It was also Guenther who drew
Skotnes’ attention to the beauty
and possibilities of the blocks from
which he made his prints. These,
he suggested, could, after some
adjustment and embellishment,
be exhibited as artworks in their
own right.
Legacy
Skotnes was a pioneer of print-
making in South Africa, one of our
finest exponents of the medium,
and a protagonist of modernism.
He is also acknowledged for his
contribution to making the medium
the popular art form that it is today,
particularly through his teaching
at the Polly Street Art Centre and
the Community Arts Project, Cape
Town, where he inspired, and
developed the skills of, aspirant
black artists. The Skotnes legacy,
therefore, is not only about his
exceptional works, but also about
his outstanding contribution as an
educator to the evolution of black
art in South Africa.
Recognition
Skotnes occupies a pivotal place
in South African art history and has
been honoured for his work and
contribution to cultural develop-
ment. He was the recipient of the
Chamber of Mines Gold Medal
in 1965 and the South African
Breweries Gold Medal in 1968,
amongst other awards. In addi-
tion, three honorary doctorates
were bestowed on him – from
the Universities of Cape Town,
Rhodes and Witwatersrand – and
a National Order, the Order of
Ikhamanga in Gold (2003), for
“exceptional achievement in, and
the deracialisation of, the arts, and
for outstanding contribution to the
development of black artists”.
1926 Born in East London
1944- 45 Serves in South African Forces in the WW II Italian Campaign In 1952, the year Skotnes started work at Polly Street: white South Afri-
cans celebrate the tercentenary of Jan van Riebeek’s arrival at the Cape,
1950 Graduates with a BA Fine Arts degree from Wits
1951 Marries Thelma, nee Carter while their black, ‘coloured’ and Indian countrymen prepare for the launch
of the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws – a mass protest against
1952 Appointed as Cultural Officer, and starts work at Polly Street
1957 First one-man exhibition, at the Pretoria Art Centre apartheid’s discriminatory acts and regulations;
1959- 61 Represents South Africa at the Sao Paulo Bienal, the Venice
Biennale, and in the Yugoslavia International Graphic Exhibition; Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country is released on film;
Irma Stern and Walter Battiss, amongst others, represent
exhibits at galleries in North and South America
1963 Succeeds Walter Battiss as President of the South African Council South African at the Venice Biennale;
of Artists; founder member of the Amadlozi group, with Cattaneo,
Kumalo, Sash and Villa Miriam Makeba tours South Africa with the Manhattan Brothers
1965 First one-man exhibitions in London
1966 Designs Republic Festival Commemorative stamp series Africa
1969 Work reproduced under “World Painting”, Encyclopedia Britannica
1971 Works included in exhibitions in Belgium, the Netherlands, West In Kenya, the Kikuyu rise up
against the British – the Mau
Germany, Spain, Brazil, and Italy
1972 Retrospective exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum Mau Rebellion
1973 Creates The Assassination of Shaka portfolio, with poetry by
Stephen Gray Kwame Nkrume is elected
Prime Minister of the Gold
1974 Creates a woodcut for the Nobel Prize portfolio in honour of
Chief Albert Luthuli Coast and leads his country to
independence, achieved in
1976 Awarded Medal of Honour by the Suid-Afriakaanse Akademie vie
Wetenskap en Kuns 1957 – the first sub-Saharan
country to accomplish this
1978 Moves from Johannesburg to Cape Town
1980 + Works on a number of significant commissions and exhibits widely
1996 Celebrates his 70th birthday with a major retrospective at the Chief Albert Luthuli is elected
President of the African
South African National Gallery; awarded honorary doctorates by
Rhodes University and the University of the Witwatersrand National Congress – and
becomes South Africa’s first
2003 Awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold
2009 Passes away in Cape Town Nobel Prize winner in 1960
Chief Albert Luthuli by Cecil Skotnes
International
Dwight Eisenhower is elected
President of the USA
Queen Elizabeth II begins her
reign over the United Kingdom
and its colonies, including
South Africa;
Argentinean First Lady, Eva
Peron, dies of cancer
With friends: In the early 1960s, Skotnes helped to establish the Amadlozi
group. Here he is seen with some members of the group: Left to right:
Albert Schweitzer wins the
Skotnes, Guiseppe Cattaneo, Edoardo Villa and the art dealer Egon
Nobel Peace Prize
Guenther.
Gary Cooper wins an Oscar for
his role in High Noon;

Che Guevara chronicles his motor

cycle trip around South America in
The Motorcycle Diaries;

Samuel Becket pens Waiting for

Godot

Earnest Hemingway’s Old man

and the Sea is published;

Jackson Pollock paints Blue Poles

No 11;

A Skotnes record was set by Stefan Weltz in association with Sotherby’s (SWELCO) in Cape Town March 2009 Francis Bacon paints Study for
for his wood panel “Birds” (R616 000, est R350 000-R450 000) the Head of a Screaming Pope;

References: Henri Matisse makes his great

F. Harmsen (ed.). 1996. Cecil Skotnes. Published privately in conjunction with the 1996 Skotnes retrospective at the South African National Gallery. cutout, Blue Nude
Unknown. 2003. Recipients of the National Order Awards, 2003. [Online]. Available: www.info.gov.za/aboutgovt/orders/2003/skotnes.pdf [2009, April 30].
Iziko South African National Gallery. 2000. Cecil Skotnes – Curriculum Vitae. [Online]. Available: www.iziko.org.za/sang/exhib/2000_pre/skotnes/cs_cv.htm [2009, April 29]. Written by Emile Maurice and Jo-Anne Duggan
Artthrob News. 2009. The Passing of Cecil Skotnes. [Online]. Available: www.artthrob.co.za/09apr/news/skotnes.html [2009, April 30]. Design Gabriel Clark-Brown
Williamson, S. 2006. Artthrob Artbio: Cecil Skotnes. [Online]. Available: www.artthrob.co.za/06july/artbio.html [2009, April 30]. Commissioned for: The South African Art Times, May 2009
Front Page Image: Female figure , Carved and incised painted panel: Christopher Moller Art. www.christophermollerart.co.za Concept: Global Art Information