WAM Walter Battiss Educational Resource

Walter Battiss Ed resource

1/2/18

11:12 AM

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WALTER BATTISS I

TE D M Y S N E EL V N F I The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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This education resource will help you explore the exhibition. You are invited to look, think, talk, write, and draw in response to the artworks you see.

Walter Battiss Ed resource

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Early years and becoming an artist and teacher This exhibition showcases hundreds of artworks by Walter Battiss from the Jack Ginsberg Collection. It is a celebration of the life and work of one of the most influential South African artists of the twentieth century. Walter Battiss was born in 1906 in Somerset East in the eastern Cape. In 1910 his family moved to a farm in Koffiefontein, in what was the south western Orange Free State. Battiss loved the landscape and spent hours swimming in streams and climbing the ravines and kloofs around the farm. In Koffiefontein he was first introduced to rock engravings called petroglyphs. Battiss’s love for nature and his interest in rock art influenced his art throughout his life. As a teenager and in his early twenties he made drawings and watercolours of the landscape and houses around him.

Glossary: A petroglyph is a drawing or carving on rock made in prehistoric times.

Find: Can you find an artwork that show’s Battiss’s interest in the landscape? Write down the Title: Date: Medium: Add a short description of what you see:

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Although Battiss loved to make art, his father encouraged him to study law after finishing school. His father thought that there were more opportunities to find a job in law than in art. After completing his law studies Battiss worked as a clerk in the Magistrate’s Court in Rustenburg. Battiss continued to draw and paint the landscape in his free time. In 1926, at age 20, Battiss was transferred to the Supreme Court in Johannesburg. He attended evening art classes at the Johannesburg Technical College. Battiss left the court to study teaching at the Johannesburg Teacher Training College. Since art was not offered as a teaching subject, Battiss took classes at Wits. Battiss qualified as a teacher in December 1932 and became the art teacher at Pretoria Boys High School in 1936. He continued to study part time, completing his B.A. in Fine Art at UNISA in 1941 at the age of 35.

Let’s talk: What challenges did Battiss overcome to study art? What can we learn from Battiss’s journey to become an artist and a teacher?

Opposite page: Aloes Near a River, 1937, watercolour on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection Top right: Facade of The Wits Great Hall, April 1932, watercolour on paper, Wits Art Museum Left: My Art Classroom, Pretoria Boys High School, 1936, watercolour on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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Ladybrand Frieze of Eland (One having a crumpled horn), 1946, watercolour on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

The influence of Rock Art on Battiss Battiss had a deep respect and love for the rock art of the early civilisations of Africa. He travelled to caves around South Africa and made paintings of the rock art he found. He did research and took photographs of the sites, as well as traced petroglyphs. Between 1939 and 1956 Battiss privately published three books on rock art. Each book contained original artworks made by Battiss. Through this pioneering research, Battiss helped preserve and celebrate the art of southern Africa’s earliest inhabitants.

Draw: Find an artwork with shapes and figures inspired by rock art and draw them below.

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Let’s talk: Compare two artworks that were inspired by rock art, and discuss the similarities and the differences that you see.

Right: The Early Men (Eating Watermelon), 1938, pen, ink and watercolour on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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Battiss the experimenter Battiss first travelled to Europe in 1938. In France, he met Pablo Picasso, a world famous artist known for his different ways of making art. After this trip Battiss realised the importance of experimenting with many styles and methods of artmaking and began reinventing himself as an artist. Battiss worked with a variety of mediums including oil paint, watercolour, and many forms of printmaking.

Let’s find: Look at the prints on exhibition. How many different printing processes can you identify?

List some.

Yellow Afternoon, 1951, lithograph, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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Basuto Village, 1956, silkscreen on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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Battiss the printmaker Printmaking requires excellent drawing ability and technical skill. Notice how the giraffes and the lines on the lino-block are facing the opposite direction to the giraffes and lines in the print below? This is a result of the printing process. When making prints, artists have to work back-to-front. To make this print, Battiss carved his drawing into the linoleum. The linoleum would be inked and a piece of paper was placed on top of it. The printing surface and paper was rolled through a printing press, and a back-to-front image would appear on the paper.

