Bucknall amanda edwina tracey 2015 volume 1

The Introduction of British Formalism to the Fine Arts Department at the University of Natal from 1936 until 1969 Volume One Amanda Edwina Tracey Bucknall Student Number: 892213659 Supervisor Professor Ian Calder 80107 Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Art History) The Centre for Visual Arts in the College of Humanities University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg August 2015 THIS THESIS IS DEDICATED TO Sue Helm-Davies, who taught me to create art, Ian Calder, who taught me how to comprehend and apply it, and My husband Tony, who has supported me wholeheartedly in my pursuit of art. 1 2 Acknowledgements I first and foremost would like to thank Professor Ian Calder for all the support, expertise, guidance and the unyielding encouragement he has given to me as I have prepared and researched this thesis, and without whom, this thesis may never have been written. I further wish to extend my gratitude to Susan Davies and Henry Davies, who not only tutored me in the practice of art-making many years ago, but who have still willingly offered assistance in this research and who have at all times afforded me inspiration and motivation. Many thanks too to the Library Staff at the Cecil Renaud Library on the Pietermaritzburg University of KwaZulu-Natal campus for their assistance and a special note of recognition must be given to John Timms who has been able to locate all of the texts I have applied for through the inter-library loan service, no matter how obscure my requests have been.

Appreciation is also given to the staff at the Killie Campbell Africana Library in Durban. I also wish to thank the Tatham Art Gallery Staff in Pietermaritzburg, especially to Kobie Venter for her assistance, to Bryony Clark for permitting me to take photographs of artworks for this thesis and to Jenny Stretton from the Durban Art Gallery who so kindly explored that Gallery’s archives to provide me with coloured imagery used in Volume Two of this research. Appreciation is expressed to the Staff and the Director of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Dr. Melanie Hillebrand, for their time in collating valuable information for my visit.

This same note of extreme gratitude is also given to David Cannon and Noelene Cannon of Cannon Auctioneers in Hilton (outside Pietermaritzburg) for the photographs they forwarded to me and also to Cathy Cannon (neé Fowler) for access to her extensive art library and research resources. The main University of KwaZulu-Natal Archives together with The Centre for Visual Arts Archives are particularly thanked. I would also like to show my extreme appreciation to The Centre for Visual Arts for the Rita Strong Scholarship, Professor Ian Calder for considering me for research funding and the Dean of the College of Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal for bursary support. In addition, the financial assistance of the National Research Funding (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged.

Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. 3 Appreciation is also extended to those who have given generously of their time during interviews, namely the late Professor Juliet Armstrong, Professor Ian Calder, Henry Davies, Susan Davies, Dr. Barbara Tyrrell, Yvonne Winters, Dr. Hans Fransen and to my late father, Thomas Sullivan.

Lastly, I would also like to express my special thanks to my husband, Dr. Anthony Bucknall, who has always supported and encouraged me to follow my aspirations and has inspired me to seek, and give my utmost, to the endeavours I have undertaken throughout my academic career. 4 Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to document and record the reception of British formalism as it was first received into The Fine Arts Department at the University of Natal between the period of 1936 to 1969. That was an enigmatic time for the Department as the influence of British Modernism was predominant, Natal being a former British colonial province requiring British prescriptive governance within its educational system, as it eagerly built and developed its academic institutions to enhance imperialistic values and colonial aspiration.

An examination of this momentum provides theoretical review in order to recognise how both the academic representation and interpretation of British formalism were introduced by British art trained practitioners and academics at The University and subsequently became integral and central to the art educational system adopted by The Department and its teaching methodologies. The Fine Arts Department that was established on the Pietermaritzburg campus of The University in 1936, had been originally founded as the Durban School of Art in 1914 by the British potter John Adams who was succeeded by John Oxley in 1922; the curriculum that was adopted by both reflected the art practice and currency of early modernism in Britain in its infancy. With a refocus on industrial and social needs, art became recognised as a key to nation-building, whether on a practical or propagandistic level, and whether confined to the United Kingdom or as a vital tool for colonial innovation. It was an art training far removed from the ‘fine art’ elitism of the ‘traditional’ Western art institutions, such as the Royal Academy in London.

Instead what was taught in The Department was an assimilation of the artisan skills taught by the Royal College of Art in London, essential skills not only required to promote British industry and to develop specialised craft guilds, but also the same motivations and that colonial expansion desired. It was therefore under the guise of ‘craft’ and artisan practice, that ‘fine art’ became received at The University and British formalism was introduced and indoctrinated into The Department. It was also from a great humanitarian perspective that Oxley developed his art pedagogical perceptions of art and art-making that embraced the orientation of modernism and the currency of art therapy at the beginning of the Second World War, but he also consciously recognised that his methodology was a western phenomenon to be applied in South Africa. It was on the appointment of his successor in 1953, Jack Heath, that Natal witnessed the exposure to late British Modernism, and British formalism as an aesthetic standard became practiced in The Department.

