Samuele Makoanyane - Reconsidering ceramics technology and connoisseurship in early Modern Southern African ceramics.

De Arte. 55(2) 2020. DOI: 10.1080/00043389.2020.1829357

This essay explores ceramic production in the Modern period in South Africa and Lesotho via a contemporary re-interpretation of the oeuvre of the pioneer Mosotho sculptor, Samuele Makoanyane (1909 – 1944). Research methodology includes a critical examination of images of works by Makoanyane in South African public collections, a literature survey of Modern South African and African ceramic sculptural traditions, as well as a detailed scrutiny of two key texts. The initial is a booklet by Makoanyane’s agent, C. G. Damant. The second is a report by the artist, curator, teacher and development consultant, Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz. A critical examination of these texts and images is synthesised with my knowledge of the ceramics technology, production techniques and professional studio practices. The resultant article opens up a new framework for understanding Makoanyane’s oeuvre, and aims to engage with Modernist tropes and historiographies concerning connoisseurship via two hypotheses. Both hypotheses centre around the operation of professional workshop that (1) employed assistants and (2) used serial reproduction technology. These hypotheses open up new possibilities for understanding and re-evaluating the oeuvre of Makoanyane and other similarly neglected early Modern artists. They are a means to augmenting and enriching art, craft and design history in South Africa, and beyond.

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