At last, Peter Clarke is able to be celebrated as an important
South African artist. (Review by Andrew Verster)
Treat yourself to a New Year gift! Buy The Art of Peter Clarke, a sumptuous book by well-known South
African art historians, Philippa Hobbs and Elizabeth Rankin, celebrating the
life and work of one of our cruelly neglected artists.
Originally published by the Standard Bank as part of a
curated exhibition in May 2011, Listening to Distant Thunder: The Art of
Peter Clarke is a book that tells the story of the community trauma brought
about by forced removals in the Cape, as seen in the art of Peter Clarke. A
mere 500 copies were originally published, all taken up at the exhibition, and
continued demand has led to its re-release.
As the publicity material states: “In 1956, Clarke left his
job as a dockworker in Simon's Town to devote himself to art."
That in itself tells you a great deal about the passion of
this young man and his devotion to his greatest love, his art. In the apartheid
days his community was removed from their ancestral homes and dumped in a bleak
township a distance away, cutting them off from their roots and their
ancestors.
It also tells one a great deal about the man that, as the
publicity material states: "his images have avoided bitterness."
At last, after all the years of neglect, Peter Clarke is
able to be celebrated as an important South African artist.
Listening to Distant Thunder: The Art of Peter Clarke
is illustrated with over 200
reproductions and photographs. It is
published by Fernwood Press, ISBN:
9781775841616 Recommended Retail Price R390. - Andrew Verster
Posts