It was Heath’s own 5 work that permitted the exploration of abstract expressionism to a far greater degree, and it is submitted, was far more progressive than its British counterpart. Through art instruction during that time British modernism fashioned the art methodologies within The Department, kindling a formalistic aesthetic at The University that remained for many decades. To analyse this a comparison is made of how British formalism was perceived by both British and South African born lecturers throughout this period in The Department’s history, with specific reference to Rosa Hope, Geoffrey Long, Jane Heath, and Hilda Ditchburn. 6 Prefatory Note Save for instances when a full detailed referencing is required, the following abridged references have been used throughout this thesis, in alphabetical order: The use of the definite article when making reference to defined terms (as indicated below in this Prefatory Note) has been used intentionally throughout this thesis so as to distinguish any generic usage of the terms.

It is a personal writing preference of the author and is not necessarily included as done as a requirement or at the request of the institution referred, my supervisor or as a prerequisite of the Centre for Visual Arts’ Style Guide: For Postgraduate Texts (referred to below), but merely is adopted to assist in the identification of a term defined in this Prefatory Note for the ease to the reader. ‘British Modernism’ This term has been used throughout this thesis to describe the specific movement that arose in Britain at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. ‘British modernism’ This term is used throughout this thesis in its generic sense, as an influence of the movement of British Modernism. ‘The Central School’ This refers to the Central School of Arts and Crafts that is located in the City of London, England.

‘The Centre for Visual Arts’ The Centre is located on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (formerly referred to as the Fine Arts Department). ‘The Department’ This refers to the Fine Arts Department situated on the Durban campus briefly as from 1936 until it was transferred permanently to the Pietermaritzburg campus in 1937 and which, as from 2006, has been renamed The Centre for Visual Arts. 7 ‘The Durban Art School’ This term has been used to identify the art school located in Durban which John Adams developed in 1914 and which John Oxley headed from 1922 until that department was relocated to Pietermaritzburg in 1936. However, during that time, The Durban Art School was merely a subsidiary department of an institution that was renamed several times.

For clarity, the Durban Technical Institute was founded in 1914 and was subsequently renamed the Durban Technical College in 1915 (Brookes 1966: 7) (with the art school as a subsidiary department being referred to as the Durban School of Art); that name was eventually changed in 1922 to the Natal Technical College. Whilst some of the institution’s departments remained, others, including the art school, were evolved ‘into the nucleus’ (Brookes 1966: 7) of the Natal University College (which had been formed previously in 1919; this association between the Natal University College and the Natal Technical College was finally severed in 1931) (Brookes 1966: 40). Where a specific reference is required in its historical context, the actual name of the institution has been used. ‘The Poole Studio’ The company known as Carter, Stabler and Adams co-founded by John Adams (a subsidiary company of Carter Company) will hereinafter be referred to as the Poole Studio located in Dorset, England.

‘The Royal Academy’ This refers to The Royal Academy of Arts that is located in the City of London, England. ‘The Royal College’ This refers to the Royal College of Art that is located in the City of London, England. ‘The Slade’ This refers to the Slade School of Art that is located in the City of London, England. ‘The University’ The use of the term ‘The University’ is the generic term used to refer to both the Natal University College and the University of Natal, the latter only occurring in 1949 when the Natal University College combined its dual locations in Durban and Pietermaritzburg (Brookes 1966: 40).

‘CVA Archives’ This confirms that the documents are held at the Archives of The Centre for Visual Arts. This Archive 8 is currently undergoing systematic logging and so, at the time of this thesis, allocated Archive Document numbers are not available for inclusion in this thesis. In some instances reference has been made consciously to secondary sources within this thesis, the purpose of which has been to focus on the emphasis and interpretation of changes in art theory in Britain from an historical perspective by writers of art theory during the period analysed in this thesis and immediately thereafter. My own analysis leading me to my conclusion has however been based fundamentally on primary sources and current methodology that has enabled me to review the emphasis placed previously by past writers and critics of art history and British formalism, from a revised perspective.

Without such inclusion of secondary sources my main research would have been flawed. The short form of the Harvard referencing has been used throughout this thesis and is applied in accordance with The Department’s Style Guide: For Post Graduate Texts (Calder 2008). All images relating to the art works or photographs where referred to in the text, are located in Volume Two of this thesis where they are fully indexed with cross-referenced pagination. 9 Contents of Volume One Contents.

18 An analysis of modernity and its reception into South Africa. 18 The distinctions of modernity, modernism, modernisation and formalism. 18 The use of formalism and the Formalesque as a mode of modernity .