Sydney GOLDBLATT (1919 – 1979)
Harbour
year unknown
oil on canvas
51 x 94 cm
Houses
year unknown
oil on canvas
34.5 x 55 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Born to Lithuanian-Jewish parents in Johannesburg 1919, Sidney Goldblatt spent a decade working in business before pursuing his long-held desire to be an artist. He left South Africa to study at the Anglo French Art Centre in London at the recommendation of Maurice Van Essche. He was also tutored by Fernand Léger and André Lhote in Paris between 1950 and 1951, before returning to London to study sculpture at the Sir John Cass Academy.
After returning to Hillbrow, Goldblatt started his own private art school and held solo exhibitions at Whippman’s Gallery and Lidchi Gallery. He married Wendy Webster in 1955 and, in 1957, they travelled to Europe for a year, settling in the south of Spain. Goldblatt drew inspiration from the European art he encountered and the colours of the Spanish landscape.
Returning to South Africa in 1958, he won acclaim for his Spanish works and was praised by critics at the Venice Biennale. In the decades that followed, he expanded his repertoire to include sculptural works as well as printmaking. Exploring a more abstract visual language, he painted the Yom Kippur War (1953) while listening to radio broadcasts of the conflict. Artistic freedom was important to Goldblatt, as evidenced by the variety of subjects and mediums he pursued and the spontaneity of his work.
He passed away unexpectedly in 1979.