Giraffes in the Rain, 1965, lino-block, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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Glossary: A lino-block is a surface that artists carve into and then make prints from. It is made from linoleum, a cork-based, washable floor covering.

Let’s write: Imagine you have to make a linocut print of your name. How would you carve it on the linoleum so that it appears the right way in the print? Try writing your name backwards below, as if you were a master printer:

Giraffes in the Rain, 1965, linocut on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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African Paradise, 1961, oil on board, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

Battiss the explorer Not only did Battiss explore different mediums, he explored the world. Travelling was an important part of his development as an artist. Battiss’s art changed continually as he was inspired by the artworks he saw and the artists he met while travelling. The different landscapes and cultures he encountered influenced his subject matter, and his use of paint and colour.

Let’s look: Look carefully at African Paradise, and answer the questions below. Write down your answers in the space provided.

Think of some words to describe the artwork?

What do you see in this painting?

How has the paint been applied?

What colours have been used?

Why do you think Battiss used these colours and this method of painting?

What feelings do you have when looking at this painting?

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Aden at Night, Hadhramaut, 1964, oil on canvas, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

During the 1960s, Battiss started to travel to different parts of Africa, Greece, the Middle East and Southern Arabia. He drew and painted wherever he went. Battiss’s artworks are one of a kind. Some people didn’t like his paintings because they said they looked like a child did them. About his attitude to painting, Battiss once said “I loved being a rebel, doing what they said I mustn’t”.

Let’s talk: Choose a painting that you would like to talk about. Do you think a child could paint like this?

Why?

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Battiss and the anti-censorship debate As apartheid became more entrenched the government wanted to silence those who spoke against it by increasingly controlling what individuals, artists and writers could say in public. Artworks, books, and even movies that were thought to oppose the apartheid government were banned. This is called censorship.

Battiss wanted to oppose and speak out against censorship through his art. One way was by painting subjects that were forbidden, such as artworks about sexuality. Another way was by inventing his own alphabet, through which he could make anti-government statements without being censored.

Glossary: Censorship is the use of the government’s power to prevent freedom of expression by passing laws to control what artworks, books, and other media are made public.

Detail from It Became Necessary to Invent My Own Alphabet, (Recto and Verso), 1967, crayon on paper

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5 am Waking Dream, 11 June, 1976, watercolour and white gouache on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

This is the Fook Alphabet. Can you write your name in Fook?

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

My name is:

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Fook Island Later, Battiss opposed censorship by inventing his own imaginary country, called Fook Island. Fook Island had its own alphabet, flag, laws, and even coins. Battiss was founder, King Ferd(inand) III of Fook Island. He invited his friends and other artists to be honorary citizens of Fook Island. Through the Fook philosophy Battiss was able to propose an alternative lifestyle that challenged Apartheid society. Fook Island was playful, and at the same time serious, because Battiss could use Fook Island as a way of commenting on things that were happening in South Africa without being censored.

Let’s talk: If you invented your own country, what name would you give it? What would be on the flag? Share why you would choose that symbol.

Let’s reflect: The title of the exhibition comes from a statement Battiss wrote to a friend. Write down why you think Battiss said "I invented myself?" on the notecard provided.

List three ways Battiss invented himself to support your answer.

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Above: Fook Island Coinage (preliminary sketch), 1972, pencil on paper, The Jack Ginsberg Collection Opposite page: Fook Island Bronze 10ak Coin, (recto and verso), 1975, cast bronze, The Jack Ginsberg Collection

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Above: Mantis Man, c1970, oil and acrylic on canvas, Wits Art Museum Front page: Detail from Mantis Man, c1970, oil and acrylic on canvas, Wits Art Museum

Throughout his life Battiss continually re-invented himself and his art by experimenting with a range of subjects, styles and mediums including oil paint, water colour, printmaking and sculpture. Battiss was also an explorer whose travels around the world inspired his art.

No large bags, flash photography, or food and drink are allowed into Wits Art Museum Please do not touch the artworks

Wits Art Museum Corner of Bertha Street (extension of Jan Smuts Avenue) and Jorissen Street Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa 011 717 1365 info.wam@wits.ac.za Edited by Leigh Leyde This education resource is sponsored by

Paul Emmanuel Design