AZARIA MBATHA (1941 – 2018)
Liberation
1989
linocut
edition 1/12
37.9 x 62.3 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Graphic artist Azaria Mbatha was born in Mahlabatini in rural Zululand (now KwaZulu-Natal, KZN). He received his training at the Lutheran Art and Craft Centre at Rorke’s Drift in Natal (now KZN), where he went on to teach John Muafangejo among others.
He created silk screen, etchings and serigraphs, but the linocut was his medium of choice. He was more comfortable working in black and white, although he experimented with the use of colour as early as 1962.
He wanted to ‘Africanise’ the Bible and reconcile Christian values with the myths and realities of his African, specifically Zulu, heritage. Mbatha’s father, Matshwele Mfukutheni Mbatha, brought a strong Christian influence to his son’s life. He was so proud of his son’s illustrations of Biblical testaments that he hosted Azaria’s first exhibition at his Zululand homestead in 1962. His father’s favourite linocut was one of Mbatha’s first, entitled Jonah.
Mbatha gained a two-year scholarship to the Konstfachskolan in Stockholm and, later, went on to complete a degree in History of Art and Social Sciences at the University of Lund (1977 – 80). Years later, in 1993, he enrolled at the same university to complete a doctorate of philosophy in African historical symbolism.
Except for a brief sojourn in South Africa, he lived in Sweden from 1969 onwards.
He held his first solo exhibition in South Africa in 1968 and exhibited his work in England, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. He was nominated the 1981 Standard Bank artist of the year. In 1998, the Durban Art Gallery held an Azaria Mbatha retrospective exhibition and produced an accompanying catalogue.
Mbatha’s international success had a long-term influence on the Rorke’s Drift art school and its students.
He won several awards and participated in many exhibitions in southern Africa and Europe. He was the first African graphic artist whose work was included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.