Kin Bentley In Line: June 2015

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Art, journalism and astronomy

This is a random selection of images for preservation in the cloud. But each has a story, which I tell in the captions.

This is the only photo I have of my final year work in the composition painting exam which I did for my National Diploma in Art and Design at the East London Technical College Art School under Jack Lugg. I had myself worried as I did this work in 1977. I was such a political animal, working regularly for the liberal Progressive Federal Party, I felt compelled to paint something reflecting the June 1976 student uprising, which began in Soweto but swept across the country. My composition needed some spark, which on the final day or two of the week-long exam I provided as I took a palette knife to the thing and injected some ethereal elements which, in a way, I believe, reflect the young souls lost in this conflict between the oppressed black SA youth and the might of the military and police. I also had two years of conscription hanging over my head, so my distaste for the men, in firing squad formation on the right, is perhaps understandable. I've included shacks and mine dumps and falling red figures on the left. Looking at it today, it seems more reflective of the turbulent 1980s, or even the Marikana massacre under ANC rule in 2013. The more things in SA change, the more they stay the same.

For figure painting I did probably my most complete realistic painting. This too took a week. What I most enjoy about it is the background. I think I captured the pose quite well, but the easels, door and walls of the painting studio bring back happy times as a student at the art school.

This cartoon hung in the Herald subs' room for decades. It disappeared during a refurbishment in the early 2000s. Luckily I had made photocopies of it, which I have combined here. On the back was a caption, stating that these were "Sub-editors of the Eastern Province Herald, 1949-50". They are, from left, "Les Jones, retired Herald racing editor; Hendrik Wannenburg, retired chief sub-editor of the Evening Post in the 1970s; Bill Chadwick, chief sub-editor of the Herald (died in office in the mid-1950s); Dick Clarke, who drew the cartoon and later is believed to have occupied a senior post on the BBC. On the floor: Ed Williams, retired chief sub-editor of the Herald in the 1960s." The message is clear and remains true today. A newspaper, unlike the internet, is a finite product. You have to choose carefully what stories to use and how to use them.

My grandfather, Joseph Clifford Bentley, with the telescope he brought to Port Elizabeth as chairman of the PE People's Astronomical Society. He was company secretary at PE Tramways in the mid-20th century.

About this blog

This blog has morphed from one thing to the next, and will continue to do so.

The latest offerings are of a political nature, though the main role of the blog is to put online scanned versions of my sketches, which make up the bulk of the first part.

* Earlier, I returned to a project I suspended on September 12, 2011, namely posting clilppings from my writings in the Herald newspaper in Port Elizabeth. From those you'll have gleaned that I was first prevented from writing political letters and articles critical of the ANC government.

Then my art reviews came under fire - from the hallowed halls of academia, no less.

* Before this, I posted a series of book reviews and an account of recent travels.

* There is also a short autobiographical novel, Little K and the Big World.

Below is a summary of what was posted before that. (NB. To view pictures larger, hold down "shift" and left click on the mouse. Click again to see it even larger.)

* During the 27 years I have worked as a journalist, I have kept random samples of my work. Initially, when I joined the Evening Post in Port Elizabeth in 1984, I kept a scrapbook, so those first years – when the anti-apartheid struggle really started hotting up – are fairly well covered.

By the time I joined the Eastern Province Herald in about 1988, I’d stopped collecting my stories, but I have one article I wrote that year which I think captures the mood of those dark times.

During two years in the UK – 1990 and 1991– when I worked as a correspondent for the SA Morning Newspaper group, I kept no cuttings. The same applies to the early 1990s when, back on the Herald, I covered the gradual transition to democracy. After the April 27, 1994, first non-racial elections, I moved to the sub-editing department, where I have been ever since.

When Robert Mugabe started his crackdown in 2000, I took up the pen again in a big way – and was lucky to have been given space by then editor Ric Wilson to vent my spleen in the Herald. In between, I wrote numerous book reviews and art crits, which balance out the offerings. I began this section with the more recent stuff, from 2000 onwards, and will take up this project again in 2012.

* Having all but exhausted my sketches on this blog - though I have yet to post pictures of my paintings and a few carvings - I thought I would digress into other areas of interest, and use a few of my photographs to illustrate them.

As Thabo Mbeki and the ANC set about rubbishing everything to do with our colonial past, I found myself rather cherishing what our ancestors had done here, notwithstanding my obvious detestation of the apartheid system which, had Jannie Hofmeyr lived to succeed Smuts after the Second World War, may not have happened. It is interesting to note that the National Party came to power in 1948 despite polling 100 000 fewer votes than the United Party. This was the effect of "loading" the urban constituencies.

Anyway, the East Cape has seen a fair share of interesting history down the centuries, some of which is covered here.

There is also history in stamps and envelopes. A few years back I went to a Port Elizabeth antique shop in the hopes I could acquire some old SA stamps from my youth. At first things looked bleak. The dealer only had posh albums of expensive stamps. But wait, he said, I do have a couple of black bin bags cluttering up the place somewhere, full of useless old stamps and envelopes. He gave them to me for about R100, if I recall correctly.

From these I have made several postage stamp-based artworks, photos of which I'll be posting, eventually. I also discovered a treasure trove of envelopes which had been posted to the City Treasurer of the PE Municipality as well as to the Divisional Council and another whole batch sent by dealers around South Africa to the Ford Motor Company in PE. These all date from the early 1960s, so we're talking 50 odd years ago. Each envelope tells a story.

* Initially I started this blog to illustrate how I learnt the art of drawing, after many years of toil, and how, once learnt, this skill has accompanied me throughout my life.

At each step, since about the mid-1970s, I have, where possible, made drawings that are often a more telling record than any photographs.

You will find a plethora of styles and techniques, but the bottom line – forgive the pun – is an attempt to get at the visual truth. As we go along, I explain each work and how I came to do it – that is, where I remember precisely when they were made.

* Remember, as this is a blog, the story starts from the first post and works its way upwards, as it were.

Click on the images to see them in a larger format. If you want an image to fill your computer screen, press F11. Press the same key to escape.

My thanks, again, go to my son, Douglas, who was just 16 when he helped me put together the header for this blog. Most of the more creative ideas - and all the technical expertise - in this regard were his.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Art, journalism and astronomy

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